Strategies To Deal With The Homeless In Fairfax City Will Be The Focus Of New Task Force

FAIRFAX CITY, VA — A task force established to assess the impact of homelessness within Fairfax City and develop strategies to address the issue met for the first time Monday night at city hall.

Fairfax City Councilmember So Lim introduced the idea of forming a task force focused on homelessness last fall, when the council was deliberating a proposal by The Lamb Center and Wesley Housing to redevelop the Hy-Way Motel and replace it with permanent, supportive, low-income housing.

Although the council voted unanimously to adopt the proposal, some city residents, especially business owners around Fairfax Circle, spoke in opposition to the measure during the public hearings leading up to the council's vote on Dec. 14, 2022.

Related: Hy-Way Motel Redevelopment By Lamb Center OK'd By Fairfax City Council

The business-owners' complained about incidents of trespassing, vandalism and harassment caused by people experiencing homeless that they have had to deal with since 2016, when The Lamb Center moved to its present location near Fairfax Circle on Spring Street. The Hy-Way Motel property is located at the intersection of Spring Street and Fairfax Boulevard.

At its Feb. 14, 2022 meeting, the council voted 5-0, with Council Member Jeff Greenfield absent, on a resolution establishing a task force "to facilitate a better local understanding of and initiate a community dialogue focused on mitigating the impacts of homelessness on both the individual residents experiencing homelessness and the greater residential and business communities."

The task force would be made up of the mayor, two council members, three representatives from the city's business community, and three city residents. In addition, the task force would include representatives from three organizations associated with the Fairfax Partnership to Prevent and End Homelessness — The Lamb Center, FACETS and A Place To Stand.

Related: Businesses Oppose Lamb Center Project, Ask Council To Defer Decision

"It will be a bunch of learning sessions for us throughout the task force," Lim said, at the start of Monday night's meeting. "I will probably be learning the most anyway. I just want you guys to know that at times many of you may get frustrated. It will be difficult at times to have different opinions from both sides of city residents."

Even though Mayor Catherine Read and Councilmember Kate Doyle Feingold joined Lim as task force members, Lim told those assembled that the task force was meant to represent a dialogue of city residents and not a plan put together by the city council.

Fairfax City Clerk Melanie Zipp and Lesley Abashian, the city's director of human services, facilitated Monday night's meeting, which was focused on the task force members getting to know each other and establishing the parameters of their discussion going forward. They also reviewed the group's charter, which outlined the task force's goals, leadership, and organization.

While Monday night was the first official meeting of the full task force, Zipp, Abashian, Read, Lim and Doyle Feingold hosted two listening sessions in April to hear the concerns of residents about homelessness in the city.

During both sessions, participants were invited to share their thoughts about the following four questions written on large paper pads:

• What could you do to address homelessness?
• By working together as a community, what could be the potential outcomes related to homelessness & housing insecurity?
• How does homelessness in the City impact you?
• How do you perceive the issue of homelessness?

Once everyone had an opportunity to share their input, the mayor read the answers to group, which prompted a greater discussion about resources available to help people living on the street, the availability of affordable housing in the city, and the need to treat individuals experiencing homelessness as people.

Related: Lamb Center, Wesley Housing Seek To Redevelop Hy-Way Motel In Fairfax

The first learning session met on April 18 in an office building conference room near Fairfax Circle. Many of the participants were business owners and residents who lived nearby. They shared their frustration over the number of homeless people who were present in the Fairfax Circle area at all times of day.

Several residents who lived on Ridge Avenue in the Great Oaks neighborhood off of Blenheim Boulevard complained about homeless encampments along Accotink Creek and the Willcoxon Trail behind their homes and Home Depot.

Abashian, who is the city's point person regarding homelessness, sympathized with the residents' plight.

"I know it's frustrating," she said. "When a resident calls and says, 'She's an older lady. She's over at the bus stop and it's really cold. Can't you do something?'"

Working with the city's outreach team, Abashian tries to identify solutions. During the winter, for example, the hypothermia shelter is an already available resource.

"But when it comes down to it, people also need to make a choice and sometimes the choices they make to stay out may not make sense to the rest of us," she said. "Sometimes, they're dealing with their own issues. It takes some time to get them to a place where they will accept that."

Going forward, the task force will be holding monthly meetings, which members of the public can attend. The information gathered from the listening sessions will be used to inform the task force's discussions.

The task force is scheduled to meet on Monday, June 5, at 7 p.m., at the Sherwood Community Center located at 3740 Blenheim Blvd. The next meeting is set for Monday, July 17, at 7 p.m., at Fairfax City Hall, located at 10455 Armstrong St. More information about the task force and upcoming meetings can be found online.