Loudoun may be one of the wealthiest counties in the nation, but a diverse group of residents met in the back of St. James Episcopal Church in Leesburg Thursday night, to discuss its homelessness problem.
Pastors, community leaders and local residents met in the back of the church to figure out a way to keep Loudoun’s homeless warm during the winter.
For now, the Good Shepherd Alliance, a Christian organization that serves the homeless living in Loudoun, has opened its office doors in Leesburg for people to stay at night.
In September, the organization threatened to close the warming shelter, due to lack of space and sanitation reasons, but decided to stay open until the county provided its residents some options.
Luckett's Elijah Gate Christian Center opened its doors to Loudoun's homeless in January, but St. James Rev. John Ohmer said there's more work to be done.
Ohmer said he would like to be able to open St. James' doors to the homeless at night, but is waiting for the approval of the Leesburg Town Council.
The Leesburg Town Council will vote on a list of ordinances that will determine who can and cannot house warming shelters, at their meeting Tuesday night.
GOOD SHEPHERD ALLIANCE vice chairman Mark Gunderman stood up in the middle of the meeting.
"Why do we have this mind-set?" Gunderman said. "We want to stick homeless people far away."
A voice chimed in from the back of the room.
Dean Akbar was recently evicted from his Sterling apartment.
He and his wife and two children moved their belongings to his mother-in-law's house.
"My wife and kids are staying with her," he said, "but I don’t have a place to go."
Akbar was forced to move into his car several weeks ago, after he and his mother-in-law had a falling out.
"It gets pretty cold in there at night," he said. "Especially now."
After spending several nights in his car, Akbar took a bus to a homeless shelter in Lucketts.
The problem is, the bus only comes twice a day, once at 7 a.m. and again at 9 p.m.
"I have to be at work by 6 a.m.," Akbar said.
Even though Akbar has a car, he is not allowed to drive it to the homeless shelter, according to shelter rules.
Akbar said he was an hour and a half late to work, and he was forced to hang around town until the bus came for him again at 9 p.m.
"That’s a long day," Gunderman said.
THE LEESBURG TOWN COUNCIL has released three sets of ordinances, which it is scheduled to vote on Tuesday night.
The group's biggest concern is the 1,000-foot buffer zone restriction between an emergency warming shelter and residential homes that is written into all three options.
"That rules out churches," said Rosemary Sump, a member of St. James Episcopal Church.
Akbar said a 1,000-foot buffer zone would not prevent "any homeless man from getting to where he needs to go."
"This is a temporary thing. I just have to get back on my feet," Akbar said. "It’s hard to do when everything’s working against me."