THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, August 1, 1995 TAG: 9508010223
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LEWIS KRAUSKOPF, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 111 lines
When she first left her husband, Charla Potter was pregnant and didn't know if she and her three kids would be able to make it on their own.
She sold her car, but still couldn't pay her rent.
When she moved back with her mother a few weeks later, Potter felt worthless - unable to provide for her family and a disappointment to her mother.
Now Potter, 24, is on her own again - with help from the Samaritan House shelter.
But a minor change in federal regulations has left Samaritan House and eight other nonprofit organizations throughout Hampton Roads scrambling for help themselves.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development recently decided to cut back on a program that leases houses for $1 a year to nonprofit agencies providing services for the homeless and other disadvantaged people.
Samaritan House learned in June that it will not be able to replace eight of the 10 houses throughout Virginia Beach it leases under the program. That could virtually eliminate services for most of the 200 abused and homeless families it helps.
The problem is a policy shift by HUD. In the past, HUD permitted some of its regional offices to exceed national guidelines that limited nonprofit agencies to 10 percent of the department's inventory of homes.
In April, HUD eliminated those regional waivers. The Richmond office that administers properties in Hampton Roads was already above 10 percent, so it is now unable to lease any more homes to nonprofit organizations. In addition, the leases already in the hands of such organizations will not be renewed until Richmond drops below that 10 percent cap.
The federal government wants to sell the properties rather than act as a landlord, according to HUD officials.
Samaritan House would have to come up with about $552,000 to buy the eight homes, executive director Ellen C. Ferber said. She isn't optimistic about the organization's ability to raise that much money.
The leases are supposed to last only five years, but Ferber said she had believed her agency would be able to lease other homes under the program to replace those whose leases were expiring.
She would like HUD to make an exception to its policy and give her agency another five years to wean itself off the low-cost shelters.
``We just simply can't afford it,'' Ferber said. ``I'm just frankly very worried.''
Ferber said the houses allow her 12-year-old agency to get its residents out of immediate danger and provide them help in finding a job, balancing a budget and caring for children.
``This decimates our ability to fulfill our mission,'' Ferber said.
The federal government doesn't really want to take the properties back from the nonprofit agencies, said Bill Burnham, Richmond coordinator for the Single Family Property Disposition Homeless Initiative program, which supplies the leases.
HUD ``doesn't want to hold these properties in inventory forever,'' Burnham said. ``We want them owner-occupied.''
There are five nonprofits in Virginia Beach, two in Portsmouth, one in Hampton and one in Suffolk, HUD officials said, that are leasing homes under the program and will be affected by the change.
Samaritan House - which will lose leases on five of its houses next summer and three more the following spring - would be one of the hardest hit, said Andrew M. Friedman, director of the Virginia Beach Department of Housing and Neighborhood Preservation.
He said other Beach organizations, such as the Virginia Beach Community Development Corp., are better able to purchase the homes or do not rely on the program as extensively as Samaritan House.
Samaritan House, which deals with some of Virginia Beach's most destitute residents, turns away eight families for every one it can help, Ferber said.
If Samaritan House loses the homes, abused and homeless families in Virginia Beach will have nowhere to turn, she said.
``There are no other alternatives,'' Ferber said. ``They've really bottomed out when they come to us.''
Potter has been in a Samaritan House shelter, a townhouse designed for two or three families, for nearly two weeks, enough time for her to appreciate its 45-day transitional housing program for battered women.
In addition to a roof over her head, the program provides parental and budgeting advice and allows Potter to search for a job and an apartment while her children play with volunteers, go to movies and visit museums.
``You have good people, really loving, kind people in these places,'' Potter said.
Potter believes that the loss of Samaritan House would be devastating to Virginia Beach.
``Nobody had any answers until I got here,'' she said.
Potter has two sons, Alex and Tylor, and one daughter, Victoria, all under 6 years old.
Potter, 7 1/2 months pregnant, said she decided to leave her husband for the sake of her unborn child.
``It wasn't a battering; it was more verbally and emotionally,'' she said of her marriage. ``Every single day going at it, and I couldn't take it any more. And I've been more at peace since.''
Potter said she has found an apartment in Virginia Beach and hopes to move in soon, but her eyes flare when she considers the possibility of Samaritan House losing its homes.
``I'd be angry, and I'd be hurt,'' Potter said. ``There are so many other women who are a lot worse off. There are still women who are beaten badly every day. There are so many people who need help.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color staff photo by BETH BERGMAN/
The Samaritan House shelter in Virginia Beach has helped provide
Charla Potter and her sons Tylor, 5, left, and Alex, 2, with a place
to stay temporarily.
KEYWORDS: SHELTER SAMARITAN HOUSE < by CNB