Berkeley shelter sees results in housing homeless with different approach
BERKELEY – In a small tent in Southwest Berkeley, Jamie Morry strums his guitar, one of the few things he has left from his former life.
"Living on the streets is hell," Morry told KPIX 5. "It's a daily, physical torture that grinds a person down mentally and emotionally."
He's tried more than his fair share of shelters. But that, he said, turned out to be a whole other nightmare.
"A lot of shelters that I've been in they kick you out at 5 o'clock in the morning and you have to take all your stuff with you," Morry said.
Then he stumbled on a new unorthodox option that allows residents to pitch their tents in the middle of a warehouse, away from the elements and the dangers of street life.
"I don't have to lug around a 40 or 50 or 60 pound backpack all day," he said.
It's a pilot program called Horizon Transitional Village, run by Dorothy Day House, a non-profit servicing the homeless.
"After 43 years of working in social services, I had experienced so many things in the shelter system that don't work," Robbi Montoya, Dorothy Day House's executive director, told KPIX 5.
The first thing Montoya did was treat residents like adults.
"Telling a 50-year-old homeless individual that they have to be in by 8 or 9 o'clock in the evening does not work," she explained. "We cannot assume we know what people want just because we feel we would want that."
So, she decided to think outside the tent: no curfews, few restrictions and giving her residents complete autonomy over their personal space.
Montoya said one of the biggest challenges for the unhoused is the fact that shelters only allow them to bring one or two bags of personal belongings. Which is why she made sure her unconventional shelter had a large storage facility. There is also a lounge area and a pool table.
"This open space does give people an opportunity to acclimate again at their own time into more of a social gathering," she said.
Her idea seems to be working. A third of her residents, she said, have been placed in permanent housing. Almost all of them have gotten medical benefits.
For Morry, it was the solution he'd been seeking.
"Finally, a common-sense approach towards working with people. This is just what the doctor ordered," he said. "It's just what the doctor ordered."
The first round of participants is scheduled to move into a converted hotel by the end of the year when the lease for the warehouse ends. The program has been so successful, Montoya said, she's already looking for a more permanent location.
Montoya hopes other cities will use her model to truly make a difference by putting a roof over their tents.
"We have to give people the freedom to make their own choices and to rise to the challenge," she said.
