Fairfax Leaders Listen To Testimonials From Residents Of Reston Homeless Encampment

RESTON, VA — Advocates for Fairfax County's unhoused population joined local faith leaders and elected officials on a wooded hill in Reston last week to show their support to the residents of the homeless encampment located there. It was also an opportunity for the residents to share their personal stories.

“We don’t want to just be neighbors, we want to be good neighbors because good neighbors ensure that their neighbors are seen and heard," said Dr. Vernon C. Walton, senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Vienna. "The invisibility of people doesn’t diminish the needs of people, nor does it negate our responsibility to people. Many have asked why we held worship in the woods and the answer is simple, it is because we want our neighbors to know that we see them, we hear them, and desire to be responsive to their needs.”

First Baptist Church of Vienna co-hosted the Worship in the Woods Symposium with the Fairfax County NAACP, and Restonstrong, a local nonprofit formed in 2020 to help Reston's homeless population find permanent housing.

Sarah Selvaraj-Dsouza, Restonstong's executive director, told Patch on Monday this was the second year the group had conducted an event like this.

"It was providing an avenue for folks to share their lived experience ... where we offered an opportunity for individuals to give testimony," Selvaraj-Dsouza said. "You and I can go into a public hearing and talk about how the zoning near my house doesn't work. But folks who are unhoused don't really take advantage of that opportunity, so we've brought it to them."

During the symposium, Selvaraj-Dsouza announced that Restonstrong had signed a letter of intent with nonprofit housing developer AHC Inc. to develop permanent, supportive housing for unhoused seniors and elderly individuals at-risk for sexual violence in Fairfax County.

Since its founding in 1975, AHC has actively developed affordable housing throughout in Northern Virginia.

"We very much look forward to working with Restonstrong and others to find permanent housing solutions for persons experiencing homelessness in the Reston area and Fairfax County," AHC Director Mary Clare Davis told Patch on Wednesday.

Also present at the Worship in the Woods Symposium were:

• Minister Kennard Jones, Youth and Young Adult Pastor of First Baptist Church of Vienna
• Deacon John Taylor, First Baptist Church of Vienna
• Rev. Stephen Smith Cobbs, Pastor of Trinity Presbyterian Church and Board Member of Cornerstones
• Cantor Susan Caro, Northern Virginia Hebrew Congregation
• Freda Gardner, First Baptist Church of Vienna
• Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn
• School Board Karen Keyes-Gamarra (At-Large)
• Fairfax City Mayor Catherine Read
• Kerrie Wilson, chief executive officer of Cornerstones

"Housing for all is not a luxury but a basic need," Selvaraj-Dsouza said, as part of her testimony at the symposium. "The testimonies today were candid and brutally honest. Their truth is hard to ignore. When we leave today and go into our air conditioned cars, walk into our safe and cozy homes, peel off our sweaty clothes and jump into the shower, I guarantee today all of that will feel different. We will feel blessed. These simple everyday luxuries we take for granted are out of reach for many of our neighbors."