A housing crisis is upon us — but a church group in Virginia is taking a big swing at homelessness by pairing up roommates, subsidizing their rent, and offering counseling

• A small church organization in Virginia is helping unhoused people get back into permanent homes.
• They help them pay rent, pair up with roommates, and receive ongoing support services.

In the seaside town of Virginia Beach, Virginia, a church group of less than 40 people is taking on a crisis that's also sweeping the rest of the nation.

Todd Walker, executive director of the Judeo-Christian Outreach Center in Virginia Beach, said that people suffering from the housing crisis, especially those experiencing homelessness, aren't often provided the tools to get back under a roof. That's why he runs an organization that pairs individuals with landlords, roommates, and case workers, in addition to subsidizing their rent for up to two years.

It's the type of support that's become increasingly necessary, Walker says, as homelessness increases across the country, and the cost of rent is making it harder for people to afford a place to live, especially those on fixed incomes through programs like Social Security Disability Insurance. In addition to losing access to stable housing, Walker says, people lose access to their communities.

"Homelessness can be life changing, it can be a matter of life and death," Walker told Insider. "Why not take advantage of this opportunity where you can have your own space?"

"The whole goal is to help people be self-sufficient"

Rent increased at its fastest rate since 1986 this summer, with a 20-month hot streak of hikes only breaking in August. Inflation isn't helping either. That's on top of a national housing shortage causing homeownership to move out of reach for many.

Shelters across the country have been feeling the effects. As the Washington Post's Abha Bhattarai and Rachel Siegel reported in July, shelters have seen a surge in people seeking housing, with wait lists doubling or tripling over the past few months. The number of people experiencing homelessness outside of shelters is likely also growing, experts told The Post, within encampments, parks, and other public spaces since the start of the pandemic.

On top of that, the pandemic-era federal eviction moratorium ended last year.

Walker's organization is just one of several throughout the country that are helping people circumvent a worsening national crisis.

"On average, we subsidize them for about six to eight months," Walker said. "It all depends on the individual — everyone's different, some we pay longer than others."

In addition to helping their clients out financially, Walker's organization employs case workers to help guide them through any problems they have when they start renting. Some of their clients also get help from government housing vouchers.

"The whole goal is to help people be self-sufficient," Walker said.

"Not only are they building up their rental history — they're reacclimating to the community"

One person who has benefited from the center's housing assistance is Eric Perkins, on whom NPR's Jennifer Luden first reported. Perkins told NPR that he lost housing after a series of health events including a chronic lung disease and a heart attack in 2017, which limited his ability to work. He lived on the beach for a stint and then moved into a homeless shelter. Today, thanks in part to the Judeo-Christian Outreach Center, he's living in his own apartment.

But it was a hard journey to get there. His monthly disability payment — under $800 — is less than the median Virginia Beach rent of more than $1,000 for a one-bedroom apartment. That's common for many people on disability payments, who have found themselves homeless in the face of skyrocketing rent, unable to pay their bills or go to work.

But the center paired Perkins with a roommate, and he now pays $600 a month in rent, although he was initially wary about living with a stranger.

"I was real skeptical because of the things I was seeing inside the shelter," he told NPR. "A lot of drug use, lot of alcohol abuse, PTSD, there was a lot of veterans there. ... I was like, 'I don't want to be in a house with somebody like that.'"

He eventually grew comfortable with the arrangement.

"We got to know each other, we respected each other's space, we shared everything," he says. "It was really nice."

Clients aren't the only ones who are cautious about the living arrangements, Walker said. It's hard to find landlords who are open to having tenants who experienced homelessness and are often financially precarious.

"Usually we try to get involved with people who have hearts for the homeless," he said, adding that landlords tend to be reassured by the outside support his organization offers.

"When they come in, they don't just say, 'OK, here is the person, goodbye,'" Sophia Sills-Tailor, Perkins' landlord, told NPR. "They help them set up the household, donating things like blankets, pots and pans. And then they're coming to see them."

Research shows that providing housing subsidies, alongside case management and supportive services, can help people experiencing chronic homelessness achieve long-term housing stability. Investments in permanent supportive housing have helped decrease the number of chronically homeless people by 8% since 2007, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development found.

Organizations like Walker's are taking on the brunt of this kind of work, however. The housing shortage and rising rents have drawn little attention from Congress, with Senate Democrats abandoning affordable housing spending earlier this year.

Walker said that getting people connected with an initial long-term housing situation after being homeless is important to their long-term stability.

"Not only are they building up their rental history — they're reacclimating to the community," he said.