January 19, 2005

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Palo Alto Online

First a home, then a job

by Bill D'Agostino

orman Carroll moved into his new home at the Palo Alto Hotel on Dec. 6, but the white cinderblock walls were still nearly bare last week.

"I'm still getting used to walls, OK?" he said.

Carroll was one of nine last month to receive permanent housing hotel under a new program launched by local cities and nonprofits.

Each of the 10 who received housing in the 59-room residential downtown had found various reasons for rejecting the area's emergency shelters: They didn't want to follow the strict rules or weren't sober or healthy enough or didn't trust "the system."

"Shelters are very demeaning," said Kathy Espinoza-Howard, Palo Alto's director of human services. "You lose your self-respect; you lose your ability to make your own decisions."

That's exactly why the multi-agency "Off the Streets" team is using a different approach to helping the "chronically homeless." They give them housing first, then address other issues such as drug abuse and employment. The funds for the first 10 rooms came from a $2 million U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development grant given to the local nonprofit Catholic Charities. The remainder of the grant will go toward consolidating homeless services along the Peninsula.

The program is modeled after a successful New York program -- Pathways to Housing.

"It's not asking them to conform to the program," Espinoza-Howard said. "It's asking the program to conform to their needs. It's totally experimental."

Many of Palo Alto's newly housed residents pay a portion of the hotel's monthly rent. Carroll, who serves on the Off the Streets committee, contributes some of the $200 monthly check he gets for being a Navy veteran. They are also required to regularly meet with a counselor and follow all the hotel's residency requirements, such as no overnight guests, Espinoza-Howard said.

Sitting on the bed in his tiny, dorm-like room, Carroll explained how he lived on the streets since 1997, often sleeping in the bottom of a parking garage stairwell.

"When you don't have any place at all -- no place that is yours -- you're totally lost," he said, his gaunt face partly illuminated by a shiny green lamp given to him by Faith Bell, the owner of Bell's Books.

His new home's improvements are multiple, he said. He's protected from the weather, he can sleep and wake up when he wants, he doesn't have to worry about his possessions getting lost or stolen, and he has a phone and permanent address for possible job leads. (Carroll had an interview last week in San Jose to become a peer counselor.)

"It's not the gold star as far as success, but it's not the dark hole," he said.

Carroll, 50, said he became "un-housed" in 1997, after he became depressed following the recent deaths of his mother and daughter. He describes the initial decision to live on the streets as taking "a break from life."

For the record, he dislikes the term "homeless."

"Palo Alto is my home; I just didn't have a house," Carroll said. "I know people who are housed but they are homeless because they'd rather be someplace else."

A writer who pens essays about life on the streets and is writing a fictional account of Christ's second coming, Carroll frequently comes to City Council meetings to comment on the latest municipal controversies. He always wears all black, a practice he started while sleeping in the parking garages. Grime on black clothing is easier to disguise, he explained.

Even though Carroll now has shelter, he's not considering colorful clothing.

"It's something of a trademark at this point."

However, he is thinking of shaving his unkempt goatee, which he grew after people questioned whether he was "really" homeless.

"Finally it was like, I'll look a little scraggly to please the masses."

Since moving into the hotel, Carroll has stopped panhandling on the streets. He still gets food through Urban Ministry and other nonprofits. But he dreams of becoming completely independent.

Many of those in the hotel have health problems from living on the streets for so long. Carroll recently got out of the hospital after a bout with pneumonia.

Dana, who moved into the Palo Alto Hotel two weeks ago, had been living in a tent near the Stevens Creek Trail in Mountain View for nearly two years. He recently fell into the creek, breaking his ribs, and is also suffering from a lung infection.

"Boy I am glad I'm inside -- the mud and the cold gets old really fast," said Dana, who requested that his last name not be used. "Things are better than they have been. I look forward to them continuing to be so."

The 51-year-old former software engineer didn't consider going to a shelter because he didn't like the loss of personal freedom. For instance, he noted that they require you to leave during the day.

Dana describes the evening that Heiri Shuppieser, from the Alliance for Community Care, and police officers came to bring him to the hotel as "dream-like." He immediately accepted the invitation. "I knew a good opportunity when I saw one."

The Palo Alto Hotel's rooms are notoriously small, but they all have cable television, including HBO. Some share bathrooms in the hallways, while a few have their own.

"No matter what anybody says about this place ... it's an improvement," Dana said. In fact, it's similar to the Craig Hotel, on Hamilton Avenue, which closed last year after new owners purchased it.

So far, the "Off the Streets" program has been running smoothly, according to participants and administrators. Many of the new residents are getting used to their new surroundings, albeit slowly. One couldn't sleep in the bed for the first few days, so instead chose to sleep on the floor. "It takes a while to adjust," Shuppieser said.

The hotel's manager, Roni Weeks, did not hesitate when asked how things were going with the new residents.

"We think it's absolutely fabulous," she said. "We love having them here."

Staff Writer Bill D'Agostino can be e-mailed at bdagostino@paweekly.com.

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