We want to hear from you about housing and homelessness in the Greater Virginia Peninsula! Please take the following short survey:
Virginia Peninsula Homelessness Study Survey
** The online survey regarding homelessness on the Peninsula will close at 11:59pm on November 9th. All are encouraged to take the survey as some of the results will be discussed during our public forums.
Viam Advising, a Houston-based firm helping communities work to end homelessness, has been contracted by the City of Newport News to conduct a study to understand homelessness in the Greater Virginia Peninsula. There are three main questions guiding their research:
- What is the current state of homelessness and services in the Peninsula?
- How could existing community stakeholders, resource allocations, and service strategies be reconfigured to achieve the greatest efficiency?
- What extent of new resources, programming and service strategies would be necessary to achieve the short, medium, and long term goals? And, how should those new inputs be configured?
Over the last few months, Viam Advising has been reviewing data and reports related to housing and homelessness while engaging in conversations with local leaders. At this point in the study, Viam Advising would like to gather feedback from the community at large. Information on those opportunities is detailed below.
The Virginia Peninsula Homelessness Study Survey is open to anyone living or working in the peninsula (Newport News, Hampton, Poquoson, Williamsburg, James City County, or York County). The link to complete the survey can be found at the top of the page. Please consider sharing your thoughts through this survey, which should take just about 10 minutes of your time.
The Viam Advising team will be visiting the Peninsula for the first of 3 to 4 site visits from October 28th to November 1st. During that week, the team will host focus groups with persons with recent or are currently experiencing homelessness and with frontline homeless services staff. Details about the times and locations of these focus groups will be sent directly to those eligible to participate. If you would like information about these opportunities, please email virginiapeninsulahomelessstudy@gmail.com.
Viam Advising will also be holding two public forums for broad community input on housing and homelessness. For geographic representation, these meetings will be split between the upper and lower regions of the Greater Virginia Peninsula. Initial findings from the Virginia Peninsula Homelessness Study will be shared for community discussion. Residents of the Virginia Peninsula are invited to attend!
We currently have two dates scheduled:
- Wednesday, November 13, 2024, from 6-8 pm in Williamsburg Community Center; 401 N. Boundary Street, Williamsburg, VA 23185
- Thursday, November 14, 2024, from 6-8 pm at the Denbigh Community Center; 15198 Warwick Blvd, Newport News, VA 23608
After gathering and analyzing all the collected data, the Viam Advising team will compile our final report. The study is on track to be completed by the end of December 2024 and should be released shortly after that. There will be a public presentation of the final report and details on the meeting will be posted here when the meeting date and time is finalized.
Viam Advising, the Greater Virginia Peninsula Homeless Consortium, and the Commission on Homelessness thank you for sharing your time and thoughts in an effort to make homelessness rare, brief, and non-recurring across the peninsula. Your insight is very valuable and appreciated!