Fairfax County is moving forward with plans to turn a vacant 94-room hotel near Route 50 and West Ox Road into emergency housing for families and victims of domestic violence.
The former Extended Stay America hotel building at 3997 Fair Ridge Drive was purchased by the Fairfax County Redevelopment and Housing Authority (FCRHA) in August for $14.5 million to address a growing need for emergency shelters and consolidate services provided by shelters in Reston.
“In addition to safe facilities and food, the Fair Ridge Shelter will provide services such as assistance with registering for Federal benefits, obtaining identification, securing safe, permanent affordable housing, access to medical services, and information on employment opportunities,” Allyson Pearce, marketing and outreach manager for the county’s Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), told FFXnow.
At a meeting on Dec. 3, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved a transfer of the building from the FCRHA to the county to begin the process of converting it into a public shelter.
Planned shelter will replace Reston facilities
The Fair Ridge Shelter is expected to reopen in spring 2025, aligning with the end of the county’s annual hypothermia prevention program, which runs from Dec. 1 to March 31. Minor repairs, including fire alarm upgrades and parking lot restriping, are already underway to bring the building up to code.
Before major renovations can move forward, however, the project needs approval from both the Board of Supervisors and the Fairfax County Planning Commission.
The board is set to vote on a minor variation to allow public use of the site on Jan. 14, according to Pearce. The planning commission will follow with a public hearing on Jan. 29 to determine if the project aligns with the county’s comprehensive plan.
The Fairfax County Department of Planning and Development will host a virtual public meeting to discuss the project tomorrow (Thursday, Dec. 19) from 7 to 8 p.m.
Pearce says the project will roll out in two phases.
The first phase will relocate the 40-bed family section of Reston’s Embry Rucker Community Shelter (11975 Bowman Towne Drive) to Fair Ridge. The Embry Rucker shelter, which currently serves both families and adults without children, is slated to be replaced as part of the long-planned Reston Town Center (RTC) North redevelopment that will also bring a new regional library, housing and other public facilities.
As part of the redevelopment, Pearce says the Embry Rucker shelter will move to Block 5 of RTC North, where it will become a facility exclusively for adults without children. The upgraded shelter will include expanded capacity, medical beds, day-use services for training and workforce development, and permanent supportive housing units.
“Fairfax County plans to redevelop the Embry Rucker Community Shelter, which will offer modern shelter facilities as well as safe, longer-term solutions for people without children in Reston who are experiencing homelessness,” she said.
If approvals are secured, the county plans to move families into the new Fair Ridge Shelter by April 1. At the same time, the county will close a temporary overflow shelter set up at the North County Human Services Building for residents of Reston’s “Hill” encampment, which was cleared in September to make way for RTC North’s redevelopment.
The second phase of the Fair Ridge project will replace the 40-bed North County domestic violence shelter, centralizing services and expanding capacity. Additional site and building renovations will be managed as part of the Department of Public Works and Environmental Services’ Capital Improvement Program.
Shelter demand rises amid regional homelessness spike
The new shelter comes as the D.C. region’s homeless population continues to climb, increasing 12% from 8,696 in 2023 to 9,774 in 2024, according to the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments.
Fairfax County’s homeless population has grown from 1,041 in 2020 to 1,278 this year, though it was the only locality in the region to see a decline over the past year, with 32 fewer people experiencing homelessness compared to 2023.
County officials credit the drop to efforts by the Office to Prevent and End Homelessness and its nonprofit partners, who have expanded shelter capacity.
Over the past five years, the county has increased its shelter bed inventory by 20%, from 1,072 in 2019 to 1,291 in 2024. While emergency shelter beds declined after peaking at 814 in 2021, they have rebounded, rising 4% from 453 in 2023 to 471 this year. Seasonal and overflow beds have also nearly doubled since 2019, growing by 97% to 670.
Despite those efforts, county staff say the number of emergency housing beds remains “insufficient” to meet the needs of families experiencing homelessness and victims of domestic violence, who are disproportionately Black or African American.
“The purchase of this property represented an important strategic opportunity for Fairfax County to quickly improve and increase the capacity of its emergency shelter options for families,” Pearce said.
The shelter will be managed by HCD, which contracts with nonprofit agencies to handle day-to-day operations at its emergency shelters. An operations provider hasn’t yet been selected, says Pearce.
Similar to a hotel, the shelter will offer temporary accommodations for individuals and families experiencing homelessness, with the goal of helping them find rental housing.
Households at risk of or experiencing homelessness are referred to shelters through Coordinated Services Planning (CSP), the county’s hotline for health, housing and human services. Contracted providers then work to prevent homelessness or connect families to the nearest available shelter.
“According to the One Fairfax policy, one of the County’s areas of focus to promote social and racial equity is regarding housing,” county staff said in a report for the Board of Supervisors. “The policy states that housing policies must encourage all who want to live in Fairfax to be able to do so, as well as provide a full spectrum of housing opportunities across the county. One part of this spectrum is emergency housing, or shelter, for people experiencing homelessness.”
While there’s no waitlist for Fairfax County shelters serving families with children, the nearest shelter is currently at capacity, according to Pearce.
CSP and contracted shelter providers have been working to find alternative options for families experiencing homelessness, which sometimes includes renting hotel rooms.
As of Nov. 27, about 105 families were staying in hotels, says Pearce, adding that adult-only households don’t face wait times for shelter right now, as the county’s Hypothermia Prevention Program is open.
Supervisors clash over price tag
Springfield District Supervisor Pat Herrity cast the lone dissenting vote on Dec. 3 against transferring the former Extended Stay America property.
Though he acknowledged that the county’s shelters are “oversubscribed,” Herrity argued before the vote that the board should wait until after the Dec. 19 public meeting to hear feedback from residents.
“I understand the desire to kind of expedite this and get this in place, but having a public hearing on the 19th of December doesn’t make a lot of sense,” Herrity said. “We don’t know exactly what we’re trying to approve yet.”
Sully District Supervisor Kathy Smith, whose district includes the proposed shelter, agreed that more information from staff would be helpful, but she argued that the project can’t wait because the county has a duty to serve people in critical need in a “timely manner.”
“It is really important that we move forward with this project that is vital to our community,” she said.
In a newsletter to Springfield District residents, Herrity expanded on his comments, arguing that the public should have more input on the project, particularly since the county paid nearly $15 million for the property — which, he claims, is well above the property’s appraised value of at most about $12 million.
“While the County’s existing shelters are oversubscribed and securing additional space is important, it does not eliminate the need for the County to be fiscally prudent with taxpayers’ dollars and respect the public input process while addressing the need,” Herrity said in the letter.
Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay told FFXnow that the total purchase price includes furniture and fixtures and didn’t involve county tax dollars.
The county was awarded $4.1 million in federal funds to cover initial improvements and modifications needed to open the facility as a family shelter by spring.
“Sadly, there has been blatant misinformation put out about the shelter,” McKay said in an email. “This acquisition presents a rare opportunity for Fairfax County to enhance and expand its emergency shelter capacity to meet demand.”
Photo via Google Maps
