LoudounNow LOUDOUN COUNTY’S COMMUNITY-OWNED NEWS SOURCE
[ Vol. 1, No. 29 ]
[ loudounnow.com ]
BRUSH UP ON THAT USELESS KNOWLEDGE. ..................24
[ May 26 – June 1, 2016 ]
COUNTING THE NEED
Report Shows Progress Made in Fighting Homelessness
picture of homelessness in Loudoun because it overlooks people in jail, in the hospital, or staying in hotels or with friends or family on the night of Jan. 28. To receive federal Department of Housing and Urban Development money, jurisdictions must follow narrow guidelines, counting only individuals who are living in shelters or in places not meant for human habitation. But many in the county government and nonprofit sector say the count shows that Loudoun has made progress in providing help to those who need it most. Beth Hodge, executive director of the Loudoun Homeless Services Center, has some reservations about looking solely at the Point-in-Time Count as an indication that homelessness is down, in part because this year’s took place when Loudoun had 3 feet of fresh snow on the ground. But she has seen anecdotal evidence that fewer people do not have a place to call home. As one example, she points to the tent city that once existed near the county’s shelter on Meadowview Court in Leesburg that has since gone away. “Yes, we’ve got more work to do,” she said, “but we are definitely moving in the right direction.”
A New Strategy Douglas Graham/Loudoun Now
A man makes his way toward the county’s homeless shelter on Sycolin Road in Leesburg. Loudoun County says the number of people without housing is at an all-time low, but the most recent homeless count has some critics.
BY DANIELLE NADLER The totals are in. The number of homeless people in Loudoun has hit a new low. That’s according to the county’s annual Point-in-Time Count, which identi-
fies people who are considered “literally homeless” under a strict federal definition. The count, conducted on Jan. 28, found 134 people lacked housing. It’s the lowest homeless count Loudoun has seen
in more than 10 years, all while the county’s population has grown by more than 100,000 people. Some say the Point-in-Time Count— the results of which were released earlier this month—does not give the full
For several years, Loudoun County government and nonprofit leaders saw the total number of homeless people tick up from 152 in 2009 to 179 in 2014, and many of the same faces each year. “Clearly, the way we were addressing homelessness wasn’t working. So we said, ‘it’s time to be creative and think outside the box,’” Hodge said. In 2014, Loudoun County’s DepartHOMELESSNESS >> 31
Residents Press for More Answers on Short Hill Plans BY RENSS GREENE As AT&T presses its controversial plan to expand its decades-old switching station buried on Short Hill Mountain, people who live around the ridge have more questions than answers. More than 20 people turned up to speak during last week’s Board of Supervisors meeting—and many of those were among the more than 200 who showed up Monday night at a meeting in
Lovettsville hosted by Parsons Environment and Infrastructure Group Inc., the firm representing AT&T on its county applications. Loudouners want to know what, exactly, is going in the proposed building’s two-story, 160,000-square-foot footprint, which will go on top of an existing underground facility, along with eight backup generators and 22 air coolers. They want to know what impact the vastly expanded facility will have on the
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mountain and on the people who live at its base or who enjoy the view of Short Hill. And they want to know why this new facility isn’t being regulated as a data center, which is not allowed in that area. “I’ve been in the telecommunications industry for almost 30 years, I’ve worked in both landline and mobile telecommunications, and everything about this application reads ‘data center,’” William SHORT HILL >> 38
Renss Greene/Loudoun Now
Residents at the meeting in Lovettsville wait to ask their questions.
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