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Shelter operators, advocates say proposed cuts will reduce capacity as homelessness rises
Summary
Local shelter operators and advocates told the board that funding reductions threaten services as they reported rising homelessness, school-age homelessness and strained shelter capacity. They asked supervisors to maintain or restore funding for the Thurmond-Brisbane Center and regional homeless services.
Shelter operators and advocates urged the Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisors to maintain or increase funding for homelessness services, saying reductions would cut services at a time of rising need.
David Cooper, executive director of the Thurmond-Brisbane Center, said the center provides congregate shelter for single adults and rooms for families across the Fredericksburg region and that recent funding cuts have reduced capacity. "In the recent fiscal year, the Brisbane Center served 50 clients from Spotsylvania County at a cost of $58.21 per day," Cooper said, and he gave an annual operating cost figure of about $375,000 for the center's temporary shelter, meals and case management. He said the county previously contributed $50,000 toward those costs and requested at least level funding for FY2026. (David Cooper, executive director, Thurmond-Brisbane Center.)
Speakers provided other local counts to illustrate need. Cooper said the county has about 612 schoolchildren experiencing homelessness, with 173 living in budget hotels (average cost cited as $75 per day) and 418 in overcrowded housing. Several speakers linked homelessness and education instability and asked the county to consider how budget choices affect both outcomes.
Dave Gazzetta, a Livingston District resident, said cuts to shelter funding translate directly into fewer case managers and fewer clients served: "Further reducing Brisbane's capacity defeats our overall mutual end goal." (Dave Gazzetta, resident.)
Volunteer and faith-based speakers also asked for more systemic help. Mike Cotter, a long-time educator and volunteer, called for expanded interagency collaboration and cautioned that campsite cleanups displace people who then return to encampments without housing alternatives.
Why it matters: Speakers described both immediate humanitarian needs (shelter beds, hotlines and case management) and longer-term costs: emergency hotel stays, school instability for children and reduced workforce participation. Advocates asked supervisors to preserve existing funding levels for shelters and supportive services to prevent higher downstream costs.
The board did not adopt a funding decision during the hearing; the session gathered public comment for supervisors to consider prior to final budget adoption.
