Opinion: Letter to the Editor: Supporting New Kennedy Shelter on Beacon Hill Alongside the Penn Daw Fire Department
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Opinion: Letter to the Editor: Supporting New Kennedy Shelter on Beacon Hill Alongside the Penn Daw Fire Department

Sunday, May 30, 2021

Dear Supervisor Storck,

This is a letter of support for placing the new Kennedy Shelter on Beacon Hill at the old Hybla Valley Nursery site alongside the Penn Daw Fire Department. We can hardly think of a better site. Here is why it meets all the criteria necessary:

  1. It is an easy walking distance to multiple transportation lines. This is needed for a population that rarely owns a vehicle.

  2. It is an easy walking distance to entry level jobs, especially in the retail industry. This can make the difference in moving someone out of homelessness and into housing.

  3. Healthcare and community services are easily accessible from this location.

  4. It will be a new build and not a remodel, which is necessary to design a facility that optimizes the factors to move someone back on their feet.

  5. Completion of the project will be sooner than if the search continues.

  6. It is the morally right thing to do. We are One Fairfax. Because someone has fallen upon hard times and ended up homeless is no reason to keep them out of the community and deny them the access to the benefits offered to everyone else. In fact, we have a moral obligation to help them get back on their feet. Most who find themselves homeless move through the shelter and into housing in about 75 days.

  7. Placing the shelter alongside the fire department, rather than two separate locations, will save the taxpayer money.

At Rising Hope we interact with homeless individuals every day. We know them to be trying hard to make the choices that will lead to them back into a job or stable housing. For the most part, people’s fear of the homeless is unfounded. The thousands of people that support the work of Rising Hope and volunteer in our mission will be delighted to see you support a new shelter at Beacon Hill.

We encourage a swift decision.

Grace and Peace,

Keary Kincannon, Founding Pastor

Kameron Wilds, Pastor

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