Please print out and mail this card to Jay Fisette, Arlington County Board urging him to fund a year round homeless shelter and to seek federal funds to begin a public jobs program in Arlington for the unemployed:

Mr. Jay Fisette

Chairman, Arlington County Board                      Date

Dear Mr. Fisette          

As a resident of Arlington, Virginia, I am concerned about the 500+ homeless

individuals and families (some of whom are living outdoors) and the 5,000

unemployed residents in our county. I urge the County Board to do more.

 >Please open a year-round homeless shelter for all. Arlington’s wintershelter

currently operates just 5 months a year, with just 50 beds.

 >Please seek federal stimulus funds to begin a public jobs program for the

unemployed, with a living wage of $13 an hour and health benefits.

If we can spend millions for a new arts center, we have the funds to care for

 those in need.  Thank you for considering my petition.

__________________________________________________

Name (print here, please)                                   Signature

__________________________________________________

Street Address                                      Arlington, VA               ZIP

Mail to:                                               Jay Fisette

                                                          Chairman, Arlington County Board

                                                           2100 Clarendon Blvd, Suite 300

                                                           Arlington, VA 22201

December 12, 2009

Good morning members of the Arlington County Board

My name is John Reeder, and I am here today on behalf of the Arlington Green Party to speak in favor of the petition presented to improve the situation of the homeless and the unemployed in Arlington.

In addition to Arlington Greens, this petition is supported by AFSCME Union Council 30, and by a number of Arlington faith-based groups that directly serve the hungry and homeless in Arlington.

The petition calls for a year-round homeless low-barrier shelter in Arlington from the current 5-month winter shelter.  The county currents support the 5-month per year winter shelter at a cost of about $180,000.  Extending the shelter to 12 months would mean an additional cost of about $252,000 annually.

With a year round shelter, we would like to see more direction of the homeless to that shelter rather than having them arrested for simply being homeless or having mental and addiction problems.  Studies across the U.S. indicate that local government actually save funds this way rather than having the criminal justice system involved.

The petition asks the county to seek federal funds to begin the first public jobs program in Virginia for unemployed and homeless residents to do community and Green projects to help our community.  We understand that Obama stimulus funds are or will shortly be available for this purpose.

County employees could directly administer these jobs programs for existing county programs such as cleaning up public streams and parks, repairing and improving county and Commonwealth property. Salaries of these county employees could be recouped from these federal funds so that these programs would benefit the county budget…

We Greens support the start of a Green jobs program.  We would like free home energy audits for residents for residents.  We believe that this would improve our environment and provide useful jobs for the unemployed.

During the past campaign, Mr. Fisette mentioned his desire to improve environmental programs in Arlington.  We Greens highly recommend a jobs program financed by federal funds as an important step to making Arlington a more environmentally sustainable community and at the same time giving employment to the over 6,000 unemployed or underemployed Arlington residents.

On December 12, 2009, a group of community activists and Green Party members including John Reeder presented the following petition to the Arlington County Board:

Petition to the Arlington County Board—A Plan to Improve the Well-Being of the Homeless and Near Homeless in Arlington County Virginia

            December 12, 2009

Whereas:

      All people have an inalienable right to basic shelter, and to be treated with dignity.

      Over 500 people were counted as homeless in Arlington in January 2009 (a 25-percent rise from January 2008).

      In September 2009 over 5,500 Arlington residents were officially unemployed and many more thousands unable to find full-time work.

      Average rents in Arlington in 2009 exceed $1,700 a month, and require an income  in excess of $65,000 a year to be affordable.

      The county’s one current winter shelter can only accommodate 73 people in a dilapidated building, and is open only from November through March; and

      Many unsheltered people must live outdoors in Arlington parks and open space.

Therefore:

1. The County Government should open and operate a year round shelter to accommodate all unsheltered homeless people. This year-round shelter should be a “low barrier” shelter (similar to the current winter shelter) that takes care of any unsheltered individual.

2. The County Government will finance the establishment of single room occupancy (SRO) dormitory style housing, so that single adults can be quickly transferred from the shelter to the SRO or to any other vacant affordable apartment in the county.

1. The County Board shall direct the Arlington County police who encounter homeless individuals living and sleeping in open space in the county to call county (DHS) social workers so that such homeless individuals may be directed to this safe shelter instead of being arrested for living in the open.

1. The County Government should seek Obama stimulus funds to begin a public job program for homeless people and unemployed residents to perform needed community work in county parks, school buildings, community clean up efforts such as along Four-Mile Run, the Potomac River, and major roads and streets, and undertake green energy savings efforts such as weatherization and free energy audits for county residents.

1. That the causes of chronic homelessness be addressed.  There needs to be increased funding for the treatment of mental illness and substance abuse. County officials, such as police officers, fire personnel, should be more rigorously trained to diagnosis, handle and treatment for such individuals. 

1. That more stringent guideline should be put in place to deal with such individuals in order that they may be given treatment earlier in the progress of their disease. This will prevent treatment only when their problems have become so chronic that they pose a threat to themselves and others of our community.

1. That services to combat homelessness need to be extended to all individuals regardless of their residency status (including undocumented workers).  That extra effort is exerted to contact and treat the Day Laborers of our county.