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2014 SESSION

14103545D
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 131
Offered January 13, 2014
Commending Alice Tousignant.
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Patrons-- McClellan, Carr and Peace
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WHEREAS, Alice Tousignant served as the executive director of Virginia Supportive Housing for the past 16 years and retired from this position on December 31, 2013; and

WHEREAS, under Alice Tousignant’s leadership, Virginia Supportive Housing (VSH) has become a national model for how to solve the challenge of chronic homelessness, developing a regional single room occupancy model in Hampton Roads that was the first of its kind; and

WHEREAS, Alice Tousignant and VSH have been instrumental in proving that the shift away from temporary shelter of homeless adults to providing permanent, supportive housing is a lasting solution for homelessness; 98 percent of the residents in VSH properties never return to the streets; and

WHEREAS, the evidence-based approach used by VSH includes the development of affordable housing, ongoing property management, and the provision of robust, onsite supportive services to help formerly homeless individuals achieve housing and economic stability; and

WHEREAS, Alice Tousignant has guided VSH through remarkable growth in the past decade; and

WHEREAS, when Alice Tousignant joined the organization in 1997, VSH owned two buildings in Richmond that housed 86 formerly homeless individuals; today, VSH is providing homes to more than 1,000 chronically homeless adults in Richmond, Hampton Roads, and Charlottesville, the majority of whom suffer from mental illness and physical disabilities; and

WHEREAS, to support this growth, Alice Tousignant has also helped the organization’s annual budget grow from $500,000 in 1997 to over $7 million today; and

WHEREAS, the board of VSH has established the Alice Tousignant Endowment Fund in her honor to ensure that resources will continue to flow to meet the urgent housing needs of one of the Commonwealth’s most vulnerable populations; and

WHEREAS, Alice Tousignant has brought many talents to her work at VSH, the most important of which has been her passion and dedication to the idea that all Virginians are entitled to a decent home and access to the services that will enable them to stay there; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the General Assembly hereby commend Alice Tousignant on the occasion of her retirement as the executive director of Virginia Supportive Housing; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to Alice Tousignant as an expression of the General Assembly’s admiration for her contributions to the community and the Commonwealth.