Managing A Home And A Future -- Motor Hotel Being Run By Those Who Live There Is Faltering, Two Say

Seattle's bold experiment in turning a motel on Aurora Avenue North over to homeless men and women and letting them manage it as temporary housing appears to be successful so far, but how well they can live together remains to be seen.

The homeless couples and single adults moved into the Aloha Inn Motor Hotel in May. Not a single complaint about them has been reported in the neighborhood on Queen Anne's east side.

However, two of the Aloha's residents say their self-management program is faltering. Nordrain Carey and Steven Lewis, who serve on the residents' five-member executive committee, say residents' suggestions are being ignored and the management is becoming too rigid.

"Self-management is not working as well as it should because of the influence of certain members of the executive committee and intimidation by other residents," said Carey, 42, who runs the Aloha's kitchen.

While there may be trouble within, there has been none involving Aloha residents in the neighborhood, say Queen Anne representatives and shelter officials.

The homeless men and women, who stay in the motel for 90 days while seeking work or saving money to rent apartments, seem to be integrating well.

When the city announced plans to convert the Aloha into a shelter, Queen Anne residents filed a lawsuit to block the move. The lawsuit was dropped only after assurances were made that shelter applicants would be screened and that the shelter would not be used for emergency housing.

Advocates for the homeless hailed Mayor Norm Rice's administration for arranging for the Aloha to be purchased by the Seattle Housing Authority and operated as temporary housing by Catholic Community Services.

Thirty-five men and women were living in the Aloha last week. Eventually, there may be as many as 66.

Some of the residents previously stayed in an old Metro bus barn that was used as a dormitory-type shelter for the homeless between December and mid-May. The bus barn was opened as the weather grew colder and people without homes were shivering in tents near the Kingdome.

"I've not become aware of any public-safety problems to date. Everyone has a lot of work to do, but so far, so good," said David Buck, a Queen Anne resident and member of a neighborhood committee keeping an eye on the Aloha and those who live there.

Hugh Brannon, who owns a grocery near the Aloha and is also a member of the committee, said: "I have no complaints about the Aloha. . . . I want to see it go through a winter cycle, though, when there will be pressure for beds."

The Aloha's residents pay $20 a month to stay there. They must work 15 hours a week in the four-story building to keep it clean and to keep its kitchen, laundry and front desk operating. There are pastries for breakfast, sack lunches for those who work, and a complete dinner in the evening, all from donated food.

The newness of the self-management program may be the reason for the problems cited by Carey and Lewis, said Scott Morrow, an employee of Catholic Community Services and the Aloha's interim program manager.

"It's like setting up a new home. There are a lot of challenges, but with challenge comes a lot of stress at times," Morrow said. "When people don't work around here, or don't stay within their personal-success plan, they are asked to go."

An extensive screening process has been set up for those wishing to stay at the Aloha, Morrow said, and the number of residents is being allowed to increase slowly. About 50 should be living there by the end of this month.

The living is decent. Lewis and his wife, Kina Crumb, both of whom work at the Kingdome, have a thick green rug in their room, two easy chairs, a private bathroom, a color TV set with cable service and a telephone. A lamp is at either side of the double bed.

Elizabeth McLean, 22, an Aloha resident who formerly lived in the bus barn, said: "The major improvement is privacy. You feel a lot better about having your own space."

A recent decision of the Metro Council to provide $25,000 in free bus passes and tickets to the residents, as part of a one-year study, will be of immense help to those who depend on public transportation, said program manager Morrow.

"Metro holds the key to cheaply sheltering hundreds this winter who would otherwise sleep outside," Morrow said. "There is just no other way we can do it without a transportation network like the buses."