New Hope Housing was founded as Route One Corridor Housing in 1977 by a group of concerned citizens who witnessed homeless families and individuals living in run-down, crime ridden motels or in “camp sites” in the woods along the Route One corridor of Fairfax County, Virginia. In 1978, it opened the first homeless shelter in Fairfax County, Mondloch House, providing safe, decent emergency shelter for eight homeless single adults. This first shelter was named in memory of Bob Mondloch, one of the agency’s founders and its first Treasurer. Operating as an all-volunteer program (until 1982), Route One Corridor Housing received the National Achievement Award from the National Association of Counties in 1980 in recognition of this community-based effort to address the need for services for homeless persons in the community.
Since those early steps, New Hope Housing has added programs, expanding its work to reach to a larger number of persons in need. Some of the significant milestones in the development of New Hope Housing include:
- 1983 – Route One Corridor Housing opens Mondloch House II, a newly constructed, 24-bed Fairfax County shelter for families.
- 1986 – Route One Corridor Housing opens the South County Community Shelter, a 50-bed Fairfax County shelter for single adults operated in a renovated building on the U.S. Army Fort Belvoir grounds. The shelter was soon renamed in honor of Eleanor U. Kennedy, a community leader who spearheaded the founding of New Hope Housing.
- 1990 – Pamela L. Michell becomes executive director on November 5. She is hired with a focus on housing.
- 1991 – Mondloch House II Family Shelter is expanded from 24 beds to 45 beds. An emergency winter overflow unit is added at the Kennedy Shelter in a trailer behind the main building.
- 1992 – Programs expand beyond shelter to include transitional housing with the opening of Turning Point for single men, and Stepping Out and RISE — Reaching Independence through Support and Education — for families.
- 1996 – Post-shelter housing continues to grow with the opening of Milestones, the first long-term supportive housing program for families in Fairfax County.
- 1997 – The winter overflow program at the Kennedy Shelter begins operating year-round, now with 11 beds and expanding to 21 beds in winter months. During times of extreme cold or heat, no one is turned away, and extra cots are set up in the main shelter’s dining hall and lounge.
- 1997 – Project STRIDE, transitional housing for families, is opened.
- 1998 – Route One Corridor Housing changes its name to New Hope Housing.
- 1999 – New Hope Housing receives HUD funding and opens Max’s Place, the first “safe haven” permanent supportive housing program in Fairfax County for chronically homeless, mentally ill single adults.
- 2003 – New Hope Housing begins operating the Falls Church Winter Shelter in partnership with the Friends of Falls Church, providing shelter for 12 homeless adults during the winter months.
- 2004 – Mondloch House I shelter program redesigned to serve chronically homeless adults using a housing first, engagement approach; the program was awarded Best Housing Program at the 2006 Governor’s Housing Conference.
- 2006 – In partnership with VIC (Ventures in Community, a coalition of faith communities in southeast Fairfax) and Rising Hope United Methodist Mission Church, the VIC-Hypothermia Outreach Program begins, providing winter shelter for 25 adults. VIC-HOP now operates December 1 through March 30 annually.
- 2007 – Housing First Apartments program begins, housing single adults in scattered site apartments in the community. The program now serves 16 individuals in permanent housing with ongoing supports.
- 2007 – New Hope Housing selected to provide case management for 13 families in Fairfax’s pilot homelessness-to-homeownership program, Partnership for Permanent Housing. New Hope Housing also partners with the Fairfax County Department of Health and the Fairfax–Falls Church Community Services Board in a Mobile Medical Outreach program serving unsheltered adults.
- 2008 – Gartlan House opens, providing permanent supportive housing for 8 single men; operation of Susan’s Place begins, a safe haven program for chronically homeless adults and New Hope Housing’s first program in Arlington County.
- 2009 – Community Case Manager is added to assist persons at risk of homelessness as part of the new plan in Fairfax County to end and prevent homelessness.
- 2010 – Community Services Team is added to include housing location services, homelessness prevention, education and employment services, and life skills development.
- 2010 – Begin operating the Alexandria Community Shelter, a 65-bed shelter in the city of Alexandria, for families and singles. Just Home Arlington begins, serving two single adults.
- 2011 – Families move from Mondloch II into apartments, launching Next Steps Family Programs, an innovative approach in emergency housing for families. The Mondloch II Family Shelter officially closes November 30.
- 2012 – Construction begins on Mondloch Place, a supportive apartment housing program for homeless adults. Alexandria Housing First begins, serving two single adults.
- 2013 – Mondloch Place opens, providing efficiency apartments for 20 homeless adults. Alexandria Housing First II begins, serving two single adults.
- 2014 – Alexandria Housing First expands to serve nine additional adults. Just Home Fairfax begins serving six single adults.
- 2015 – New Hope Housing master leases a four-bedroom house in Mount Vernon to house homeless veterans and provide them with case management services to rapidly rehouse them in homes of their own. Soon after, the City of Alexandria sublets a three-bedroom townhouse that they own to New Hope Housing to provide a similar program in Alexandria.
- 2017 – New Hope Housing takes over operations of the Bailey’s Crossroads Community Shelter and Region 2 Hypothermia Program on October 1st.
- 2019 – Opens new Bailey’s Shelter & Supportive Housing facility with Fairfax County. This new facility combines a modern shelter with 18 supportive housing units.
- 2020 – New Hope Housing takes over operations of the Residential Program Center shelter in Arlington County on February 3rd.
- 2020 – COVID pandemic begins. New hotel/shelter programs are launched in Fairfax County. NHH operates QPID program for two years out of Holiday Inn.
- 2021 – Pamela L. Michell retires on October 1 after nearly 31 years as executive director.
- 2021 – 2023 – William Gorman serves as interim executive director.
- 2023 – Ashley McSwain becomes new permanent executive director on June 12.
Today, New Hope Housing manages shelter programs providing 160 beds year-round and an additional 80-100 beds in the winter; and permanent supportive housing programs for over 100 single adults. On any given night, over 300 people find hope and hospitality in New Hope Housing programs.