The Prince William County Homeless Mobile Unit resumed operations this spring, offering weekly support to homeless residents in the western part of the county. The unit is stationed at Manassas Presbyterian Church, 8201 Ashton Avenue, every Thursday from 3 to 6 p.m., providing hot meals and referrals for mental health, housing, and substance abuse services. Feeding Friends now operates the unit, which was previously run by Serving Our Neighbors until September 2024.
Full press release:
The Prince William County Homeless Mobile Unit reopened this spring, bringing much-needed services to the unsheltered community in the western part of the county. The mobile unit operates every Thursday from the Manassas Presbyterian Church parking lot at 8201 Ashton Avenue, offering hot lunches, as well as mental health, housing and substance abuse referrals.
Previously operated by the non-profit Serving Our Neighbors, the unit ended operations in September and was donated to Prince William County to ensure the continued delivery of services. The Prince William Board of County Supervisors approved the donation in December, and the unit underwent refurbishment and maintenance before its relaunch. The non-profit Feeding Friends will now assume operational responsibilities.
“I’m excited to get it started up again,” said Acting Assistant Director of the Homeless Services Division,?Tanya Odell. “The mobile unit serves our most vulnerable clients. It allows us to provide services on the spot to support them. It’s definitely needed.”
Phyllis Jennings-Holt, director of the county’s Department of Social Services, also emphasized the importance of the unit in addressing the needs of the unsheltered.
“Folks are in crises,” Jennings-Holt said. “Being unsheltered has an impact on your mental health, your physical health, so being able to go somewhere, even for a short period of time, to get some needs met, to talk to someone about next steps and to possibly get some help is important.”
The mobile unit is designed to meet people where they are and provide immediate assistance to those seeking stability.
“If the client is interested in services, they will be referred to those programs or departments to link them to those services. If they need help from federal agencies, we will help them start the process,” Odell said.
The mobile unit will be staffed by social workers, mental health professionals and outreach workers, operating Thursdays from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., with plans to increase operating hours in the near future.
For more information on available services, visit pwcva.gov/socialservices.
A bill to protect individuals experiencing homelessness by prohibiting criminal penalties for seeking temporary shelter in legally parked vehicles failed to advance in the Virginia House of Delegates Subcommittee of the Cities, Counties, and Towns Committee. HB2602, introduced by Delegate Joshua Cole (D-65, Fredericksburg), sought to address homelessness by ensuring humane treatment and temporary shelter solutions.
The bill would have prohibited localities from enforcing ordinances penalizing individuals for sleeping or seeking refuge in legally parked cars. Additionally, it required localities to make reasonable efforts to provide temporary shelter, including using government-owned property and stipulated that no individual could be detained solely for public camping unless they posed an immediate public threat or were offered alternative shelter.
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Fredericksburg’s City Planning Commission will have a regular meeting on July 10. On the agenda are multiple applications from Micah Ecumenical Ministries and Mary Washington Healthcare in regards to The Jeremiah Project.
The project is a planned housing community for the city’s homeless. On the agenda is rezoning the 32- acre parcel near Roffman Road and Bakersfield Lane. A special Use Permit for institutional housing and vacation of right of way, will also be reviewed. The plan includes 189 units between an 80-unit building and 109 single or attached dwellings, in addition to three community buildings, a church, and a medical clinic.Â
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Fredericksburg Continuum of Care: On January 22, 2024 the Fredericksburg Regional Continuum of Care (CoC) received funding in the amount of $21,000 to support the Community Based Eligibility Worker Program to provide outreach to individuals and families experiencing homeless to access Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) more easily.
hoThe CoC is the federally mandated coalition responsible for planning and implementing homeless services throughout Planning District 16, including the Counties of Caroline, King George, Spotsylvania, and Stafford, and the City of Fredericksburg.
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The construction of the Homeless navigation center in the east of Prince William County moved a little closer on Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2024, with a unanimous vote to approve a zoning map amendment to use five parcels of land owned by the county for the center’s construction.
The land near Potomac Mills mall contains the OmniRide transit center, the regional bus hub, and Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission offices. The north portion of these five parcels, fronting Potomac Mills Road, is the former site of the Bill Mehr Drop-In Center, which provides meals, showers, and opportunities to connect and interact socially. The drop-in center is temporarily located at the Ferlazzo Building, a county government office complex on Route 1 in Woodbridge.
The county plans to demolish the old drop-in shelter and its parking lot and construct a new homeless shelter.
The west and south portions of these five parcels contain the location of the OmniRide bus storage yard, maintenance building, and employee parking. In the southeast portion is the county-owned building and its associated parking, which is currently occupied and operated by
Social Services will remain.
This site already contains a one-story former shelter that will be demolished and replaced with a new structure. Eventually, all five parcels of land will be consolidated.
The Prince William County Planning Commission and staff have reviewed the proposal, and both favored and recommended its approval.
Prince William County Occoquan Supervisor Kenny Boddye thanked the planning department for their work and said the project “was long overdue and needs to be moving faster.”
Coles District Supervisor Yesli Vega echoed those same thoughts but also wondered when proposals would be put forth for a homeless navigation center in the west of the County as outlined in the action strategy.
According to the county’s comprehensive plan, adopted December 13, 2022, the county plans to “open homeless navigation centers in eastern and western Prince William County to increase the County’s ability to respond to emergent needs of people experiencing homelessness.
Several homeless shelters assist individuals and families in need in Prince William County and Manassas.
The Bill Mehr Drop-In Center, located at 15941 Donald Curtis Drive, the Ferlazzo Building, in Woodbridge, offers meals, showers, and various support services to help with health, employment, education, and housing needs.
The Hilda Barg Homeless Prevention Center, at 14945 Jefferson Davis Highway in Woodbridge, provides a year-round shelter for families and single adults, offering case management and job readiness programs.
The Ferlazzo Emergency Shelter, also located at 15941 Donald Curtis Drive in Woodbridge, serves single adults with a focus on providing assistance to navigate the system and access support programs.
Additionally, the Beverly Warren Emergency Shelter, operated by Action in Community Through Services (ACTS) in Dumfries, offers an 18-bed shelter for women and families with housing-focused case management.
The SERVE Family Shelter, operated by Northern Virginia Family Services (NVFS) in Manassas, provides a 90-bed emergency shelter for families and single adults, focusing on housing-focused case management.
Finally, the Supportive Shelter, operated by StreetLight Community Outreach Ministries in Woodbridge, offers eight beds. It caters to individuals with medical challenges or disabilities, focusing on immediate needs and permanent housing solutions.
In September 2020, Prince William County officials tried to use federal coronavirus funds to establish a homeless shelter in Dumfries. However, County Supervisor Andrea Bailey, representing the Potomac District encompassing Dumfries, requested the town’s Planning Commission to remove a request for consideration for the project from its agenda to amend zoning ordinances to allow the homeless shelter in the town’s B1 zoning district.
The reason behind Bailey’s request remains undisclosed.
Discussion about the planned homeless shelter was also quashed at the Dumfries Town Council’s agenda. Negotiations had commenced with the owners of Grace Church, located at 1006 Williamstown Boulevard, for the potential purchase of the church to convert it into a shelter.
In the end, Grace Church purchased a property about a mile away, at the corner of Route 234 and Van Buren Road, and built a new facility. The building that was to become the homeless shelter now houses the Prince William Campus of Potomac Valley Church.
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The survey covered encampments throughout the county, including the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park.
This year, a unique approach was taken to encourage participation in the survey. Homeless individuals who completed the survey were given gift cards as an incentive. The donated gift cards totaled $2,740, said Prince William County spokeswoman Nikki Brown.
“Some gift cards were provided in different denominations. However, any unsheltered person who completes a survey during the PIT count receives a gift card,” said Brown.
Serving Our Neighbors, PWC Community Foundation, Beta Delta Phi Sorority, Streetlight Community Outreach Ministries, and Cooperative Council of Ministries provided gift cards. Several food trucks participated, including the C.H.O.W. Wagon, Northern Virginia Food Rescue, Mike McGuire – The Bus & Grill.
The PIT survey, mandated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, determines the number of homeless individuals in the area and influences the amount of federal funding allocated to the community. The survey results, expected to be analyzed by the Washington Metropolitan Council of Governments in January and February, will be released in May.
“This annual initiative not only serves to understand and address homelessness but also highlights the collaborative efforts of the community in supporting this important cause,” remarked Hilda Barg Homeless Prevention Shelter Human Services Manager Priscilla Castillo-Woyak, a team leader for this year’s count, in a county-issued press release.”I already work with the population on the family side of things. I love this work. I think we get to know the community better. For me, it’s just important to be here for support.”
Last year’s PIT reveals a notable spike in homelessness in Prince William County, with a three-year high and a 35% increase since the previous year, the Prince William Times reports. The number of homeless people not living in a shelter or hotel was 73, compared to 102 in 2020. However, the number of unsheltered residents doubled since 2022, when it was just 27.
Factors such as the economic fallout from the pandemic, the expiration of COVID-19 housing and income supports, and increased construction activity are believed to contribute to this trend.
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