1811
Eastlake Project
1811 Eastlake Avenue
1811 Eastlake: First Year Preliminary Findings
2007 Maxwell Award for Excellence winner!
1811
Eastlake opened its doors in December 2005. The project
provides
supportive housing for 75 formerly homeless men and women living with
chronic alcohol addiction. Residents benefit from 24-hour,
seven
day a week supportive services including:
- State-licensed mental health and
chemical dependency treatment
- On-site health care services
- Daily meals and weekly outings
to food banks
- Case management and payee
services
- Medication monitoring
- Weekly community building
activities
1811
Eastlake aims to improve the lives of its residents through reduced
alcohol consumption, better heath care, and increased stability. It
will also reduce residents' use of the community's crisis response
system, reduce public nuisances and encourage residents to undertake
and follow through with alcohol treatment.
In January 2008, 1811 Eastlake won the prestigious Maxwell Award for Excellence
in Housing Chronically Homeless Individuals. “Downtown
Emergency Service Center has greatly improved the lives of chronically
homeless individuals through its ability to provide appropriate
supportive services and permanent housing for its tenants. They are a
wonderful example of an organization committed to ending homelessness
in their communities,” said Bob Hohler, executive director of the Melville Charitable Trust and
executive committee chairman of the Partnership to End Long Term
Homelessness.
"1811
Eastlake
represents a new, effective and compassionate direction for helping the
chronically homeless. It's called putting housing first.
Providing housing for these individuals will benefit the
community. It's effective, it makes financial sense and most
importantly, it's the humane thing to do."
-
Greg Nickels, Seattle Mayor
"Our
best hope for
helping chronic alcoholics is to move them off the streets and into
safe and stable housing, with immediate access to treatment services.
1811 Eastlake will house 75 chronically homeless people,
reducing
a costly cycle through emergency and criminal justice services and
improving both public health and public safety in the downtown area."
- Ron Sims, King County
Executive
1811
Eastlake is the first housing program of its kind in Washington to use
this innovative housing model for addressing the needs of
chronic
homeless alcoholics.
To
evaluate the effectiveness of the project, DESC is collaborating with
Drs. G. Alan Marlatt and Mary Larimer, nationally recognized experts in
substance abuse research, and their team at the Addictive
Behaviors Research Center of the University of Washington.
A grant from the Robert
Wood Johnson Foundation is funding an evaluation on the first
three years of operation. This study will have a far-reaching impact on
the conventional thinking regarding housing this population.
It will examine the relationship between residing in permanent
supportive housing in two salient domains: variables related to quality
of life and the suppressed use of crisis services.
The most
similar projects are Anishinabe
Wakiagun and The
Glenwood, both in Minneapolis.
Hennepin County, MN, conducted analyzes of these projects. They found
significant decreases in detox and emergency room admissions for the
residents. Some of the Anishinabe Wakigun analysis is described by the National
Alliance to
End Homelessness.
Project
Team
| Developing
Partner: |
Low
Income Housing Institute |
| Architect: |
SMR
Architects PLLC |
| Contractor: |
Walsh
Construction |
Made
possible by the following public funders:
| City
of Seattle |
| King
County |
| Federal
Home Loan Bank - Seattle |
| U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development |
| Washington
State Housing Finance Commission |
| State
of Washington, Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development |
We would also like to thank the following friends for their
generous
and steadfast support of the
project:
| The
Downtown Seattle Association |
| Enterprise
Community Investment |
| The
Enterprise Foundation |
| Graham
and Dunn PC |
| The
Hanley Foundation |
| HomeStreet
Bank |
| Impact
Capital |
| Kantor
Taylor McCarthy PC |
| The
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation |
| Seattle
City Council |
| Seattle
Housing Authority |
| The
University of Washington - Addictive Behaviors Research Center |
1811
Eastlake in
the News:
This project has
received
broad media coverage. Following are links to some of the articles
and reports that have appeared. DESC provides these links as
a
service
to its web site visitors. By providing a link, DESC is not
endorsing
any of these reports.
Study Demonstrates Effectiveness of Housing First - National Alliance to End Homelessness Online News (January 15, 2008)
Housing First Model Saves City Millions of Dollars - KUOW radio (January 10, 2008)
Mayor's Press Conference: Housing First 2 Year Impact - Seattle Channel (January 9, 2008)
Mayor: Seattle's 'Housing First" for addicts saves money - KING5 TV [including video] (January 9, 2008)
Chronic alcoholic program reports progress - Seattle Times (January 9, 2008)
Housing homeless saves money - Seattle Post-Intelligencer (January 9, 2008)
Seattle P-I Editorial - Seattle Post-Intelligencer (January 9, 2008)
Seattle saved $3.2 million by housing most difficult homeless - Associated Press (January 9, 2008)
This Land: On the Bottle, Off the Streets, Halfway There - New York Times (November 11, 2007)
"Apartments
welcome homeless alcoholics: Experimental apartment building in Seattle
welcomes homeless alcoholics; project saves money" - ABC via the Associated Press (June 18, 2007)
"Housing Alcoholics" - multimedia presentation - Associated Press (June 18, 2007)
"New National Approach Focuses on Chronically Homeless: An experiment in Seattle" - NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, PBS (April 27, 2007)
"Is letting them drink working?: Residents, neighbors and experts say results are promising, but full study awaits" - Seattle Post-Intelligencer (April 25, 2007)
"Fight crime, addiction with housing" - Opinion - Seattle Times (February 15, 2007)
"Best of Seattle 2006: Best Social Experiment" (1811 Eastlake) - Seattle Weekly (August 2, 2006) - SCROLL DOWN
"Homelessness in America: Homeless Alcoholics in Seattle Find a Home" - Morning Edition [National Public Radio] (July 19, 2006)
"Homeless Alcoholics Receive a Permanent Place to Live, and Drink" - New York Times (July 5, 2006) [free registration required to view]
"Innovative
Initiatives: King County and the City of Seattle aim for a humane and
economically responsible solution to chronic inebriates" - United States Interagency Council on Homelessness e-newsletter
(June 8, 2006)
"Readers
react to housing chronic drunks"
- Seattle
Post-Intelligencer
(March
31, 2006)
"Latest
'solution' for public drunks is not all wet" - Seattle Post-Intelligencer
(March 27, 2006)
"Sobered
By The Stupidity Of It All"
- Ken Schram Editorial, KOMO-TV 4 (March 23, 2006)
"Alcoholics'
apartments generate many aid calls"-
Seattle Times (March
23, 2006)
"Apartments
provide safe haven for street alcoholics"
-
KING TV-5 (March 23,
2006)
"Housing program for chronic alcoholics allows drinking in rooms" - Seattle Post-Intelligencer (December 15, 2005)
"75
hard-core alcoholics to be offered apartments" - Seattle Times (December 15, 2005)
Media Release: DESC
celebrates opening of new housing for homeless alcoholics (December 13, 2005)
"Editorial:
Time to abandon the 'wet' apartments" - Seattle Times (March 15, 2004)
"Lawsuit
delay jeopardizes housing plan for alcoholics" - Seattle Times (March 12, 2004)
Media Release:
Housing for homeless
chronic alcoholics upheld by state's highest court (March 11, 2004)
"Inebriate
center has some big foes" - Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce (February 4, 2004) [pdf of article]
"Editorial:
The wrong haven for city's drunks" - Seattle Times (January 16, 2004)
"Street
alcoholics home awaits ruling" - Seattle Times
(January 13, 2004)
"Too
Bad Stupidity is
Legal"
- Ken Schram Editorial, KOMO-TV 4 (October 7, 2003)
"Appellate
court OKs building of apartments" - Seattle
Post-Intelligencer
(October 7, 2003)
"Plans
Underway for Street Alcoholic Housing" - KUOW –
94.9 FM (December
18,
2002)
"Give
them a home? - Up Front with Robert Mak" - KING TV-5
(December 1,
2002)
[Video clip
requires RealPlayer.]
"Wintonia
has proved a good neighbor" - Seattle Times
(November 25,
2002)
"Opinion:
Off street corners, but not off the alcohol" -
Seattle Post-
Intelligencer (November 22, 2002)
"Housing
for alcoholics OK'd" - Seattle Post-Intelligencer
(November 21,
2002)
"Plan
to build housing for homeless alcoholics is OK'd" -
Seattle
Times
(November 21, 2002)
City
of Seattle Hearing Examiner Decision - November 20, 2002
"A
local view:
Humane care of alcoholics makes sense" - The
Columbian
(Vancouver,
WA - November 14, 2002)
"No
Biggie - "Wet" housing saves money and lives" - Real
Change News
(October 31, 2002)
"Street
Talk - Local reaction to housing for homeless alcoholics" - Real
Change
News (October 31, 2002)
"Opinion:
Seattle says bottoms up to alcoholics" - The
Columbian
(Vancouver,
WA - October 24, 2002)
"Downtown
Seattle
Association Supports Housing for Homeless Alcoholics" - DSA
Press
Release
(October 17, 2002)
"Seattle
Housing
Project
Targets Alcohol-Related Street Homelessness" - National
Alliance to
End
Homelessness, Alliance Online News (October 18,
2002)
"Wrong
time, place for alcoholic house" - Seattle Times
Editorial
(October
21, 2002)
"Housing
for Street Drunks - The Conversation with Ross Reynolds" -
KUOW –
94.9
FM (October 17, 2002)
"Eastlake
Avenue housing for street alcoholics meets opposition" - Seattle
Times
(October 17, 2002)
"'Dumb',
And 'REALLY
Dumb'"
- Ken Schram Editorial, KOMO-TV 4 (October 15, 2002)
"Room,
Board, And
Booze?"
- KOMO-TV 4 (October 14, 2002)
"Apartments
Being
Built for Homeless Alcoholics" - KIRO-TV 7 (October 14, 2002)
"Street
alcoholics will have government housing in Seattle" - KING-TV
5
(October
14, 2002)
"Seattle
to build housing for street drunks" - Seattle Times
(October 14,
2002)
"Sobriety
won't be rule at new shelter" - Seattle Post-Intelligencer
(March
26, 2002)
