Fairfax Aims to Prevent Working Families from Homelessness Written by Muslim Link Staff Thursday, 28 July 2011 10:56
The Katherine K. Hanely Family Shelter was built by Fairfax County in 2007 and is one of six emergency shelters in the prosperous county. Photo by The Muslim Link.
One Family Shelter Estimates 25% of Residents Are Muslim
Amatullah is a hard working immigrant from Kenya. A US citizen, the single mother leaves her 16-month old daughter at a daycare while she works full-time in the laundry room of an upscale hotel in Fairfax, Virginia, one of the nation’s wealthiest counties.
At the end of the day, she picks up her daughter and drives back to their room at the Katherine K. Hanley Family Shelter. Amatullah is one of Fairfax County’s “working homeless”. Five months ago Amatullah – her real name is not being used to protect her privacy – shared an apartment with her cousin, splitting the rent and utilities. Then the cousin moved out of state. Amatullah’s income was too low for her to get approved for an apartment in Fairfax County. So, despite having a job and a car, Amatullah became homeless. She delivered her second daughter two months ago while at the Katherine K. Hanley Family Shelter. Far from the media driven, stereotypical image of a disheveled person pushing their belongings in a shopping cart, these tax-paying homeless families have jobs and transportation but – for a variety of reasons – don’t have the stable, adequate income needed to pay for a housing. These homeless families might stay in cheap motels or with friends and relatives, but when these options are not available, the next move might be to their vehicle or the street.
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Fairfax Aims to Prevent Working Families from Homelessness Written by Muslim Link Staff Thursday, 28 July 2011 10:56
In 2010, Fairfax County documented 3,076 homeless residents which includes both singles and families. The number also includes 876 children. Amatullah currently resides at the Katherine K. Hanley Family Shelter, one of six emergency homeless shelters in Fairfax County operated through a partnership between the county and non-profit organizations like Shelter House, the non-profit organization which runs the day-to-day operations of the Katherine K. Hanley Family Shelter. A two-story, purpose-designed shelter built in 2007 by Fairfax County, the Katherine Hanley Family Shelter looks more like an upscale apartment building than a typical homeless shelter. Nestled behind a new neighborhood with large single family homes, the shelter has all the resources a family might need – a cafeteria, computer room, play room, and conference rooms. Small families can fit in one room with three beds; two rooms are combined by removing a collapsible wall to accommodate larger families. There are two “pods” per floor with six rooms in a pod; each pod has its own laundry and bathroom. White noise machines lie discretely in the hallways to help families maintain privacy in their conversations and meetings with case managers.
Resedential Supervisor Mikail Abdul Rahman shows the many resources available to shelter clients including classes and seminars. Photo by The Muslim Link.
Although Shelter House doesn’t keep data on the religious affiliation of residents, Katherine K. Hanley Family Shelter director Jennifer Schiller estimates that at any given time about 25% of the residents in the the 72-bed shelter are Muslims. The numbers suggest that more Muslim families are serviced by this one shelter than are serviced by all of the region’s Muslim-operated shelters combined. Schiller attributes the large number of Muslim families to the diversity of Fairfax County. “This year alone we’ve served Muslim families from Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Somalia, Uzbekistan, Ethiopia, Sudan, Egypt, Eritrea, and the United States,” said Schiller. “Northern Virginia is a very diverse community, and unfortunately there is not enough affordable housing, so these Muslim families are struggling with homelessness.” When the Muslim Link asked Amatullah if she sought help from the large, well-to-do Muslim community in Fairfax County, she was perplexed. “I don’t know anyone there. I didn’t think they could help me enough. They can’t provide section
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Fairfax Aims to Prevent Working Families from Homelessness Written by Muslim Link Staff Thursday, 28 July 2011 10:56
8 [housing] for me. Maybe they [would have] given me some information and told me to go to the shelter,” she said, completely dismissing the notion that any help could be found at a masjid. Amatullah’s co-workers still don’t know she has been homeless for the last five months. Shelter House also runs the Patrick Henry Family Shelter in Falls Church – a complex with seven apartments for larger families -- as well as Artemis House, a shelter for victims of domestic violence, with only 34 beds serving more than 1 million residents in Fairfax County. Fairfax County oversees all of the shelter properties and contracts with non-profits like Shelter House to run the shelters. Fairfax County is engaged in one of the most ambitious initiatives in the nation aimed at combating homelessness. In April 2007, the county appointed a 95-member committee including professionals working in housing development, finance, business, social services, health care, religious institutions, employment services, and the public sector to develop a plan to prevent and end homelessness in Fairfax County. On March 31, 2008, the county adopted a 10-year plan to end homelessness by December 31, 2018. The philosophical foundation of the 10-year plan is “housing first and rapid re-housing”, a view of homelessness which recognizes the myriad social, economic, psychological, and other factors which lead to homelessness, while at the same time recognizing that those factors cannot be addressed until a stable, permanent living situation is found. Mikail Abdul Rahman, the Residential Supervisor at the Katherine K. Hanley Family Shelter and an active member of the Muslim community in Northern Virginia, said there are many reasons people are homeless, but those reasons can’t be addressed while a person is worrying about where they will spend the next night. “Low income, loss of income, no income, bad credit, health conditions, immigration status, domestic violence or divorce are all obstacles that clients may face upon entering the shelter. Our program was designed to quickly assess the barriers to housing and then provide community case management where other issues can be addressed” explained Abdul Rahman, who oversees around 40 full and part-time employees at the Katherine K. Hanley Family Shelter. “The [approach] is ‘rapid’ re-housing because people thrive in their own housing with supportive services rather than in a shelter environment,” said Abdul Rahman, who is one of several Muslim employees working at the shelter. One former resident said the Katherine K. Hanley Family Shelter gave him “precious time to plan” for his family and their housing needs. “Our job is to address the barriers to housing, so if [for example] low income is the barrier to housing we would need to link the client with employment services and training,” said shelter director Jennifer Schiller. “Here we provide a safe place to live, food, case management services, but the goal really never changes – to rapidly re-house people back into the community and provide support.”
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Fairfax Aims to Prevent Working Families from Homelessness Written by Muslim Link Staff Thursday, 28 July 2011 10:56
The rapid re-housing effort starts right away with the “in-take interview”, where Shelter House case managers and the “client” try to pinpoint the reasons they became homeless. Beyond the obvious financial challenges to housing, there are factors that lead to income loss such as low education, lack of budgeting or job search skills. Shelter House has case management staff who work one-on-one with each client to address barriers to housing. Families are required to save their money while at the shelter as the food, accommodations and things such as laundry are at no cost to the client. In addition, clients are provided with the essentials such as soap, toothpaste, tooth brushes, linens, and diapers, which are items that the shelter relays on as donations from the community. Internet enabled computers, phones, and – most importantly – a physical address are all provided so families can search for jobs and affordable housing. In conjunction with case managers, housing locators and volunteers, residents are educated on public and private resources they can use to obtain assistance for family counseling, employment training, and medical services. Large bulletin boards are constantly updated with notices of events such as seminars on time management classes, financial literacy workshops, parenting workshops and bus schedules. Amatullah said she spends her time after work calling to secure a lease for an apartment and applying for occupancy. She said her income level is barring her from getting approved. Case managers work with families in the shelter to develop a “family action plan” where clients come up with goals to help them move into permanent housing and achieve self-sufficiency. “One mother wrote down that she wanted to find out more information about college for her son on her family action plan,” recalled Schiller. Once the client moved out of the shelter, the Community Case Manager was able to help the client and her son with college applications. The “Housing First – Rapid Re-Housing” model appears to be working. In 2010, 41% of clients served by Shelter House were unemployed when they entered, while 56% were employed when they exited their Shelter House facility. Also, 59% of families who left the Katherine K. Hanley Family Shelter moved into permanent housing. This year, the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce awarded Shelter House “Non-Profit of the Year”. Despite the resources Fairfax County puts towards ending homelessness, there is still a wait time of 3 months or more for rooms in its six shelters. Only Fairfax County residents are eligible for shelter services. “We work very closely with other shelters to make sure that people are following the right process… no one wants to see a family on the street anywhere,” said Schiller. Shelter House serves homeless families with children. “We have a significant number of single moms with children, [and] we’ve seen an increase in
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Fairfax Aims to Prevent Working Families from Homelessness Written by Muslim Link Staff Thursday, 28 July 2011 10:56
the number of two-parent families as well as single fathers with children,” explained Abdul Rahman. Abdul Rahman makes it a point to raise the issue of homelessness in the Muslim community, encouraging area Muslims to get more involved in preventing and ending homelessness. “There are some Muslims who might not be aware of the number of homeless families in our community”, he said. Abdul Rahman and the rest of the staff at the Katherine K. Hanley Family Shelter say homelessness is a community issue, and in partnership with other non-profits, the faith community, corporations and businesses and local government, the community can address the needs the of the homeless. “There is always a family that comes through the door that you think you will never forget, but then another family comes whose needs might be even greater … we provide the emergency housing to keep families safe, but we cannot do it alone, which is why we need [the community’s] help and support,” said Abdul Rahman. As of this report, Amatullah is still at the Katherine K. Hanley Family Shelter, waiting to go back to work at the hotel after her pregnancy. She said she isn’t sure if her income will be the same because her work hours depend on the amount of guests at the hotel, and the slow economy means more vacancies at area hotels. Asked about the hardest aspect of being at the shelter, she thought for a few seconds. “You cannot make your own food, and Ramadan is coming.” Fortunately, Katherine K. Hanley is seeking food donations for Ramadan in order to provide for this important time. To see how you could help with this as well as the many other needs at the shelter, please visit Shelter House at www.shelterhouse.org or contact the Katherine K. Hanley Family Shelter Community Coordinator, John Callahan at 571-522-6815.
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