Temporary Overflow Shelter To Open For Reston's Unhoused Residents

RESTON, VA — Fairfax County will be opening a temporary overflow shelter in the coming weeks so that Reston's unhoused residents have a safe place to stay once the county's hypothermia shelter closes after Sunday night.

In years past, about half the people who used the hypothermia shelter were able to find other accommodations once it closed, according to Hunter Mill Supervisor Walter Alcorn. The remaining would end up staying in their cars or in tents, individually or in encampments.

"We have a lot of folks that need temporary shelter," Alcorn told reporters Wednesday, during a livestream meeting. "Embry Rucker Shelter is full and that's been the case for a while."

The Fairfax County Redevelopment and Housing Authority and Cornerstones are moving forward with plans to create a temporary overflow shelter in the Northern County Human Services Building located at 1850 Cameron Glen Drive. The new shelter will be within walking distance of Embry Rucker, the North County Government Center, and the Reston Regional Library.

As part of the process, the county will be closing the tent encampment located on county-owned land between the Inova Emergency Room and Sunrise At Reston Town Center.

"Expect over the coming days and weeks or so to see No Trespassing signs going up on county property," Alcorn said. "We've had to do this on other locations, on county property as well. But for me, it was very important that before we moved forward with that, that there needed to be a place for folks to go just for shelter."

Since the property is located within the Reston Town Center North development area, it would have to be cleared anyway once work on that project began. As part of the development, a new, 25,000 square-foot Embry Rucker Shelter would be built, as well as a new Reston Regional Library.

Perhaps more importantly for the people who use the hypothermia shelter or who would otherwise be sleeping in their cars or in tents, the state of Virginia recently gave Fairfax County 300 permanent supportive housing vouchers to help qualified people find a shelter for the long-term.

"Hopefully, we can work through all this as a community and address the multiple challenges that we have and certainly our unhoused population and their needs, the surrounding community and their needs. It's a challenge," Alcorn said.