Sherry Edelkamp of Alexandria rolls out sleeping bags at Rising Hope Mission Church, a shelter site for New Hope Housing. Photo by Tim Peterson.
Thanks to a pair of federal grants, the Mount Vernon-based nonprofit New Hope Housing (NHH) can do one better than providing temporary shelter to chronically homeless adults. The grants, from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, give NHH the opportunity to lease several Fairfax County and City of Alexandria apartments for up to 15 individuals.
“When each of these individuals is safely in an apartment, instead of street or shelter, we’ll be able to help them heal much faster,” NHH executive director Pam Michell said in a statement.
The accommodations will be “permanent supportive housing,” which NNH said is a combination of case management services as well as a living space to call their own. Candidates who are chosen for the apartments will contribute up to 30 percent of their earned income to paying the rent.
To be eligible, NHH considers only the “chronically homeless:” individuals or families with adults who have been without a home a year or more, or homeless at least four times in the last three years, and are disabled.
NHH works with the homeless populations in the cities of Alexandria and Falls Church, and Arlington and Fairfax counties. In addition to temporary shelter and permanent housing, they offer other outreach services including alcohol and drug treatment, mental health assistance and job skill training placement.
To help furnish the new apartments for the incoming residents, members of the public can donate used furniture and home goods through NHH’s “New Home” basket project. More information on donating is available from Nicole Allen, 703-799-2293 ext. 22.