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Tough time for social services
While the government and nonprofits are seeing greater needs for social services, the county has little spare funding to make up the difference.County Executive Anthony Griffin has proposed essentially maintaining current-year funding levels for what the county terms “human services” – programs such as mental health, gang prevention, subsidized childcare and affordable housing – which also means maintaining the substantial waiting lists for certain programs and leaves some organizations asking the Board of Supervisors for more.
Kevin Bell, chairman of the Fairfax County Human Services Council, said county assistance to nonprofits is “crucial” now, as groups are getting fewer private-sector contributions while experiencing greater demand for their services.
“Look at the plight of food banks, which are at their lowest resource levels in four decades,” Bell said.
Funding requests from nonprofits total about $22 million for fiscal 2009, and the county is allocating only about $9 million to meet those demands.
Alternative House, an emergency shelter for teenagers, had its anticipated $150,000 in county funding cut in half. Without the additional $75,000, the nonprofit could have to reduce its services, said Executive Director Judith Dittman. It served about 150 teens last year.
“If we turn people away, where would they go?” Dittman asked, noting that if teens ended up in jail instead, it would cost the county much more. “The final option for these children is that they could end up on the streets.”
On the government side, employees are seeing growing caseloads while facing the same across-the-board reductions in personnel funding that all county departments have been asked to make. The Human Services Council budget recommendations warn that this could affect some services.
Mental health services are particularly affected, as county therapists are already taking on higher caseloads than the national average, said Jennifer Parker, president of the Mount Vernon Community Mental Health Advisory Board. Further cuts could lead to increased costs in other areas, she said.
“The cuts are particularly egregious to us in south county,” said Anne Andrews of the county's Route 1 Task Force for Human Services. Andrews said the mental health services contract at Inova Mount Vernon Hospital and the affordable South County Healthcare Clinic are in jeopardy.
Some supervisors are looking to the county's affordable housing fund as a possible way to bolster other areas of the county budget. Supervisors Michael Frey (R-Sully) and Pat Herrity (R-Springfield) have suggested that the county reconsider continuing to add to the “Penny for Affordable Housing Fund,” which the county uses to purchase existing affordable housing units to keep them from being converted to market-rate housing.
“Everything legitimately has to be on the table,” Frey said, also suggesting that the board reconsider the penny of the real estate tax rate dedicated to stormwater projects. “These priorities were set five years ago when it was a different world.”
The two funds combined represent more than $45 million in the proposed budget.
However, Frey's and Herrity's Democratic counterparts on the board are unlikely to support such a proposal. Members regularly tout the successes of the affordable housing initiative, which saved more than 1,500 units that otherwise would have been lost in the last five years, according to Bell.
On Monday, the Board of Supervisors overwhelmingly approved spending $500,000 in fiscal 2008 and 2009 to create the Office for Homelessness.
As he announced in his state of the county address last week, Board Chairman Gerry Connolly (D-at large) also proposed that the county consider a way to turn foreclosed homes into affordable housing.
The county must make good on its promise to end homelessness, even in tough budget years, Connolly said. “This isn't just a nice thing to do when we're flooded with money,” he said.
Mason District Supervisor Penny Gross (D) called the plan “ambitious” in a tough budget year. “But we must do it,” Gross said.
At Gross' suggestion, the supervisors also voted to require a quarterly report on the progress of the program.
Times Staff Writers Frank Mustac and Layla Wilder contributed to this report.
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