Homeless Say Hello To Aloha Inn -- Some Begin Move From Bus Barn

Some of Seattle's homeless are moving on and moving up.

They have begun to move their meager personal possessions from a bare-bones dormitory with bunk beds in the old bus barn near the Seattle Center to the Aloha Inn Motor Hotel. There they will live in some comfort, one or two to a room that's fully furnished and carpeted, with a telephone, television and private bathroom.

"It's like going from Point A to Point Z," said Clifford Wilson, 46, one of the homeless.

Wilson is among about two dozen men and women who moved yesterday and today from the formr Metro bus barn to the Aloha on the lower east side of Queen Anne Hill, at 1911 Aurora Ave. N.

While conditions at the Aloha are an improvement over the bus barn and the tents that some occupied near the Kingdome before the bus barn was opened to them last December - the Aloha will provide only temporary housing.

Those staying there, a maximum of 66 people - single adults and couples - generally will have three months to get jobs and save enough money to find their own places to live.

The move began yesterday after US West Communications donated a 1976 van for the use of those in the Aloha. In a housing program initiated by Mayor Norm Rice and being run by Catholic Community Services, the Aloha was purchased for $1.9 million by the Seattle Housing Authority.

A screening process has been set up to approve those who will stay in the Aloha. Some who have been living in the bus barn will have to find other shelter.

A group of Queen Anne residents filed a lawsuit to block use of the Aloha by the homeless, but the legal action was dropped earlier this month. A compromise was reached and assurances were made to the residents that the Aloha would not be turned into an emergency shelter and that those staying there would be trained to get jobs.

This cleared the way for the move.

"This is a big day for us," Loretta Wade exclaimed yesterday as she stood outside the bus barn, where she has been living. She said she didn't expect homeless people in the Aloha to cause major conflicts for nearby residents.

Doug Castle, who has lived in the bus barn since it opened to the homeless, said: "We have shown that homeless people can be productive workers and productive neighbors."

"We lived by tougher regulations than any other shelter in town," he said. "We voted them on ourselves and, by and large, we've abided by them."

Living in the bus barn and helping to run it have changed his life for the better, Castle said. He hopes to have a paid position as an assistant resident manager in the Aloha, at least initially.

Wilson also has lived in the bus barn from its beginning as a shelter. He said it has been an "inspiring episode in my life." Born in California and raised in Oklahoma, he said he drank heavily for many years but now takes nothing stronger than coffee.

"It has given me a feeling of self-worth and purpose," he said of his months of living in the bus barn and working on a committee that helped screen people wanting to stay there.

Wilson said he was among the first to be approved to stay in the Aloha. He subsists on a federal check of $600 a month, which he said he receives because of a disability associated with his prior drinking habit.

His goal as he begins a limited stay at the Aloha, he said, will be to get back to making and selling lamps, save enough money and find an apartment of his own.