Community Snapshot: Norfolk
Between 2006 and 2008 homelessness in Norfolk, VA decreased by 25 percent, from 665 to 502. Additionally, chronic homelessness decreased by almost 40 percent, from 126 to 78, in the same time period. Norfolk’s count of unsheltered homeless people revealed a significant decrease from 196 in 2006 to only 61 in 2008, representing a 69 percent decline.
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Norfolk, VA, a city of approximately 240,000 people, is the urban center of Southeastern Virginia. On any given night, approximately 600 people are homeless in Norfolk, and many more are homeless over the course of a year. Single adults make up a majority of the city’s
homeless population (about 72 percent). In 2008, 88 percent were living in emergency shelters.
In September of 2005, Norfolk, VA launched its Ten Year Plan, The City of Norfolk’s Blueprint to End Homelessness. By the second year of implementation, the City had over 70 partners including the Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, Housing and Urban Development, and Veterans Affairs.
The key elements of the Norfolk plan are Housing First, a central intake process for families, and the creation of permanent housing units. Early results have been achieved by the sustained commitment of city leaders, the partnership of the many family shelter providers
and other nonprofits, and the willingness to update the plan as needed.
