CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – City Manager Sam Sanders used the word “Urgency” on WINA Morning News Tuesday to describe the efforts to set up 2000 Holiday Drive as both a short-term temporary homeless shelter as well as a low-barrier facility in the longer term.
Additionally, Sanders outlined a buildout of city personnel within the Department of Human Services to help both in the administrative offices and out in the streets.
“We’re trying to get the overnight shelter open, now actually, and that’s the conversation we’ve been having with PACEM [People And Congregations Engaged in Ministry] and we’re not sure we’re going to be able to pull that off,” Sanders said. “I’m having meetings with PACEM, have met with them twice, and we have a conversation later this week trying to see if we can get that facility open.”
These meetings, he said, are in regard to the short-term shelter which would be an interim step open until the thermal shelter opens in the fall.
“We can’t have it there permanently while we’re trying to do the renovations once that plan is finalized,” Sanders said.
As for that plan, Sanders said he’s met with the Blue Ridge Coalition for the Homeless (BRACH) and its Executive Director, Shayla Washington, on Monday to “work through the steps toward getting this operating plan done so we know what the long-term vision of Holiday Drive can actually look like.”
“[I’m] meeting with folks that might join in the effort with PACEM, the Haven, and BRACH to operate that facility,” Sanders said, “because that is a critical piece to what we’ve missing here in the City of Charlottesville.”
Sanders described the process as trying to put together the right plan so the city doesn’t just move people to another place, but to “the right place, a place where they can get help and get things back on track”.
In addition to figuring out what to with and how to staff Holiday Drive, Sanders mentioned there is an effort now to shore up city leadership by adding a team within the Department of Human Services for homeless services, just as that office has teams for youth services and adult services.
Sanders said city Human Services Director Misty Graves is now in the lead with homeless services after returning from vacation.
“Basically, what we’re having conversations about now is what are the right personnel we need to add,” Sanders said. “The goal would be is we’re going to be trying to get out there and do some direct contact ourselves, assuming we go with that. There’s just not enough capacity within the nonprofits and we’re going to build some ourselves.”
This leadership is needed because the city plan is to have every wrap-around service at that Holiday Drive site.
“So somebody’s going to have to be a master planner to coordinate that, and then there’s going to be these core things that just happen on-site; the day shelter, the overnight shelter, feeding, and other things they’ve been accustomed to be able to get access to regularly,” Sanders said.
Sanders said they might put out an RFP and see who responds for this type of leadership, but he’s “not as patient,” so he’s not sure if he wants to go that route.
“We may just take that on ourselves, and then later to an RFP once we figure out exactly how it should run,” he said.
