At Plymouth, our goal is to provide permanent homes for the most challenged homeless people in our community—those suffering from long-term homelessness and multiple disabilities. Time and time again, our experience is that “housing is medicine.” Once homeless people are given safe, permanent places to live, they can begin to change their lives for the better. The following story about one of Plymouth’s residents is just one example of how having a secure home is a crucial step in recovery in a life derailed by chemical dependency and mental health issues.
For Anthony Lindsay, more than two decades of drinking, mental health problems, and homelessness ended in 2007 with his arrest after an alcohol-fueled tussle with an emergency medical technician trying to treat him for a seizure he’d suffered at Westlake Park. He doesn’t remember the assault, but he does remember being in the medical ward at the jail and having a case worker tell him about a mental health and substance abuse treatment program that could be a condition of his probation. |
“I’m serious about the clean and sober life. Now I’ve got a key in my pocket.”
—Anthony Lindsay, Gatewood Apartments resident
Photo credit: Doug Plummer
|
|
“I fell on my knees,” he says. “I made an oath: This time, I’m done.”
Anthony went on to spend 10 months completing the program, but when he was ready to transition to an apartment of his own, his lifelong history of homelessness and petty crimes made finding housing nearly impossible. Anthony applied to Plymouth, where case workers scrutinized his records. “It took a while for them to decide about me,” Anthony recalls.
In August 2008, Plymouth offered Anthony an apartment at The Gatewood, close to Pike Place Market. Anthony moved in, and soon went to town decorating the place within the constraints of his fixed income. Thanks to eagle-eyed shopping at thrift stores and sales, Anthony’s cozy studio now features a well-appointed kitchen, and a media center for his DVDs and many CDs of classic soul and R&B.
The apartment at The Gatewood is the first home Anthony’s had since he lost his job, and then his previous apartment in 1987. “Every day, I rewind the tape,” he says. “I remember eating out of trash cans, and smoking cigarette butts. That tape is how I stay sober. I don’t want to live like that any more. I’m serious about this clean and sober life. Now I’ve got a key in my pocket!”
|
