Cities Provide Apartments for Homeless

Andrew Adams looks out over the street from the walkway in front of his apartment in Norfolk, Va., Wednesday, March 21, 2007. Adams moved into his apartment last fall as part of Norfolk's Housing First initiative, a program that puts homeless into existing housing and then tries to address their mental health or substance abuse issues. (AP Photo/Steve Helber) (Steve Helber - AP)

The city works with about 75 agencies to provide services to homeless people, said Katie Kitchin, director of Norfolk's Office to End Homelessness.

Norfolk has placed about 200 homeless people in apartments. There are programs for homeless families, people with HIV/AIDS and homeless ex-convicts.

The city also teamed with neighboring Portsmouth and Virginia Beach to open a 60-unit apartment building in Norfolk last year to house chronically homeless individuals. Norfolk got 250 applications for its allotment of 42 efficiency apartments.

Some tenants have counselors visit them several times a week while others go elsewhere for treatment nearly every day, said Clara Smith, a social worker at the building.

There are few rules, but violating them could mean eviction. "There will be no drug trafficking," Smith said sternly during a tour of the building.

"We have people who we know have an active substance abuse problem," she said. "My job is to constantly ask them if they are ready to address it."

Another Norfolk program, for mentally ill homeless people, places them in existing apartments throughout the city. It is part of a recent trend called "housing first," because it provides housing before addressing other problems.

The idea, developed in New York, is that many homeless people cannot meet requirements for sobriety or taking medications while living on the street.

Norfolk has placed 12 people in apartments through the program, with plans to place 73 more, Kitchin said.

Adams, the man who spent years living on the street, was one of the first. He was walking near a Norfolk college last fall when he thought a Salvation Army bus was stalking him.

"I scream, 'Why are you following me? Are you trying to make me go crazy?'" Adams said.

He got into an argument with the bus driver. The police arrived. Shortly afterward, Adams met with a case worker from the Norfolk Community Services Board, which provides psychiatric services to homeless people.