University District women's shelter struggles to survive

Lime-green pompoms and 12th Man placards adorn a wall of Sheila Alexander's bedroom, testament to her passion for the Seattle Seahawks. Even her job -- she's a cook for a restaurant at Qwest Field -- takes her to the home of her favorite team.

The buzz at the stadium contrasts with the peacefulness of Alexander's own home, a transitional shelter for homeless single women in Seattle.

For nearly two months, she has lived at Elizabeth Gregory Home, established by University Lutheran Church and run as a non-profit, non-faith-based organization.

	Meryl Schenker / P-I
Jessica Martin, 23, says the Elizabeth Gregory Home keeps her from sleeping under a bridge. But the shelter program is short of money and faces closure Dec. 31.

"It's a stable place," Alexander said Wednesday before heading to work. "I don't have to worry where I'll lay my head. I'm not out in the cold. I can focus on my job, focus on getting into (permanent) housing."

How long the 14-month-old shelter enjoys stability is uncertain. The University District home, entirely financed by private donations and grants, has enough money to last only about six weeks, Executive Director Kimberly Jackson said.

Unless the shelter can raise $115,000 to cover expenses through late May, when the next round of grant money is expected, it will close Dec. 31, she said.

"For any startup, it's very difficult for the first couple of years, with no recurring revenue," said Jackson, who previously directed clinical programs for a downtown shelter for the homeless. "It's been tough not having any city funding. We've been very successful with grants. I know we'll be ever more successful."

That's if the shelter is around. A casino-style fundraiser Saturday raised only $3,500. Jackson and her staff are now contacting previous donors.

Elizabeth Gregory Home's annual budget is $385,000, with recurring monthly costs of about $25,000. The shelter has four full-time and five part-time workers, and provides computer and life-skill classes, job training and case management.

The home houses 11 women by leasing the entire first floor of an apartment building cater-cornered from University Lutheran Church. Last month, the shelter began leasing space in the church's basement for a day center for homeless women.

The home provides about 7 percent of the 150 or so transitional housing units for homeless single women in King County. For all homeless populations, nearly 4,200 beds in transitional programs are available in the county, according to an inventory taken in January 2007.

The widening gap in affordable housing has diminished the ability to build, rehabilitate and subsidize housing within reach of low-income people, said Alison Eisinger, executive director of the Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness.

"We're forced to make the most of the non-governmental resources we have," she said. "Elizabeth Gregory Home is an example of a program started because a particular church community thought there was something they could do. All housing advocates salute that, even though we say that housing 11 at a time is not the way you solve an 8,000-person-a-night crisis."

Years before the shelter opened, University Lutheran Church had considered the possibility, spurred by the Rev. Ron Moe-Lobeda, who previously worked with the homeless in Washington, D.C.

"It's dangerous to be a woman and to be homeless," said the Rev. Anne Hall, who pastors with Moe-Lobeda. "There are other (shelters) for women with children, but we wanted to provide services for single women."

Elizabeth Gregory Home, named for a late church member who advocated for women and children, takes in hard-to-place women. Some have criminal records, struggled with drugs or alcohol and came straight out of detox programs.

Patsy Williams, 57, is the only remaining woman of those who first moved into the home in October 2006. She was clean and sober then, but suffered a relapse while visiting relatives in California in January.

The Elizabeth Gregory Home forbids drugs and alcohol use. But Williams' room was waiting for her when she emerged from detox "because we believe in second chances," Jackson said.

Had Jackson turned her away, "I'd probably be dead by now, drinkin' and druggin'," Williams said. "She saved my life."

LEARN MORE

For more information or to donate to the Elizabeth Gregory Home, contact Jamie Lee at 206-729-0262, ext. 2, or jlee@elizabethgregoryhome.org or go to elizabethgregoryhome.org