1811 Eastlake Ave Seattle, WA 98101
1811 Eastlake opened in 2005 and houses 75 homeless men and women with chronic alcohol addiction and is the first of its kind in Washington to address the needs of homeless chronic alcoholics who are the heaviest users of publicly-funded crisis services.
Awards- Home for Every American Award, Interagency Council on Homelessness, 2008
- Maxwell Award for Excellence, Fannie Mae Foundation and the Partnership to End Longterm Homelessness, top national honor 2008.
- Exemplary Program Award for Service Innovation, King County, 2007
- Annual Award, Washington Co-Occurring Disorders Inter-agency Advisory Committee (CODIAC), 2007
Evaluation
To evaluate the effectiveness of 1811 Eastlake, DESC collaborated 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 funded an evaluation on the first three years of operation. This study examined 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. We anticipate it will have far-reaching impact on the conventional thinking regarding housing this population.
Findings from the study were published in the April 1, 2009 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Read highlights from the study.
Related Media
2012
Study: Housing helps street alcoholics drink less - Seattle Times (January 24, 2012)
A Permanent Home That Allows Drinking Helps Homeless Drink Less - npr.org (January 23, 2012)
The Wet House: Homeless People with Alcoholism Drink Less When Booze Is Allowed - Time.com Healthland (January 20, 2012)
Alcohol OK in Housing for Formerly Homeless, Study Says - U.S. News Health (January 19, 2012)
Sobriety not required in subsidized home for alcoholics - seattlepi.com (January 19, 2012)
Press Release: Homeless heavy drinkers imbibe less when housing allows alcohol - University of Washington, UW Today (January 19, 2012)
2011
Summit details other cities' innovations - The Tennessean (October 11, 2011)
Homeless Fall Through Health Care Cracks - Inter Press Service (IPS) News (July 14, 2011)
Homeless Addicts Get Help Without Getting Clean, Sober - USA Today (March 30, 2011)
Bunks for Drunks - Memphis Flyer (February 3, 2011)
Seattle's homeless programs could work in Vancouver - CTV British Columbia (January 26, 2011)
2010
S.F. looks at Seattle's alcoholic program - S.F. Gate (October 3, 2010)
2009
- Column: No place like home for alcoholics - Seattle Times (April 2, 2009)
- Health Care and Public Service Use and Costs Before and After Provision of Housing for Chronically Homeless Persons With Severe Alcohol Problems - The Journal of the American Medical Association (Vol. 301 No. 13, April 1, 2009)
- Study: Seattle home for alcoholics saved taxpayers $4 million - seattlepi.com (April 1, 2009)
- Study: Seattle housing for alcoholics saves money - Associated Press (March 31, 2009)
- Press Release: Housing for homeless alcoholics can reduce costs to taxpayers (March 31, 2009)
- Learning To House the Homeless - HUD Research Works (June 2008)
- Phoenix may use Seattle program to battle homelessness - The Arizona Republic (May 23, 2008)
- Opinion: Give them homes - USA Today (April 29, 2008)
- Should taxpayers pay to house chronic alcoholics? - KING5 TV - Up Front with Robert Mak (February 23, 2008)
- Study Demonstrates Effectiveness of Housing First - National Alliance to End Homelessness Online News (January 15, 2008)
- Mayor's Press Conference: Housing First 2 Year Impact - Seattle Channel (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)
- "Editorial: Time to abandon the 'wet' apartments" - Seattle Times (March 15, 2004)
- "Lawsuit delay jeopardizes housing plan for alcoholics" - Seattle Times (March 12, 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
- "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)