THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 17, 1996 TAG: 9603150193
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY GARY EDWARDS, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
Area United Methodist church members say that the working homeless shouldn't have to choose between a place to sleep and something to eat. That's why they have joined together to build Wesley Inn, transitional housing that will enable some of the working homeless to apply their earnings toward more permanent residences.
The area's first Wesley Inn is expected to open at the end of March in the Thalia area.
City data estimates that there are 400 single homeless people living in Virginia Beach. Some of those are gainfully employed, working in low-paying or minimum-wage jobs and spending up to 80 percent of their earnings for lodging, usually in local hotels.
As part of the effort by local United Methodist churches to help the employed homeless help themselves, Knox Mills, George Williams, Bill Brown and about 12 other members of Great Bridge United Methodist Church spent a recent Saturday working on a couple of houses in Northridge Townhomes to earn money for the project.
The three-bedroom townhouses behind Haynes Furniture on Virginia Beach Boulevard will receive overhauls and general cleaning and sprucing up. For each house church members clean, Ken Huff, owner of the Northridge properties, will donate $1,000 to the group's Wesley Inn fund.
``It will probably take two or three Saturdays and maybe a couple of weekdays to have the house ready,'' said Williams, as he looked at an oven that needed scrubbing in the townhouse he was working on last weekend.
Charlotte Vester, a member of the Urban Ministry at Virginia Beach United Methodist Church, said the church spent 18 months interviewing homeless men and doing other legwork. The church has been the primary force in establishing the Wesley Inn and the Urban Ministry has worked on the project for two years. They also are working closely with the city's Social Services Department.
``We talked to over 60 single homeless men during that time,'' Vester said. She and other members of the church discovered that single men with jobs and no permanent residence have few resources available.
The first Wesley Inn will be a three-bedroom townhouse at Thalia Trace, near job opportunities and public transportation. Vester's group was able to acquire the house at virtually no cost for the next 15 months through an arrangement with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. At the end of that time, the group will use the money it's raising to either buy that house or another one for its program.
Residents' stays at Wesley Inn will vary from one month to nine months and they will pay up to 30 percent - not 80 percent - of their earnings for rent.
The first Wesley Inn in Thalia Trace will be furnished March 30 and offer housing to its first two guests then, said Vester.
The house is the first of several the United Methodist church hopes to open to deal with the problem. MEMO: Donations can be made to Wesley Inn, c/o Virginia Beach United Methodist
Church, 19th Street and Pacific Avenue, Virginia Beach 23451.
KEYWORDS: INDIGENT HOMELESS by CNB