THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 29, 1995 TAG: 9501270213
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY NANCY LEWIS, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
A committee charged with coming up with recommendations on how to spend an $800,000 federal grant is looking into the feasibility of a permanent shelter for the city's homeless.
The Homeless Advisory Committee expects to have a plan for the money ready to present to City Council by July 4. But at least one local official is worried that federal help with the city's homeless problem could be compromised under the new House of Representatives leadership.
Moving ahead, though, under the assumption that the grant will materialize, the 24-member committee on Wednesday acted quickly to form site and program subcommittees to consider how best to spend the promised funds. When the committee meets again next Wednesday, a third subcommittee will give a report on the extent of homelessness in Virginia Beach and detail what is currently being done as well as what has been done in the past.
Decisions to be made next week by the full committee include expectations for the site and program committees.
The money, awarded to the city late last year, must go for ``capital costs connected with innovative homeless activities,'' according to the terms of the grant. This limits the way the money could be used, to purchase or construct a facility and purchase equipment.
Any plan to spend the funds must meet with City Council and federal approval.
``It does not say services,'' said Andrew Friedman, director of housing and neighborhood preservation. So ``how to staff'' any homeless facility the committee might decide to recommend is a question which would also have to be addressed, he said.
Friedman expressed worry, too, about the House Appropriations subcommittee's review of the grant under new leadership, calling it potential bad news. Then, too, other federal funds may be cut back and that could affect any plans the city might make for the homeless. ``All could evaporate,'' said Friedman.
For at least five years, a proposal for a permanent shelter has been discussed but not acted upon. Advocates for the homeless have urged that a permanent facility be purchased or constructed. In the meantime, area churches have worked together to provide beds for homeless people on a rotating basis. The winter shelter program is run by Volunteers of America.
Advocate for the homeless Brenda McCormick, a committee member, said she believes that the only way the perennial homeless problem will be solved is to provide the city's disenfranchised with roofs over their heads - temporary but permanent in the sense that the homeless would be able to receive phone calls back from potential employers. But she argues against a facility as such. ``It would just turn out to be a prison,'' she said after Wednesday's meeting.
McCormick also urged that the committee acquire an overview of how the city has dealt with the homeless problem in the past and how federal money has been spent.
Other committee members include: Esther Corpus, Theresa Stanley, Lin J. Smith, Leslie Fenlon, Brenda Eaton, Ted Clark, the Rev. Clark L. Mandigo, the Rev. Fred Guy, Ken Lesniak, Richard L. Bowie, Remona Murmillo, Susie Whitehurse, John Nazarro, Daniel M. Stone, Dennis I. Wool, Ellen Ferber, Karen Mallam, David Sullivan, E. Dean Block, Mary Kay Horoszewski, Richard Powell, Kathy Jeffries and Larry McCauley. ILLUSTRATION: Photos
Andrew Friedman, director of housing and neighborhood preservation,
expressed concern about staffing the facility.
Brenda McCormick, an advocate for the homeless, argued against a
permanent facility. ``It would just turn out to be a prison,'' she
said.
by CNB