[Rhodes22-list] Retirement Home for Rummy

[Brad Haslett]

Rummy,

Since embarking on my new career as a "mister" I thought it only fair to
help out my friends.  Here is a retirement home you might be interested in.
The sailing nearby is excellent (from the  NYTimes).

Brad

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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/05/us/05homeless.html?ex=1183953600&en=d0e199cdddf87c3e&ei=5070


 July 5, 2006
 Homeless Alcoholics Receive a Permanent Place to Live, and Drink By JESSICA
KOWAL

*Correction Appended*

 SEATTLE, June 30 — Rodney Littlebear was a homeless drunk who for 15 years
ran up the public tab with trips to jail, homeless shelters and emergency
rooms.

He now has a brand-new, government-financed apartment where he can drink as
much as he wants. It is part of a first-in-the-nation experiment to ease the
torment of drug and alcohol addiction while saving taxpayers' money.

Last year, King County created a list of 200 "chronic public inebriates" in
the Seattle region who had cost the most to round up and care for.
Seventy-five were offered permanent homes in a new apartment building known
by its address, 1811 Eastlake.

Each had been a street drunk for several years and had failed at least six
efforts at sobriety. In a controversial acknowledgment of their addiction,
the residents — 70 men and 5 women — can drink in their rooms. They do not
have to promise to drink less, attend Alcoholics Anonymous or go to church.

"They woke me up in detox and told me they were going to move me in," said
Mr. Littlebear, 37, who has had a series of strokes and uses a walker. "When
I got here, I said, 'Oh boy, this don't look like no treatment center.' "

These are the "unsympathetic homeless" who beg, drink, urinate and vomit in
public — and they are probably the most difficult to get off the streets,
said Bill Hobson, executive director of the Downtown Emergency Service
Center, the nonprofit group that owns 1811 Eastlake.

In 2003, the public spent $50,000, on average, for each of 40 homeless
alcoholics found most often at the jail, the sobering center and the public
Harborview Medical Center, said Amnon Shoenfeld, director of King County's
division of mental
health<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/mentalhealthanddisorders/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier>and
chemical abuse.

Mr. Hobson's group expected the annual cost for each new resident of 1811
Eastlake to be $13,000, or a total of $950,000. It cost $11.2 million to
build and is paid for entirely by the City of Seattle and county, state and
federal governments.

The actual price tag will probably rise because residents have more serious
health problems than expected, said Margaret King, a social worker who
manages the building. Many have heart ailments, cirrhosis,
diabetes<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/diabetes/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier>,
head injuries from falling on sidewalks and severe circulation problems.
Four residents have already died, including one who moved in with late-stage
liver cancer<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/cancer/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier>
.

The building's critics are particularly incensed that residents do not have
to stay sober. The Seattle Times, in 2004, editorialized that government
should insist that the residents quit drinking in order to live there.

"Bunks for drunks — it's a living monument to failed social policy," said
John Carlson, a conservative radio talk show host here. This approach, he
said, is "aiding and abetting someone's self-destruction."

Drink they do. When residents are shuttled to supermarkets for groceries,
Ms. King said, they often buy wine or beer, which is sold in this state
alongside the milk, eggs and orange juice.

Like Mr. Littlebear, Howard Hunt, 41, moved in the first day. Homeless since
1999, Mr. Hunt said he drank a daily bottle of whiskey before he came to
1811 Eastlake. He has
epilepsy<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/epilepsy/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier>and
walks with crutches because he fractured his hip.

He shrugged when asked about the policy allowing him to drink in his new
home. "We're going to drink somewhere," Mr. Hunt said.

Influential Bush administration officials have come to support this project,
including the on-site drinking. John Meyers, director of the Department of
Housing and Urban
Development's<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/h/housing_and_urban_development_department/index.html?inline=nyt-org>regional
office here, said he blanched when he learned that his agency had
pledged $2 million for it. He now calls 1811 Eastlake "a glorious
experiment."

"It's a lot cheaper having them spend the night at 1811 than at the E.R. or
at the drunk tank," Mr. Meyers said.

Philip F. Mangano, executive director of the United States Interagency
Council on Homelessness, said there should be a similar building in every
city in the country.

These apartments fit into the "housing first" philosophy, newly adopted by
many cities, intended to give permanent housing and intensive services to
long-term homeless people. Local officials have already approved other
buildings for the mentally ill and people with chronic medical conditions,
said Adrienne Quinn, director of Seattle's Housing Office.

Though it would be unthinkable for a market-rate apartment building in this
booming city, 1811 Eastlake's front door is across the street from busy
Interstate 5, on the edge of downtown. The Starbucks around the corner
donates pastries, but Robb Anderson, 43, an owner of the trophy shop next
door to the apartments, complained bitterly about paramedics' 120 visits in
just six months.

The building's atmosphere during a recent daytime visit was more
convalescent home than rowdy dorm. A few men in the television room stared
silently at a World Cup match, while others wearing backpacks trudged
through the front door and into the communal kitchen for apple fritters and
coffee.

A third of the residents, including Mr. Littlebear, are American Indian; an
estimated 20 percent are military veterans. The average age is 45. Most
receive state or federal disability payments, and all residents pay 30
percent of their income as rent under HUD's guideline for low-income
housing.

By choice or if they need frequent medical attention, 26 residents live on
the first floor in office-sized cubicles with a bed, desk, dresser and small
refrigerator. These communal living areas have a strong scent of body odor.

Upstairs, 49 people have private studio apartments with a single bed, bath
and kitchen. For many, this normal existence is a huge adjustment. One man
continues to sleep on the floor next to his bed, and another refused sheets
in favor of his sleeping bag, Ms. King said.

Their quality of life, drinking and use of public services are being studied
by researchers at the University of
Washington<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/u/university_of_washington/index.html?inline=nyt-org>.
Ms. King said the alcohol intake of the residents was shockingly high at
first, but many residents say they now drink less, at least by their
standards.

"I cut down," Mr. Littlebear said. "I've got to save my liver."

*Correction: July 12, 2006*

*An article on July 5 about an apartment building for homeless alcoholics in
Seattle referred incompletely to its financing. Private sector investors,
who receive federal tax credits, contributed to the cost of the building; it
was not solely financed with government funds. *