Pathway Homes Buys Fairfax City Building to Serve as Non-Profit’s Multi-Use HQ: New HQ will Integrate Supportive Housing for Those with Mental Health Issues
FAIRFAX, Va. (January 14, 2025) — Pathway Homes a regional nonprofit providing mental health services—starting with safe, stable housing—to individuals marginalized by poverty and inequity, has closed on a -19,000 square foot building in Fairfax City. The commercial space will be built out by early 2027 as Pathway’s new mixed-use headquarters that will include at least 10 units of supportive housing to help people with serious mental illnesses and other disabilities who are over 50 to age in place.
“Pathway Homes needs a new home, and we plan to make it one that serves our community even better. It will give us the space to run the nonprofit while also providing direct services and housing to clients,” explained Sylisa Lambert-Woodard, CEO, Pathway Homes. “We are excited to transform commercial property into an innovative, multi-use facility that will help us address the affordable housing crunch that hinders our ability to serve more people.”
With its current location slated for redevelopment, Pathway Homes has bought a three-story commercial building at 4010 University Drive in Fairfax City for its new home, which will enable it to expand its programs and services. The new site will serve as Pathway’s organizational hub for as well as allow for on-site case management, a food pantry, flexible space for educational programs and training, and at least 10 affordable apartments with supportive services. Seed money from the Potomac Health Foundation helped with the initial costs of kicking off the project along with other early contributions.
Pathway envisions that the embedded housing will be permanent supportive housing units with access to WIFI and other smart features for the region’s most vulnerable—those with income 30% or below the Area Median Income. The ADA accessible, one-bedroom units will embrace universal design—which creates spaces to suit all abilities—and feature a private kitchen and living area along with effective resident services to promote resident independence.
Currently, Pathway Homes leases, owns, and manages more than 500 properties across Northern Virginia that provide supportive services using the Housing First Model. Pathway Homes’ supportive services focus on helping individuals attain and strengthen the skills needed to manage their mental and physical health and remain stably housed. Its highly skilled team provides the coordinated care and intensive treatment participants need to maintain their home, enhance personal relationships, develop healthy life habits, and achieve their personal goals.
Lambert-Woodard added: “Our new building will be the hub that enables us to be even more creative and collaborative in finding solutions to help people live their best lives. We look forward to more funders joining us in making this a successful endeavor for Fairfax.”
About Pathway Homes, Inc.
For more than 45 years, Pathway Homes has enabled tens of thousands of people in Northern Virginia and the National Capital Region with serious mental illnesses and other co-occurring disabilities to access affordable housing and critical supportive services to help them recover their lives. Following the housing first model, Pathway Homes is a partner in preventing and ending homelessness, touching more than 2,000 lives in 2024 and ensuring access to affordable stable homes in permanent supportive housing units.
