A temporary homeless shelter in Norfolk’s NEON District will be moved to a nearby motel next month where the city plans to create a new transitional housing center.
The City Council unanimously approved spending up to $140,000 to lease the Budget Lodge Motel at 1050 Tidewater Drive from the owner. According to city documents, the city and property owner negotiated a lease agreement but the city “desires to purchase” the property from the owner, listed as Vijay, LLC.
The lease will end once the city buys the property or Jan. 3, 2022, whichever happens first, documents state.
Since May, the city’s Community Services Board has helped run a temporary shelter at the now-defunct downtown Greyhound Station. A phalanx of tents, most elevated onto pallets, were set up in an outdoor lot behind a chain-link fence.
The station lobby acted as a central area to distribute food and for people to use restrooms. The shelter has been able to accommodate 80 people per night with another 20 who have used it during the day. Case workers helped people with employment; many got jobs in the service industry in downtown Norfolk.
Sarah Paige Fuller, who runs the Community Services Board, said the shelter has served more than 300 people. Many people in the community have donated food, clothing and money for laundry and bus passes.
Fuller has a meeting with the motel owner on Thursday along with the city’s economic development department to discuss a timeline for moving those at the Greyhound shelter to the motel. Each person staying at the shelter is guaranteed a spot and will be helped bringing their belongings over, Fuller said.
The motel is still in operation. The owner is on board to close it down so the city can start work on converting the building to what will be known as the Housing Center on Tidewater. The center will open no later than Oct. 14, Fuller said.
The city will remove furniture from the motel’s 72 rooms and replace them with metal beds with thick, sealed mattresses, which can be cleaned and sanitized daily. The majority of those staying at the center will room with one other person, Fuller said. There will be a 5- by 6-foot clear, plastic partition between the two beds.
The center will start by offering housing to 100 people, with room for more if there’s a surge in homelessness or more who come in during the cold winter months. There is laundry on site. Most people will have access to bathrooms from their rooms. Two other rooms will be vacant for people who use the center during the day.
Two full-time case managers will be on site to help people find more permanent housing as well as connect them with mental health care and other medical needs. They will also help with employment.
The center will offer peer support services, Fuller said, meaning those staying at the motel can meet and talk with people in recovery from addiction or someone who has dealt with mental health issues.
“We’re not trying to maintain homelessness,” Fuller said. “We’re trying to give people the opportunity to transition out of homelessness.”
The motel has a history of helping those suffering from homelessness, said Katrinia Freeman, who leads the nonprofit #keepvawarm.
Freeman’s group has been partnering with others to donate food and clothing to the Greyhound shelter along with buying bus passes when needed.
Over the past year, she has housed dozens at the Tidewater Drive motel, usually on nights when there is bad rain. The owner gives her discount rates because he knows she usually gets more than 10 rooms at a time. He also works with her to give people later checkouts if needed. She would regularly drive over to bring people toiletries or quarters to use the laundry.
“He and his wife do have a really good heart,” Freeman said.
Freeman said her group formed last October and began pushing the city to offer more resources to its homeless population. When people set up tents along 19th Street in Ghent, her group helped get them rooms at the motel and new tents if theirs were destroyed during a bad storm.
She’s excited about the next step at the motel. Those at the center will no longer have to deal with the elements overnight.
Gordon Rago, 757-446-2601, gordon.rago@pilotonline.com
