[Archived] Alexandria Community Services Board Schedules Two Public Meetings on Special Use Permit for Safe Haven Residential Program

City Press Release


	For Immediate Release	For More Information, Contact
	January 22, 2007 PIO# 019-07/rdo	Brian Hannigan, Director of Communications, or Raynard Owens, Communications Officer, at 703.838.4300 Raynard Owens, Communications Officer, at 703.838.4300

ALEXANDRIA COMMUNITY SERVICES BOARD SCHEDULES
TWO PUBLIC MEETINGS ON SPECIAL USE PERMIT FOR
SAFE HAVEN RESIDENTIAL PROGRAM

The Alexandria Community Services Board (CSB) today announced it will hold two community meetings to discuss the board’s application for a congregate housing Special Use Permit at 115 North Patrick Street for the Safe Haven Residential Program.

The community meetings will be held on Tuesday, January 30 and Tuesday, February 20 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Jefferson Houston School for Arts and Academics, 1501 Cameron Street.

The Safe Haven Program will provide housing and supportive services for homeless people with mental illness and/or other disabling conditions who live in the streets and cannot or do not use existing shelters. Safe Haven is designed to fill a gap in Alexandria’s services for homeless people, whose needs frequently cannot be met with traditional outreach and emergency shelter programs. The City’s Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse will operate Safe Haven with oversight by the CSB and City Manager James K. Hartmann.

“We welcome the opportunity to explain the Safe Haven program to neighbors and other residents of the City of Alexandria, and to respond to their concerns,” said CSB Director L. Michael Gilmore, Ph.D. “The Community Services Board strongly believes this program is a needed component of our treatment program for this unfortunate segment of society and that the Patrick Street building is the best possible location for the program.

The Community Services Board has conducted residential treatment programs in Alexandria for over 20 years and currently operates 53 residential sites across the City. Since January 1998, when data collection was automated, the CSB has served a total of 706 consumers in its residential programs with no significant community incidents and a high degree of success, as measured in part by consumers’ movement to more independent living.

The facility at 115 North Patrick Street building was previously used for more than 20 years as a CSB “Clubhouse” program for 65 persons with severe mental illness and/or substance use disorders. That program has since relocated to the Health Department building at 4480 King Street. Many of its participants have similar histories to those of the Safe Haven consumers.

The Safe Haven SUP application is currently scheduled to be heard by the Alexandria Planning Commission at its March 6 meeting.

Information about the Safe Haven program is available at www.alexandriava.gov/mhmrsa/safe_haven. For additional information, or to request materials in an alternative format or a disability accommodation, please call Jennifer Cohen-Cordero at 703-838-4455 (TTY 703-838-5054) or email jennifer.cohen-cordero@alexandriava.gov. The City of Alexandria is committed to compliance with the City’s Human Rights Code and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Jefferson Houston School for Arts and Academics is a short walk from the King Street Metrorail Station, which is also served by DASH transit lines #AT 2, 5, 6, 7 and 10, and Metrobus #29. For DASH schedule information, call 703-370-DASH or visit www.dashbus.com. For Metrobus schedule information, call 202-637-7000 or visit www.wmata.com.

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