The Connection

The 100,000 Homes Fairfax campaign was presented with a Blue Ribbon Partnership award from the Fairfax County Office of Public Private Partnerships (OP3) as part of its "Celebrate Partnerships" awards ceremony held on May 29. The award honored the Fairfax-Falls Church Partnership to Prevent and End Homelessness and its work in demonstrating the value of the public and private sector working together through sustained collaboration resulting in new resources and significant outcomes that improve the quality of life in Fairfax County.

"I am so pleased to see that our broad and strong 100,000 Homes Initiative was recognized with this distinguished award," says Dean Klein, director of the Fairfax County Office to Prevent and End Homelessness, the team that serves as primary staff for the partnership. "It is so meaningful to see others recognize the importance of this campaign and the partnership of nonprofits, faith, county and businesses organizations that has focused effectively on the housing of some of our most vulnerable chronically homeless individuals."

The Fairfax-Falls Church Partnership to Prevent and End Homelessness and the 100,000 Homes campaign consists of both public and private organizations working together to house the chronically homeless and most vulnerable individuals in our community. Numerous Fairfax County human service agencies were deeply involved in the campaign’s success, including the Fairfax County Office to Prevent and End Homelessness, the Fairfax-Falls Church Community Services Board, the Fairfax County Department of Health, the Fairfax County Department of Housing and Community Development and the Fairfax County Office of Public Private Partnerships.

The 100,000 Homes campaign provides concrete, innovative tools and an infrastructure that could help communities trulyend homelessness. The campaign kicked off with a "Registry Week" last year, which sent over 200 volunteers out into the community first-hand to talk with and survey those experiencing homelessness. The event was the first of its kind for Fairfax County, putting a real face on homelessness by capturing personalized stories designed to help the community make important decisions about how to prioritize and allocate housing along with essential supportive services.

A total of 157 homeless individuals were identified as "vulnerable," or predicted to be at increased risk of dying, during Registry Week. The Fairfax Partnership set an ambitious goal of housing 50 individuals each of the next three years (150 over the next year). Today, the 100,000 Homes Fairfax campaign, part of the Fairfax-Falls Church Partnership to Prevent and End Homelessness, has reached its first-year goal to house 50 of the individuals in the county identified as most vulnerable during Registry Week, in addition to housing 98 more individuals identified as chronically homeless. Based on this housing rate, Fairfax County is on course to end chronic homelessness in 2018.