Homeless center offers hope, and a break
Facility provides showers, laundry, job and housing help
NEWPORT NEWS — In the 30,000-square-foot former Marine Corps Reserve facility that sits behind four prominent oak trees on Warwick Boulevard in Newport News, those without a place to go can do laundry, take a shower, get a ride to an evening homeless shelter or stay warm on a cold day.
Those who use the Four Oaks Day Service Center also can receive job training, be referred to employment opportunities, get help with housing, and receive treatment for mental health or substance abuse issues.
The center opened in December and operates daily. Doors are typically open 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., but the center has stayed open later during the winter to coordinate with the churches that operate overnight shelters. The center also opened earlier on particularly cold days.
“We just give them a chance,” said Syretta Williams, a housing specialist in the city’s department of human services.
Williams is a member of that department’s housing broker team, which helps people avoid homelessness or take steps to find a place to live. The team is one of several working in Four Oaks at 7401 Warwick Blvd.
The center is a safe place for a person without a home to stay during the day, but the ultimate goal is for that person to engage with the services on site and take positive steps, said Tameka Davis, the director of the center.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s annual Point-in-Time Count identified 226 homeless individuals in Newport News and 439 across the Peninsula in a single day in January 2018.
That count, largely conducted by volunteers on foot and in shelters, is not a comprehensive look at homelessness and does not include those at-risk of being homeless. It is used more as a snapshot to assess the level of need for the homeless population in a 24-hour period, according to the Greater Virginia Peninsula Homeless Consortium.
The project has been a longterm vision of Assistant City Manager Alan Archer, and the city had been eyeing the former Marine Corps facility for a day center since 2016. The city took over the building about a year ago and slated $425,505 to fix it up after it had sat empty for about five years.
The city didn’t pay anything to the Marine Corps to use the building and will continue to occupy it for no charge, besides utilities, improvements and upkeep.
Maryland-based Volunteers of America Chesapeake has a contract with the city to run the center. The organization runs sim- ilar operations in the region and employs eight staff members at Four Oaks.
Four Oaks sees more than 50 people a day and works with them in a case management system that includes help with workforce development, housing assistance, veterans services and health and wellness services.
Davis said having a one-stop shop makes it easier for staff or volunteers to direct someone to another service because they can just walk down the hall rather than have to figure out transportation to a different office.
Davis said the staff and partner organizations in the building have helped get birth certificates and other identifying documents that are needed for employment. Help with GED preparation is available and participants can use staff and volunteers as references on applications. Some can bolster their resumes by taking on volunteer roles at the center.
Davis said the center has hired some people who came seeking job help to work as security guards. Potential employers have come in to talk about the jobs they offer and introduce some of the skills they look for in job candi- dates.
Along with help finding opportunities, the center has systems in place to help people actually get the job, Davis said.
Staff and volunteers assist with resumes and interview skills, and people can take a shower and borrow clothes at the center.
Davis said when the center first opened, the staff realized many people were in need of haircuts, so they worked on finding donors to furnish a barber shop. Within a couple months, a local fraternity alumni group purchased chairs, a mirror and other equipment, and staff found a barber to make use of it.
The shop will open next week. The center has come far since renovation work started, and it’s still a work in progress. Davis said the case management system allows staff and volunteers to get to know all the people who come through and really learn about their needs.
Williams and Edward Johnson, another member of the housing broker team, said some people just get worn down and need encouragement or advice. They talk to people who have their work hours reduced and worry about paying rent and bills. Johnson said sometimes the solution is as simple as helping that person call a landlord or utility company and let them know they’re in a rough patch and set up a plan moving forward.
For those with a criminal record, bad credit or issues in their rental history that may cause a landlord to brush them off, the team can connect them to landlords in their network who they know will overlook that history.
Since the center opened, Davis said the number of users who visit in a day has about doubled, and they expect more growth as word of mouth spreads.
The city will celebrate the center’s opening with a ceremony and job fair Tuesday.
The job fair is 9 a.m. to1p.m. and includes employers such as the city of Newport News, Amazon, Walmart, Smithfield Foods and Waste Management. The ceremony is slated for 11 a.m. during the job fair.