48housing.pdf

Andy

Raubeson

The

SRO

Housing

Corporation

was formed

bythe

Community

Redevelopment

Agency

(CRA)

ofthe Cityof

Los Angeles

in February 1984.

The new

non-profitcorporation

was

givenamission of

improving

the

quality oflife in the Central City East, or Skid

Row,

neighborhood

of

Los

Angeles.

The

main

objective

was

then,

and

remains today, the acquisition, renovation,

management

and maintenance

oftheexistinghousing

stock.In 1984, there

were

63 operating

SRO

hotelswith

over 6,000 rooms,constitutingvirtuallythe entire

hous-ingstock ofthis55-squareblockarea.

The

Corporation

under

its

governmental

sponsor,

the

Community

Redevelopment Agency

ofthe Cityof

Los Angeles

(CRA),

realized thattheCentralCityEast

area

was

so bereft of any sense of

community

that

upgrading the housing

was

not

enough

to assure a

decentqualityoflifeforthose

who

live,work,

and

shop

in the neighborhood.

From

its inception

SRO

Hous-ing'srole

was

seento be broader than theprovisionof

decent,safe,

and

sanitaryhousingataffordablerents.

At

thetimethispaper

was

writtenbaserentsranged

from

$195

per

month

forthose

on

General

RelieftoS235 per

month

forthose

on

SupplementalSecurity

Income

(SSI).

General

Reliefin

Los Angeles

County

iscurrently$341 per

month

plus

$105

infood

stamps

and $42

buspassfor those assignedto

Workfare

orto

approved

education or

training programs; SSI ranges

from $630

to

$718

per

month.

1

CRA

adopted

a strategyfor

SRO

Housing

todevelop parks in the area

and

to purchase hotels in clusters

around

those parks.

CRA

then gave

SRO

Housing

the

mission ofdevelopingthe capacityto

manage

and

main-Andy

Raubeson hasbeen ExecutiveDirectorof

SRO

Housing in

Los

Angelessince1984.

He

serves

on

theboards ofthe

NationalCoalition fortheHomeless,theNational

Low-Income Housing

Coalition,

and

the

Low-Income

Housing

InformationService.

taintheseparks sothey

would

benefitthe

neighborhood

and

the tenantsofsingle-room

occupance

hotels.

As

such, the strategyofgroupinghotelpurchasesinclusters

was

alsobased

on

theconcept of extendingthe area of controlfromthehotelstothesurroundingstreets,thereby creating "islandsofsanity."

No

one

who

iscaptive in hisor her living unit,

no

matter

how

wellitis

managed

and

maintained,canlead adecentlife.

The

tenantsof

SRO

Housing'shotels

must

befreetoleavetheirbuildings toshop, seekrecreation,

socializewithfriends

who

liveelsewhere,

and

toconduct

the ordinary businessoflife. In short,

SRO

Housing

Corporation cannot build a sense of

community

by concentratingsolely

on

physical,housingqualityissues.

The

Corporation recognizedearlyinitshistorythat

its tenant needs exceeded basic housing needs.

The

development

and

management

of parks

was

the first

responsetothoseneeds.

However,

a

demographic

sur-vey

conducted

inmid-1984highlighted arange of

prob-lems withinthepopulation:a largeproportion ofhotel

residentsinthearea

had

a historyof alcohol

and

drug

abuse; a smaller but significant portion of the hotel

population

had

a historyof mental illness;elderly

ten-ants

were

often victimizedby predators

and had

limited

access to servicesdesignedtohelpthem;

and

homeless,

indigent

men

were housed

inhotels that

were

in

deplor-able physicalcondition

and

in

which

drug use

and

crime

was

rampant.

SRO's

strategy to deal with this

problem was

to

acquire, renovate,

and

professionally

manage

thesingle

room

occupancy

hotels that

comprised

virtually 100 percentofthehousing stockintheneighborhood.

SRO

Housing

felt that

good

management

practices,

espe-ciallycarefultenantselection,

would

reducethe

number

of drug-using

and

criminally inclined tenants

and

create

a

more

stable tenant base that

would

result in safer

FrontFacade oflheAngelusInn,a 31-unitspecialneedshotel servingrecoveringsubstanceabusers.

The

Challenges of

Resident

Management

The

roleof theresident

manager

in

an

SRO

Housing

Corporation

managed

housingfacilityisbroader thana

narrowly defined housing

management

function.

Al-though

resident

managers

arenotexpectedtobesocial workers, they are expected to care for their tenants'

welfare

and

toidentifytenantneeds.

They

help provide

forthose needs by

making knowledgeable

referrals to

serviceproviders includingthose

employed

by the

SRO

Housing

CorporationinitsSocialServices Division.

To

maintainsafebuildings

and

promote

a safe

envi-ronment

overall,resident

managers

must

act asateam, observe each other'sbuildings,

and

develop their

own

strategies for assuring thesafety oftenants outside as

well as inside the buildings. Since cleaner

neighbor-hoods

are usually saferneighborhoods,

managers

must

be surethat thefacadesoftheirbuildings

and

the side-walks

and

streets infront

and

around

theirbuildings are

clean, freeoftrash,

and

freeofgraffiti.

SRO

hasstreet

cleaning capabilityinitsParksDivision,

and

managers

havea responsibilitytorequest services

from

thisunitin

the

same way

theyhavea responsibility to request serv-ices

from

the

Maintenance

Division.

Initially, resident

managers

were

expected to carry fullresponsibility for identificationoftenants

who

needed socialservice referrals. Information

and

referral

serv-ices,caseplanning

and

monitoringrequire intense per-sonalinvolvement,as wellastime.This provedtobe too

demanding

foreventhe

most

skillfulresidentmanagers.

As

a result,

SRO

Housing

created six special needs

hotels

and

a SocialServices Division.

The

Social

Serv-ices Divisionadministers, supervises

and

developsthe

services in these special needs hotels. It also advises

resident

managers

on

socialservices

and

providesdirectservicesfor ten-ants

who

arenotlocatedina special

needs hotel or

whose

problems

are too complicatedforresident

manag-ers.This has helpedalleviatethe

de-mand

on

residentmanagers.

Special

Needs

Hotels

The

1984

demographic

surveyand tenant profileshelped identify

sev-eralspecialneeds populations

resid-inginthehotels.

SRO

Housing

has developed seven general population

hotels

and

sixhotelsfordesignated

specialneedsgroups(see table 1).

The

Russ and

the

Panama

Hotels

house

generalpopulationaswellas short-term tenants

and

homeless,

indigent

men.

The

Russ

alsohouses

non-contagious,active tuberculosis

patientsincooperation with the

Los

Angeles

County

Department

ofHealth Services.

SRO

Housing

feltthese

two

properties(290

and 230

units

re-spectively)

were

toolargeto fosterthesense of

commu-nity

found

inother

Corporation-owned

hotels,

which

rangeinsize31to72units.

When

they

were

purchased inJanuary1985,the

Russ and

the

Panama

were

largely populated by "voucherclients."

Because

of thesizeof

these hotels

and

the

need

of the

voucher

client for

decent, safe,

and

sanitary short-term housing, it

was

decidedtocontinuetoprovide short-term housing,for homeless,indigent

men

inthese

two

properties.2Eight otherhotelspurchased bythe

SRO

Housing

Corpora-tion

were

formerly

voucher hotelsandwereconverted

to

permanent

housing.

In

Los Angeles

County, any indigent person has a

righttoshelter

on

the

same

day he or sheapplies tothe

Department

of PublicSocial Services

(DPSS)

for

wel-fare.

Voucher

clientsare

housed

inresidential hotelsfor

shortperiodswhilethey waitfor theirfirstcheck.

There

are 115such hotels throughoutthe county.

The

Russ

and

the

Panama

are

two

ofthefourremaininghotelsin

theCentralCity

East-Skid

Row-neighborhood.

Voucher

clients are referred to

SRO

Housing

by

DPSS

foraperiod

from one

tofourteendays.

Vouchers

are

renewed

inrare instances, usually

when

aperson's mobilityisrestrictedbyaninjury.

The

averagelengthof

stay

on

a

voucher

is3.3 days.

Voucher

clientsare issued

keys

and

haveaccessto their

rooms

on

a24-hourbasis.

They

receivelaundrytokensto

wash and

drytheirclothes

on-site. Playing cards, games,

newspapers

and movies

are available in the lobby. In addition,

SRO

Housing

provides

grooming

kits

and

will

make

wake-up

callsvia

A. GeneralPopulation Hotels Units Carlton Hotel 45

EugeneHotel 55

FlorenceHotel 60

Haskell Hotel 38

LaJollaHotel 53

RegalHotel 70

Ward

Hotel 72

Sub-Total 393

B. SpecialNeedsHotels PopulationServed Units AngleusInn RecoveringSubstanceAbusers 31

EllisHotel At-RiskElderly 54

Golden WestHotel ChronicMentallyIII 61

LeoHotel RecoveringSubstance Abusers 38

Panama

Hotel* a.Homeless

Men

120

b. Short-TermTenants 76

RussHotel* a.Homeless

Men

180 b. Active

TB

Patients 11

c.Short-Term Tenants 89

Sub-Total 660 Total 1,053 •Thesehotelsalsoserve generalpopulationclients.

Table 1.Hotels

Owned

andOperatedby

SRO

HousingCorp.

voucher

clientto

meet

hisneeds.

SRO

Housing'scostforthese services is $13.50 per person per night. This rate is negotiated

between

the

SRO

Housing

Corporation

and

DPSS.

It

compares

fa-vorablywiththelatest

US

Department

of

Housing and

Urban Development

(HUD)

report,

which

places the

averagecostat$22.00perperson pernightin

govern-ment-supported

emergency

shelters. In

most

ofthese sheltersapersonsleeps

on

a

pad

on

the floororacot

and

must

leave the shelter a 7:00

AM.

and

cannotreturn

until6:00

P.M.

Two

otherspecial needs hotelsprovide housing for recovering substanceabusers.

The Leo

Hotel(38units)

and Angelus

Inn(31units)areboth operatedas alcohol-freelivingenvironments. Residents ofthese hotels

must

havea

minimum

ofsix-monthsverifiablesobriety

upon

admission

and

sign a lease

which

prohibittheir use of alcohol or drugs

and

restricts their visitors to persons

who

have

no

alcoholintheirsystem

and

do

not useillegal

drugs.

The

usual

way

to verify six

months

sobriety is the

completion of a residential treatment

program

ofat leastsix

months

duration.Since

opening

the

Leo

Hotel

in1987,

SRO

Housing

hasdevelopedclose

working

re-lationshipswith area treatmentprograms.

The Leo

Hotel

and Angelus

Innare theonly

two permanent

housing fa-cilitieswith soberlivingenvironmentsin

downtown

Los

Angeles

and

areimportantforthe treatment

commu-nity.

SRO

Housing

isalsoable to gain access to

treat-ment

for tenants or

employees

with alcohol or drug

abuse problems.

A

third specialneeds categoryisthe chronically

and

severelymentallyill,

who

are

housed

inthe

Golden West

Hotel(61units).Thishotel requiresitstenantstobe

on

thecaseload oftheSkid

Row

Mental Health

Project of the

Los

Angeles

County

Department

of

Mental

Health.

It isa transitionalhousing

program

funded bythe

HUD

under

theStewartB.

McKinney

Act.Afterthetransition period of

two

years, tenants ofthe

Golden West

are

transferred to

permanent

housing hotels operated by

the

SRO

Housing

Corporationor,in

some

cases,they

are relocatedoffSkid

Row.

Finally,

SRO

Housing

operates theEllis Hotel (54

units)as

permanent

housingfor at-risk elderly.

To

be eligiblefortenancy,

men

and

women

must

be 55years or

older.

The

EllisHotelis

owned

bya limited partnership,

with the

SRO

Housing

Corporation as the general

managing

partner.

Under

the terms of the 1986

Tax

Reform

Act

as

amended,

tenantsoftheEllis

must

have

income

notinexcess of

60

percent ofthearea median. Since

SRO

Housing's tenantsaverage 22.1 percent of theareamedian,thisrestrictionhaslittlerelevance.

The

Ellis Hotel is located adjacent to Gladys Park

which

isoperated by

SRO

Housing under

contractwith the City.

The

Ellis serves a congregate

meal

for the elderlyinitslobbydaily.This

meal

is

open

toallelderly

residentsintheneighborhood, notjusttoEllistenants.

One

of the

commercial

spaces in the hotel has

been

convertedintoa

community

room

forAlcoholics

Anony-mous,

Narcotics

Anonymous

and Cocaine

Anonymous

meetings,aswell as

community

forums and

avarietyof

educational

and

outreach programs.

A

second

commer-cialspace has

been

converted to a

community

fitness

center thatisoperatedjointlyby

SRO

Housing and

the

Downtown

YMCA.

Social

Services

Resident

managers havea

responsibility to

helpmeet

a

broad

range of tenant needs.

To

facilitate thiseffort

SRO

Housing

has developed

and

published the

SRO

Housing

Corporation'sSocial Services ReferralManual.

Managers must

become

familiarwith this

manual

and use it as a tool to obtain necessary services for their

tenants.

Only

agencies that regularly serviceSkid

Row

clients are listed.

Managers

have the responsibilityto update their individual

manuals

by noting staff and

program

changes

and

byadding informationthatwillbe

useful for future referrals.

Such manuals

quickly

be-come

dated

and remain

usefulonlyifthey are constantly

updated.

SRO

Housing

also provides other tools

managers

may

rely

on

tohelp

meet

theneeds oftheirtenants.

The

train-ing sessionsforresident

managers

that include

discus-sions ofsocial

and

support services.

SRO

Housing's

Social Services Division provides the following

addi-tional

programs

and

services:

ProjectHotelAlert

(PHA)

PHA

isa

program

forthe

elderly operated

under

contract with the City of

Los

Angeles'

Department

of Aging. Persons

60

yearsofage

and

older are eligible for services that include daily

congregatemealsatthe

Russ and

EllisHotels.3 Partici-pationinthecongregate

meal

program

isnotrestricted

totenants of

SRO

Housings'hotels, butis

open

to all

elderlypersons

from

theSkid

Row

Area.Disabled

per-sons

who

are residents of these

two

hotels are also

eligible toparticipateinthecongregate meal,regardless

ofage.

Tenants

who

are shut-inbecause of

permanent

or temporarylossofmobility receivehome-delivered meals through the

Meals

on

Heels program.

Both

congregate

and

home-delivered meals

must

provide at least 50 percent ofthe nutritional needs ofelderly persons as establishedbythe U.S.

Department

of Health and

Human

Services.

There

isalsoanurseavailable forhealth

screen-ing

and

referralaswellasroutine medicalcaresuchas changingdressings.

Case

management

servicesprovide

professionalneeds assessment,case planning,referrals,

money

management,

transportation, recreation,

educa-tion

and

more.

Mental

Health

Managers

in

SRO

Housing's other

hotels

who

suspect that tenants arementallyillcancall

on

thesenior case

manager

atthe

Golden West

Hotel

for assistancein diagnosis

and

advice

on

meeting the

needs ofsuch tenants. In

some

cases, tenants will be

transferred to the

Golden West

from

other hotels. In

othercases,

ongoing

supportwillbe providedto

manag-ers inotherhotels todealwith mentallyill ten-ants. In cases

where

tenants are transferred

from

the

Golden

West

toother

SRO-managed

hotels, a planshould be

worked

out

between

the

manager and

the case

worker from

the

Golden

West

beforetransfer,

and

regular con-tactismaintainedafterthetenantis

moved.

Emergency

Shelter

Program

The

Russ and

Panama

Hotels are recognized as

emergency

sheltersbythe StateofCalifornia

Department

of

Housing and

Community

Development

(HCD).

SRO

operatesthe

Emergency

Shelter

Program under

agrant

from

the State

HCD

to

provide case

management

services toover 14,000

homeless

men

eachyear.

Case managers

oper-ateout ofthe lobbiesofthe

Russ and

Panama

Hotels

and

providearange ofservices, includ-ingreferrals, transportation, assistancein

ob-tainingidentification,

and

militaryrecords.

Homeless

Assistance

Program

(HAP)

HAP

serves the

same

populationasthe

Emergency

Shelter Program. It isoperated cooperatively

withasisterSkid

Row

serviceagency,

Chrysa-lis.Chrysalisprovides

employment

programs

and

serv-ices.

The

purpose

ofthisjoint

program

istoprovide job

readiness

workshops and placement

into jobs and/or

vocationaltraining.

Food

Distribution

SRO

Housing

isa

member

ofthe

Los Angeles

Regional

Food

Bank, through

which

ithas

accesssurplusfoods

from

theU.S.

Department

of

Agri-culture as wellas locally

donated

food.

SRO

Housing

makes

weekly deliveries to hotels.

Managers

are then

responsiblefordistributionoffoodtotenants.

Alcohol

and

Drug

Services

The

two

alcohol-freeliving

communities

are

managed

by recoveringalcoholicswith long periods of sobriety

and

a

commitment

to help others achieve

and

maintainasoberlife.

These

buildings

have Alcoholics

Anonymous

(AA)

meetingsfortenants

on

a regular basis.

Some

meetings are

open

to

non-tenants ofthese hotels. In addition, the Drifters

AA

meeting,

which meets

sevennights a

week

and

Sunday

mornings,is

housed

inthe

community

room

attheEllis

Hotel.

The

Harbor

Light

and

Safe

Harbor

alcohol

treat-ment

programs

oftheSalvation

Army

operateafter-care

services forgraduatesoftheir

program

who move

into

SRO

Housing

Corporation'sbuildings.It isthe policyof

SRO

Housing

tohelp recoveringalcoholics

and

addicts

to maintain their sobriety in all its buildings. If an

alcoholicoraddicthasaslips/heiscounseledtore-enter

treatment.

The

first time a tenant slips, s/he will be

accepted back into the

SRO

housing

network

upon

satisfactory completion of the residential treatment program.

Subsequent

relapsesaretreated case-by-case,

but reacceptanceaftertreatmentisnot automatic. Recreation In addition to the parks,

SRO

Housing

offers a range of other recreational opportunities for

SanJulian Park,aone-thirdacremini-parkindowntownLA,openedJuly19,1986.

tenants.

The

Downtown

YMCA

operatesa

profession-ally-staffed fitness center with high quality exercise

equipment

attheEllisHotel.Thiscenteris

open

tothe

community.

SRO

Housing

provides trips to sporting

events,theaters,

and

movies.Resident

managers

inform

tenantsofthese opportunities,

make

arrangements,

and

encourage

participation.

Tenant Amenities In addition to the activities

de-scribedabove,

managers

areexpectedtoarrange

mini-mum

of

one

congregate

meal

and one

birthday celebra-tioneach

month.

The

meal

shouldbe scheduledlate in

the

month

when

tenantstendtobe

low

on

cash.

Manag-ersshould review tenant records tobesure thatevery tenantwithabirthdayinagiven

month

isrecognizedat

the birthday party.

Managers

show

two movies

each night.Coffeeisavailableinthelobby

on

a regularbasis.

SRO

Housing

continuestoseekresources toprovide

service toitstenants.Ithas Federal

Emergency

Manage-ment Agency

(FEMA)

vouchers to

house homeless

persons

who

have not obtained a

DPSS

voucher. It

maintains

an agreement

withthe

Downtown

Lions

Club

toprovidevisioncare,includingexaminations, prescrip-tion glasses, cataract operations,

glaucoma

screening

and

care.

SRO

Housing

has also obtained motorized wheelchairs

from

the

Rotary

Club.

SRO

Housing

also sponsors special events to im-provethe qualityoflifeinCentralCity East.Concertsin

theparkarepartiallyfunded byagrant

from

the Cityof

Los Angeles

Cultural Affairs

Department;

jobfairs

and

health fairs are sponsored in conjunction with other

service agencies.

Regular

neighborhood

clean-up

cam-paigns include street

and

sidewalkcleaning, trash

and

weed

removal from

vacantlots,

and

graffitiremoval.

SRO

Housing

hassubmitted grant applications for fundingto provide advocacy for persons seeking Sup-plementalSecurity

Income

benefits.It isalsopursuing

possibilitiesforspecialneeds housingforpersons

who

areHIV-positive,

and

transitionalhousingfor recover-ingalcoholics

and

addicts.

Conclusions

The

SRO

Housing

Corporation has

an

advantagein

owning and

operatingalarge

number

ofhotels within a

relativelysmallgeographicarea.

Because

ofitssize

(cur-rently14hotelswith1,174housingunits),

SRO

Housing

isable to

meet

a varietyofspecialneeds.

The

various

programs

tend to support each other: for instance,

placement

oftenants

from

transitionalfacilitiescan be guaranteed

when

the service provider also controls

permanent

housing.

Supportivehousing does notrequireplacementina

largeordiverseorganizationinorderto

be

successful; however,there are

many

examples

ofsuch housing being operatedasastand-alonefacility.

There

areevencases

in

which

only

one

floorinabuildingisdesignatedforuse

bya specialneeds population.

For

example,the Estate

HotelinPortland,

Oregon,

a four-story buildingwith

156 units,houses recovering alcoholics in

an

alcohol-free living

environment

on

its top floor. This area is

closed off

from

therestofthe building.

Clearly, single-room

occupancy

facilities are

well-suited toprovidea

combination

ofhousing

and

support

services.

These

buildingscaninclude traditional

down-town

residential hotels,motels

on

the outskirtsof town,

and

rooming

houses. Less obvious structuressuch as warehouses, convents, schools

and

hospitals are also

often creativelyadaptedforuseas

an

SRO

hotel.

There

isagrowing tendencytouse

SROs

assitesfor housing special needs populations. This trend can be expected to continue to gain

momentum

form

new

HUD

policies that

encourage

supportiveservices asa

conditionfor receiving federalhousingsubsidies.

The

experiencegained by the

SRO

Housing

Corporation

can

be

auseful

model

for thisexpansion of supportive

housingthroughoutthe

United

States,

cp

Notes

1

Supplemental Security Income(SSI) isa Federal program,with considerable Stateenhancements in the caseof California, that

provides benefitstopersonswhoare disabledor over age 62who

havenot qualified for Social Security benefitsorwhosebenefitsfall belowestablishedminimums.GeneralRelief, insomejurisdictions

calledGeneralAssistance,isprovidedforpersonsawaitinganSSI

eligibilitydeterminationorwhoareable-bodiedand underage62 andthusineligibleforSSI.

2_{The Russ}andPanamahouseonlymen. Forthepurposesofthis

article,thereisnodifferencebetweentheterms "voucherclients"

and "homeless,indigentmen."

3 Federalregulationsallowpersons overage55whoaremembersofa

SeniorCitizenorganizationtoparticipateinthemeal program.All