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Safe, affordable housing for vulnerable people: How a Virginia organization is confronting homelessness

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Safe, affordable housing for vulnerable people: How a Virginia organization is confronting homelessness

Between treating medical conditions, addressing mental health and finding a roof to live under, it can be a challenge for the estimated one in every 500 Americans experiencing homelessness to find stability in life, especially when they have unique needs. 

An agency based in Norfolk, Va., is trying to change that. 

Johnson Homes, a placement agency founded in 2022 by investor and house flipper Janice Miles, is working to place seniors and other vulnerable individuals with certain health needs in homes that double as affordable care facilities. 

The agency is named after Miles’ own mother, who was diagnosed with early onset dementia at 55, as a “representation of her life and her spirit.”

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RETIRED NURSING ASSISTANT LEFT TO SLEEP ON YOGA MAT AT VIRGINIA SHELTER

Janice Miles (right), founder of Johnson Homes, named after her mother Janice Johnson (left). (Courtesy of Johnson Homes) (Courtesy of Johnson Homes)

Working the housing system to find safe and stable housing for her mother proved to be a challenge, and she aims to alleviate that challenge for others who find themselves in her position.

“Many people don’t have the support, the family, to find these things out for them,” she told Fox News Digital.

While the Fair Housing Act provides for regulations on shelter accessibility, there is still a world of resources homeless individuals need to navigate to obtain health benefits and other basic needs. 

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Through partnerships with local organizations, Johnson Homes provides wraparound services and case management to the homeless community, to people with mental health disabilities, and to others who need help finding stability in life. 

Insurance, she said, only covers so much when it comes to people’s ability to live. 

In some cases, Johnson Homes assists individuals transition back into their own home or a family member’s home with support from case management and resources to get back on their feet. 

“Sometimes our strength is not within ourselves, but the partnerships we make around us,” Miles said.

Miles estimates the agency has helped close to 60 people since its inception, with about 25 currently placed in housing. 

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An example of a Johnson Home in the Hampton-Portsmouth area of Virginia. (Courtesy of Johnson Homes)

Johnson Homes, she said, is not a group home, but rather a placement agency that works as a liaison between homeless individuals and homeowners and investors as well as case management. She also works with home care agencies, telecommunication companies and attorneys to help with disability claims. 

“We’re pulling resources together for those who need it the most,” she said, adding that Johnson Homes is digging into “minimal pots” to find adequate funding for necessities like food and clothing.

Miles said Johnson Homes does not receive state funding, and charges residents rent. In exchange, it provides room, board and utilities as well as case management and an on-site coordinator. 

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As a qualified mental health professional, Miles said she’s used to gathering resources to help people become stable. But with policies around COVID-19, she noticed vulnerable populations, including elderly individuals who had been hospitalized for various conditions, were suddenly facing a housing crisis. 

Example of a Johnson Home in the Hampton-Portsmouth area of Virginia. (Courtesy of Johnson Homes) (Courtesy of Johnson Homes)

What happened, she explained, was that hospitals had been retaining individuals who might not have needed an inpatient level of care any longer while COVID-19 policies were still in place. So when those policies were lifted, they only had a limited amount of time — roughly a month — to find housing. 

“That really opened our eyes to a bigger problem,” she said of the elderly homeless. “They really need some help — they really need some support.”

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Miles teamed up with Lana Pressley from the Four Rivers Project, a nonprofit that aims to help recidivism in the Norfolk, Va., area, including those with mental health and substance abuse issues, as well as “people who have been disenfranchised through no fault of their own.” 

The group is one example of Johnson Homes joining forces with a nonprofit to best meet the community’s needs. They created a memorandum of agreement so they’re able to share resources. 

“We have to recognize that homelessness is a condition just like any other condition we have in our society,” Pressley told Fox News Digital. “Who goes over and talks to these people? Who starts a conversation with them?”

When it comes to maintaining a productive life once off the streets, Pressley said, “case management is critical,” including the emotional aspects of helping an individual work the system for medical and financial resources. 

For one woman in particular, the system Johnson Homes implemented is working.

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Ms. Kathy — a homeless, retired CNA in need of housing suitable for a 71-year-old with health needs — recently settled into a Johnson Home after a years-long battle with homelessness reported by Fox News Digital in 2022.

After a 20-year career in nursing, assisting patients after cardiac surgery, she fell on hard times and found herself sitting behind a Burger King dumpster in winter weather. With health conditions and a mobility device, it was challenging to find a shelter that would take her in right away. 

Good Samaritan Lisa Suhay was witness to the process it took to find placement for her. She told Fox News Digital that the system in place for homeless individuals to stabilize is not ideal for those who have a hard time processing official forms that require other types of documentation. 

Elderly individuals in particular, Suhay said, carry a lot of shame around being homeless and are less inclined to reach out for help — and when it comes to using technology to find shelter, it’s an even bigger burden. 

She likened the Johnson Homes system of partnerships to “Stone Soup” — the folk tale in which the end result is built piecemeal. 

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“Many hands make light work, and this could be light work for America,” she said, adding that this system could be getting homeless off the streets at a “stunning” rate. 

 

Suhay is helping the Four Rivers Project through a GoFundMe page, “Elderly Homeless: Help fund a real solution,” which in turn helps fund Johnson Homes. 

Norfolk, Va., Mayor Kenny Alexander told Fox News Digital, in part, that while poverty in his city has “decreased by 4.1%, homelessness presents persistent challenges, often exacerbating chronic health issues due to unstable housing.”

He added that he’s urged the city manager to create a multi-agency task force in addition to enhancing Norfolk’s emergency shelter, and providing households with rental and utility assistance to prevent evictions. 

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Could Johnson Homes be a model for a longer-term solution to homelessness?

“We’d love to spread and show our system and what we have,” Miles said. “The homeless situation is not going anywhere, and the population is getting older.” 

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GOP Rep Nancy Mace introduces ‘Death Penalty for Child Rapists Act’

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GOP Rep Nancy Mace introduces ‘Death Penalty for Child Rapists Act’

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Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., has introduced a bill to authorize the death penalty as a potential punishment for the sexual abuse of children.

“We have zero mercy for child rapists. Those who prey on our most vulnerable deserve the harshest consequence we can deliver,” Mace said in a statement.

The proposal is aptly called the “Death Penalty for Child Rapists Act.”

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., announces she will run for South Carolina governor during a press conference at the Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina, on Aug. 4, 2025. (Tracy Glantz/The State/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

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“No predator should be allowed to walk away from the most unthinkable crimes against children,” Mace noted. 

“This bill is simple. Rape a child and you don’t get a second chance, you get the death penalty. We will never apologize for protecting America’s children,” Mace added.

The bill would put capital punishment on the table as an option to punish those who sexually abuse children.

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Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., attends the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington, D.C.  (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

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“INTRODUCING: The Death Penalty for Child Rapists Act to amend Title 18 to authorize the death penalty for aggravated sexual abuse, sexual abuse of a minor and abusive sexual contact offenses against children. It will also amend the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) to authorize the death penalty for the rape of a child,” she said in a post on X.

“We’ve spent months fighting to expose Jeffrey Epstein’s network of powerful predators. We’ve demanded accountability and pushed for transparency. Now we’re making sure anyone who rapes a child faces the ultimate consequence,” she noted.

Mace has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since early 2021. 

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She is one of the candidates currently running in the South Carolina Republican gubernatorial primary.

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Virginia Democrats talk affordability — and vote to nearly triple their own pay

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Virginia Democrats talk affordability — and vote to nearly triple their own pay

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The Virginia State Senate and its Democratic majority may have voted to nearly triple their pay if a provision inserted into their final budget survives the House reconciliation process and reaches Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s desk.

The development comes as Spanberger has centered her campaign on “affordability,” with Richmond Democrats echoing that they are working to improve their constituents’ personal finances.

Virginia’s legislature itself was founded as a part-time, gentleman’s chamber, where lawmakers would return to their day jobs when Richmond wasn’t holding session.

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger signs executive orders. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

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Proponents of raising the current 1988-established salary of $18,000 for senators and $17,640 for delegates say the structure restricts who can afford to serve as a lawmaker today. Lawmakers also qualify for a $237 per diem, mileage reimbursements, and coverage of office, meeting and other expenses.

Senators’ new salary would be $50,000.

Republicans were quick to criticize the final budget, with the Virginia Senate Minority Caucus saying in a statement that “teachers got a 3% raise, but Democrats give themselves 300%.” The actual increase would be closer to 178%, though one could say the new salary would be 300% of the original. 

“The affordability hoax just gets worse and worse,” the caucus said, adding that the chamber’s majority killed a repeal of the car tax — something GOP gubernatorial nominee Winsome Sears ran on — while increasing the state budget by $1 billion overall.

Sen. Mark Obenshain, R-Rockingham, told WVTF it is the “wrong time” to address lawmaker pay.

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 “It’s supposed to be affordability for working families across Virginia, not members of the General Assembly,” he said.

Virginia’s legislature — the oldest continuous legislative body in the New World — has been making laws since its inception as the House of Burgesses in Colonial Williamsburg, where Spanberger gave the Democratic Party’s State of the Union response.

In her speech, she claimed President Donald Trump is the one “enriching himself, his family and his friends” and said Republicans are the ones “making your life more expensive.”

“I traveled to every corner of Virginia, and I heard the same pressing concern everywhere: costs are too high. In housing, healthcare, energy, and childcare,” she said.

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“Americans deserve to know that their leaders are focused on addressing the problems that keep them up at night.”

“Democrats across the country are laser-focused on affordability — in our nation’s capital and in state capitals and communities across America,” Spanberger said Tuesday.

The pay raise could be moot if the Democrat-controlled House of Delegates does not amend its own budget proposal to include the provision.

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The House’s budget includes $137 million for expanded childcare access, a minimum wage increase to $13.75 in 2027 and $15 in 2029, and a $20 million appropriation for state employees’ and home health care workers’ collective bargaining, according to Washington’s ABC affiliate.

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Fox News Digital reached out to the governor, as well as the House and Senate minority leaders, for further comment.

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Virginia murder suspect in bus stop stabbing had lengthy criminal history, multiple dropped charges

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Virginia murder suspect in bus stop stabbing had lengthy criminal history, multiple dropped charges

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A Virginia murder suspect accused of fatally stabbing a woman at a bus stop earlier this week has a lengthy criminal history filled with multiple arrests, but was let back onto the streets nearly every time. 

Abdul Jalloh, 32, is charged with the Monday night killing of Stephanie Minter, 41, of Fredericksburg, at a bus stop shelter, the Fairfax County Police Department said. 

Minter was found by officers with stab wounds to her upper body and pronounced dead at the scene, police said. 

Abdul Jalloh, 32, is accused of killing Stephanie Minter, 41, at a Virginia bus stop.  (Fairfax County Police Department; provided)

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Jalloh, 32, who was seen on surveillance cameras exiting the bus with Minter at Richmond Highway and Arlington Drive, was arrested the next day. 

He was arrested at a liquor store after an employee called 911. At the time, officers arrested him for allegedly shoplifting. Investigators linked him to the murder a day later. 

Authorities were still trying to determine a motive for the killing and what led to the deadly stabbing. 

A search of online court records revealed Jalloh has more than a dozen arrests in northern Virginia, including on charges of petty larceny and malicious wounding. 

In most of the cases, prosecutors dropped the charges, FOX D.C. reported. 

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Abdul Jalloh seen on a bus in Virginia.  (Fairfax County Police Department)

Laura Birnbaum, the chief of staff for Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano, said Jalloh was known to the district attorney’s office and was “acutely aware of the risk he posed to the community.”

“That is why we convicted the defendant of a 2023 malicious wounding charge, and have since made every effort to hold him accountable each subsequent time that he has come in contact with the criminal justice system, including asking him to be held in custody whenever possible,” Birnbaum said. 

“Unfortunately, the defendant in this case also had a history of selecting victims with no fixed address – some of the most vulnerable members of our community,” she added. “In multiple cases, we were unable to move forward with prosecution because victims could not be located or contacted.”

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Stephanie Minter, 41, was killed on Monday after getting off of a bus in Virginia.  (Provided)

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An obituary for Minter described her as a “happy, jolly” person. 

“A beam of light in dark places,” the obituary states. 

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