06/12/2026
Should local homeless children be housed with high-barrier individuals, or those with violent criminal convictions, untreated substance addictions and serious mental health conditions?
That question was at the center of “discussions” last year between the Fredericksburg City Council and the Thurman Brisben Shelter, the region’s oldest and largest emergency homeless shelter.
A year later, it’s still not clear what the answer is.
The Thurman Brisben Center has served Fredericksburg and the surrounding area since it was originally formed in the late 1980s by a half-dozen area churches. Initially a nights-only cold weather shelter, the organization would eventually open an 80-bed facility in Ward 4’s Fredericksburg Industrial Park approximately two decades ago.
Last spring, the Fredericksburg City Council decided to “zero out,” or remove the Thurman Brisben Shelter’s $40,000 funding from its annual budget after continued criticism that the facility was being underutilized, allegations which have been levied at the organization since the COVID pandemic. Last year the shelter had also withdrawn its membership from the George Washington Regional Commission’s Continuum of Care, the group that oversees the region’s federal homeless response and funding.
In a work session on April 8, 2025, at-large Councilwoman Janaan Holmes, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker for Fredericksburg City Public Schools, suggested that the city reallocate the nonprofit’s annual funding to other homelessness programs at the GWRC, noting that their withdrawal from the CoC left the city nothing with which to “vet” their programs.
“The City doesn’t really have a homeless shelter. And we need one,” Holmes said at last year’s work session.
Fellow at-large councilman Will Mackintosh followed Holmes by noting that that “a lot” of the restrictions the city originally negotiated in the Thurman Brisben Center’s special use permit, which allows them to operate their facility, were “shaping the way they approach their programs.”
Mackintosh added that council should have a conversation with the Thurman Brisben Center about the shelter meeting the city’s needs.
How that conversation took place is a source of contention.
On April 28, 2025, City Manager Tim Baroody, Mayor Kerry Devine and Councilwoman Janaan Holmes met with staff of the Thurman Brisben Center at their facility in the Industrial Park.
That meeting included the nonprofit’s CEO, David Cooper, who detailed the meeting in a press release written on June 3, 2025.
According to that memo, that meeting included a discussion about the Thurman Brisben Center potentially lowering admissions barriers and housing chronically homeless individuals with “serious mental health conditions, untreated substance addictions, and / or violent criminal convictions.”
When staff at the Thurman Brisben Center made it clear that wasn’t possible, Cooper wrote that the city said it would “compel” those changes by potentially making changes to the shelter’s special use permit.
That special use permit explicitly states “no person with a violent or sexual history shall be permitted to stay within the shelter.”
After this was pointed out, Cooper says City Manager Tim Baroody replied, “We’ll have our city attorney take a look at this.”
News of the meeting between the Thurman Brisben Center and city leadership was originally reported by Inform Fredericksburg last May.
Inform Fredericksburg learned of the alleged pressure by the city not from staff at the Thurman Brisben Center, but from an adjacent organization with similar concerns about the shelter potentially lowering admission barriers.
That organization could not be reached for comment. Neither Mayor Devine or Councilwoman Holmes responded to questions or requests for comment.
Holmes did talk to the FXBG Advance last summer, telling the publication the decision to reallocate funds from the Thurman Brisben Center wasn’t a decision she took lightly.
“I knew that there would probably be backlash, and I talked to every single Council member, Holmes told editor Martin Davis on June 8, 2025.
“I talked with anyone who touches the lives of unhoused people,” Holmes stated.
The Continuum of Care’s Samantha Shoukas told hyperbole in an email in last June that the Board had “not taken a stance on housing individuals with untreated mental illness and/or criminal records alongside families with children.” The CoC would not comment on the city’s discussion with the Thurman Brisben Center.
hyperbole met with Cooper shortly after his meeting with Mr. Baroody, Mayor Devine and Councilwoman Holmes.
Cooper stated that the shelter wanted a “positive relationship” with the city and that the Thurman Brisben Center had always complied with the special use permit as originally agreed upon with the city more than 20 years ago.
With regards to criticism about capacity, Cooper noted that an additional full-time case manager would allow the Thurman Brisben Center to expand to 60 occupants. Adding two full-time case managers would get the facility to full capacity.
The city made no offers to restore either full or partial funding during that meeting, according to Thurman Brisben Center staff.
Cooper noted several incidents involving violence and substance abuse around children that occurred in the early 2000s, instances that prompted the very changes the city was now calling into question.
hyperbole asked Cooper about the nature of the city’s request for lower barriers followed by it referencing potential changes to the special use permit.
Cooper called it an “inferred threat.”
When prompted for how the organization would respond to forced revisions and a potential shutdown over its special use permit from the city, Cooper shrugged.
“We’re not waiting with bated breath for anything,” he replied.
Cooper made it clear that the shelter, which is predominately privately funded, would not operate under any conditions that could potentially endanger its residents.
After the city's meeting at the Thurman Brisben Shelter, hyperbole also reached out directly to City Manager Tim Baroody for clarification.
“I thought the meeting was highly productive, direct on both sides and not threatening on either,” Baroody replied in an email to both hyperbole and Cooper.
“David (Cooper) was very clear that to return to an 80 bed occupancy, Thurman Brisben would need more funding to support one new position.”
Neither lower barriers or changes to the shelter’s special use permit materialized as a result of the city’s discussions with the Thurman Brisben Center.
Several months later, the issue was revisited by Fredericksburg Main Street, a non-profit that represents business owners and residents in downtown Fredericksburg.
That organization wrote a letter to council on August 26, 2025 to commend it on “addressing the complex challenges facing our community.”
“We deeply appreciate the City’s ongoing efforts to provide support and resources where they are most needed,” the letter stated.
“This includes increased funding for organizations like Loisann’s Hope House, sustained collaboration with Micah Ministries and the Continuum of Care, and important conversations with the Thurman Brisben Center to encourage expanded access to temporary shelter,” it continued.
That letter, authored by Fredericksburg Main Street President Bart Goldberg, was written just weeks after Fredericksburg Main Street received $50k in additional public funding, including an initial $25k from the Fredericksburg City Council followed by another $25k from the Fredericksburg Economic Development Authority.
Those additional allocations were made on top of the $100,000 that Fredericksburg Main Street already receives annually from the City of Fredericksburg budget.
The letter of support from Fredericksburg Main Street was read aloud by Mayor Devine during a work session on August 26th, the same day it was written. The city posted the note on its page a week later.
Fredericksburg Main Street did not respond to multiple questions or requests for comment. hyperbole’s questions to the City and EDA regarding that letter also went unaddressed.
Homelessness has been a challenge for downtown business and residents alike in recent years, particularly since the pandemic.
The Fredericksburg EDA itself previously floated the idea of housing downtown homeless immediately and “for as long as possible” in the summer of 2024.
At that time, former EDA Chair Beth Black told hyperbole that homelessness in the downtown community was at a “critical stage” for their businesses.
“Business owners are openly voicing concerns about safety for their guests, safety for their staff, panhandling, disturbances and drug use,” Black wrote in an email.
“They tell us it’s impacting their businesses and it’s the EDA’s job to do as much as we can to make sure they can operate a business here with pride and comfort.”
The EDA’s homeless housing initiative failed to gain a second motion before being folded into a Business Relations committee.
While it was defunded for 2026, the outlook is looking a little more flush for the Thurman Brisben Center next year: the Fredericksburg City Council has restored the organization’s requested funding of $40,000 in next year’s budget.
Fredericksburg Public Information Officer Sonja Cantu told hyperbole in March of this year that the recommendation for funding includes a condition for “regular engagement” with the CoC.
That news came as a surprise to staff at the Thurman Brisben Center, who recently welcomed new CEO David Kissleback after Cooper retired this past April. The shelter was not aware of any changes to the city’s funding of the shelter or potential conditions regarding the CoC.
One source told hyperbole that the 2027 funding allocation for the Thurman Brisben Center would trigger more “discussions” between the shelter and the city.
Cantu would not address whether or not the city had a policy on housing children with high-barrier homeless, deferring those questions to the Fredericksburg CoC.
In an update late last month, the CoC’s Sam Shoukas confirmed the CoC hasn’t yet adopted a formal policy on the matter.
“Placement and operational decisions are determined by individual providers in compliance with applicable regulations, program requirements, and funding restrictions.”
A year later and the city is back where it started.
The question as to whether or not the city should house local homeless children with high-barrier individuals doesn’t have a definitive answer.
And instead of the Thurman Brisben Center, the region’s high-barrier homeless are headed to Bragg Hill.
