Does the following sound familiar? You may think you’re “having déjà vu all over again.” Who says history doesn't repeat itself?
The PHCA President wrote in a Pimmit Hills Dispatch urging residents to come to the next PHCA meeting to learn the details about a proposed managed home for adults in Pimmit Hills. Is it 2012 or 1976?
In the October 1976 Pimmit Hills Dispatch, the PHCA President wrote:
“….I urge that residents attend the October [1976] meeting to learn the details about the proposed “Managed Home for Adults,” which will be used primarily for people being released from mental institutions....”
Here was the article in the October 1976 issue of the Dispatch:
A “MANAGED HOME FOR ADULTS” PROPOSED
SHARE Inc., a community help organization supported by thirty of the area’s churches, has plans to establish a “Managed Home for Adults” (MHA) within Pimmit Hills.
The MHA consists of a large house with separate bedrooms and a resident manager, providing a temporary but stable home for adults who urgently need a special type of housing. They are people being released from our mental institutions -- for a variety of reasons, including changes in national policy regarding the rights of individuals.
SHARE is hoping to lease the old Hileman farm house on Magarity Road between Anderson and Gilson for the first MHA.
Representatives of SHARE, the Fairfax County Department of Social Services, and the County Mental Health Board will present their appeal to the community for acceptance and assistance in this effort at the Pimmit Hills Citizens Association meeting on October 5th. They will be able to respond to citizens’ questions, concerns and offers for participation in this project.
The MHA will be staffed with a professional manager in residence, with counseling by the staff of Fairfax County Department of Social Services.
The residents will be adults who are judged to be harmless, but who are ill-prepared to cope with their immediate situations. They are also without the housing they need and can afford (they are eligible for special funds) because such housing is not presently available.
Many of these persons have a chance of adapting to a satisfactory life, but they need at once a place to live. The best type of place to live has been found to be a “Managed Home.” Without such a place to live, these “lost persons” in our midst will continue to wander, sleeping wherever they can, unable to get themselves together. Without an address they may not even be able to receive the financial and professional help available to them.
SHARE has decided to do something about this problem before it becomes even more critical. It has decided to work toward the formation of a Managed Home for Adults to serve this area.
It is contacting the Pimmit Hills Citizens Association and similar volunteer community organizations in the northern section of Fairfax County to ask for their cooperation and participation in this effort.
For this project to become a reality, three major types of assistance are needed:
--Financial assistance is needed able the program to get started and be sustained.
--Material assistance, such as donations of furniture, will be needed.
--Volunteer assistance to help in setting up and maintaining the house, including redecoration, yard work, etc. necessary also.
In the November 1976 Dispatch:
PHCA TO STUDY PROPOSED
MHA Following the presentation at October's PHCA meeting, a committee has been formed to study the Managed Home for Adults (MHA) proposed by SHARE Inc. for the old Hileman house on Magarity Road. The PHCA has not taken a position on the MHA matter, but through the committee’s efforts will keep the community informed of the status of the MHA. Residents are urged to participate in the committee's study -- analyzing the reasons for establishing a MHA in the community, determining the expected impact of a MHA on Pimmit Hills, and reviewing the organization, financing, rules, and operation of this proposed MHA.
But in February 1977, the whole thing fell through:
MANAGED HOME FOR ADULTS
Mr. Ron Gurnsey, SHARE, Project Leader of the proposed MHA has advised the PHCA that a private party has made contract on the large house located at 7353 Magarity Road. Mr. Gurnsey indicated that the purchaser intends to live in the house, therefore, SHARE would not be able to lease from the new owner.
7353 Magarity Road:
End of story . . . . until 2012 when another County managed adult home is proposed in Pimmit Hills.
The meeting about this home will be on Tuesday, March 6 -- but this time 36 years later in 2012 -- at 7:30 pm at the Pimmit Hills Center/School on Lisle Avenue. Only current PHCA members will be able to vote on whether or not to support this home.
