Virginia Beach residents who were at risk of homelessness more than quadrupled during the 2020 pandemic, data shows

Virginia Beach — The number of Virginia Beach residents who reported being at risk of being homeless during the 2020 pandemic more than quadrupled compared to the year prior, according to data provided by the city.

Families with children and Black residents made up the bulk of people who reached out to the city for help to avoid losing their homes, said Pamela Shine, homeless service system coordinator for Virginia Beach.

The area’s Regional Housing Crisis Hotline fielded 395 calls from households in 2019 who reported being at risk of losing housing. In 2020, that grew to 1,827 households.

“That’s huge,” Shine said.

Virginia Beach provided assistance last year to 62% of these households to prevent them from becoming homeless, said Housing Director Andy Friedman.

While the amount of people who feared they’d become homeless exploded in 2020, Shine said the number of people who were actually homeless in Virginia Beach dropped by 215 people between 2019 and 2020.

Rental assistance programs and the state’s ban on evictions amid the health crisis helped people hold onto their properties.

The moratorium on evictions has led to an unintended consequence — only about 2% of rental units in Virginia Beach are vacant, making it difficult to find housing for those who need it, Shine said.

“That leaves very little available units in our community that we can connect families to,” Shine said.

Exasperating the issue, Shine said most families experiencing a housing crisis can’t afford housing in Virginia Beach and have other barriers to be able to rent. The city has had several meetings with property management companies in the area to discuss these problems, Shine said.

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“The amount of money you have to make to be able to afford housing in Virginia Beach is astounding and it falls extremely short of the amount of money our families are making,” Shine said.

To prevent the spread of the coronavirus, the city has offered just 29 of 51 beds in its shelter near Witchduck Road and Virginia Beach Boulevard.

Since the pandemic began in March, Virginia Beach has housed 330 people in hotels, and 60% of those have found permanent or temporary housing, Shine said. Friedman said the state has provided $508,786 to the city for hotel sheltering.

At the end of January, 123 households were living in three hotels in the central part of the city, Friedman said.

The city decided not to operate its winter shelter program, which allows people who are homeless to stay overnight in churches to escape cold temperatures. Instead, the city opted to house those people in hotels.

Anyone who needs assistance with finding housing should contact the Regional Housing Crisis Hotline at 757-227-5932.

Alissa Skelton, 757-995-9043, alissa.skelton@pilotonline.com.