The Washington Post, Alexandria Arlington, Thursday, May 23, 2002
Giving the Homeless “More Than a Roof”

After taking the last punch she would ever take from an abusive husband, Amanda Harper hopped a bus with less than $300 in her pocket and a firm will to go wherever her $60 bus fare would take her. When she left Charleston, W. Va., on a day in late April, she had two drugstore jobs, an apartment and a car. When she arrived at Union Station in the District 12 hours later, she was homeless. But Harper was lucky in one respect: With help from a relative, she found Carpenter's Shelter in Alexandria, an BO-bed nonprofit shelter fashioned out of a former Department of Motor Vehicles office on North Henry Street. The shelter is clean, tightly run and strict enough that some complain about the rules-but it also offers a haven for more than a dozen working-poor homeless families.

Living in the shelter for less than a month already has taught Harper something surprising. "There's actually people out there that care," she said. "Everybody seems to be willing to sit down and listen to your story and give you feedback." For 20 years, Carpenter's Shelter has been trying to help people start again. Its slogan: "More than a roof." Now, to expand efforts to help clients make the transition into independent living, Carpenter's Shelter has entered a partnership with Wesley Housing Development Corp., an Alexandria-based nonprofit developer, to preserve affordable housing at Lynhaven Apartments, a 28-unit, garden “Style apartment complex on Commonwealth Avenue at East Reed Avenue. With the pledge of an unsecured $250,000 loan, Carpenter's Shelter plans to secure four apartments to use in its transitional housing program. The City council approved the Lynhaven Apartments plan last week without public debate, although members of the Hume Springs, Lynhaven and Warwick Village civic associations complained that their neighborhoods already have absorbed an unfair share of the city's affordable housing. Property values have been on the verge of rising, a long-awaited turnaround that will not be helped by the Wesley Housing deal, they said. "It seems like the city is just redlining, particularly everything in this area," said Chris Hamilton, president of the Warwick Village Civic Association. The council said that by preserving existing affordable housing, the deal benefits the neighborhood and the city.

"If we're going to be serious about affordable housing, we're going to have to make some hard decisions. And in my opinion, this isn't that hard," Mayor Kerry J. Donley said. As part of the $2.18 million project, the city will give Wesley Housing a $300,000 loan to acquire and renovate the apartments. In exchange, Wesley Housing will reserve 16 dwellings for families who earn 50 percent or less of the median income, which is 43,500 a year. The loan will be repaid from whatever is left after the nonprofit deducts costs. Carpenter's Shelter will operate the four apartments under a memo of understanding with Wesley Housing. "We're doing a good thing for the city," said Frances Becker, executive director of Carpenter's Shelter. "This is our attempt to ease the affordable housing crisis. Carpenter's Shelter has shown the council in the past few years that it's more than just a roof." The shelter has watched the growing affordable housing crisis through the eyes of its shifting clientele. Back in the 1980s, many of the shelter's residents were single men. Then it was mostly single women. These days, the shelter houses mostly families. On any given day, the shelter's 13 family rooms are likely to be taken up by households headed by 11 single mothers, one single father and one intact family. About 25 to 30 children are living in the shelter at anyone time, Becker said. Luvinia Carter, 38, moved into the Shelter with three young children after her husband left her and she lost her job.

A bookkeeper with 22 years of experience, Carter had worked for the federal government, Lockheed Martin Carp. and Parsons Transportation Group, making a salary that paid the rent on a condominium, child care and little else. Even movies were a luxury. Still, in weeks when workdays stretched from 4:30 a.m. until 11 p.m., she found time to bake bread because it saved money and her children liked it so much. "It was very stressful for me, but I didn't want them to feel the stress," she said. "Even though we didn't have a lot, I tried to make their experiences memorable." Then the layoff notice came in February, and she went to the city's social service agencies for help. "By that time, I was numb," Carter said. Exhausted and overwhelmed, she had gotten to the point that she distrusted people who offered help. Now, after receiving help at the shelter, she has found some calm and has begun searching for another job. Her minister encourages to hang in there. "He lets me know it's a transition. He knows I can make it," she said. Carpenter's Shelter also operates a day shelter, open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., that provides lockers, showers and laundry to homeless people who are unable or unwilling to take the steps necessary to get off the street. The day shelter, which used to be open only on weekdays, began operating daily in November 2000, Becker said. During the winter, the day shelter also operates as a temporary overnight residence. Workers spread mats on the floor and allow people to escape the cold weather. But the shelter clears the overnight residents out at 6 a.m. The shelter's residential area is separate from the day shelter and is segregated by single men, single women and families. Buying four apartments at Lynhaven will add to the shelter's ability to prepare residents for a return to independence, Becker said. "This is our first attempt at scattered-site affordable housing," she said. She also said the nonprofits worked to build consensus in the neighborhood around Lynhaven Apartments by holding three town meetings. "All that said, I do feel the pain they have," she said. Carpenter's Shelter, named after Jesus of Nazareth's vocation, opened on a winter evening in 1982 with 10 cots and a few homeless men in the basement of Blessed Sacrament Church in Alexandria. Today, its annual budget has grown to $882,000, with assets of more than $3.8 million. Over the years, the shelter moved five times before acquiring, renovating and expanding the DMV building at 930 N. Henry St. The shelter obtained the money for its new digs by trading up in the real estate market: Its previous home at the former Cameron Station Army post, obtained under a federal law that allowed nonprofits to acquire surplus space, was sold to a private developer.

On a recent tour, Becker, a former theatrical manager who took over the $48,OOO-a-year post four year’s ago, proudly showed off the lighted halls, spotless laundry rooms and living quarters and her tough-love philosophy. The theft of a staff member's wallet by a resident necessitated a call to police, and an officer arrived to take a report. Becker, shaken by the incident, said she could not think of another time in her four years that a staff member became a victim. Becker said the shelter works hard to snap people's self-destructive habits. "It all goes to, 'Am I helping or am I enabling?' If I feel we're enabling someone, then forget it. If I feel if we're helping someone to return to society, then I'm right there." During their stay, residents are required to work, look for work or attend classes. Seventy percent of their income must be deposited in escrow accounts so residents can build up sayings that could help them buy a home or other important necessities. If applicable, residents must sign contracts pledging that they will stay sober and drug-free or continue mental health counseling. Classes are offered in anger management and life skills. Antonio Damiani, owner of Tony's Auto Service next door, initially opposed the shelter. But he said that the shelter is not a bad neighbor, especially when Becker is on duty, and that the only nuisance these days occurs when clients come by his shop to panhandle. "Sometimes they stray," Damiani said. "As long as Fran Becker's there, no problem." Sitting in the shelter's garden recently, Harper talked of the future. She has lived harder in 19 years than most people do in a lifetime: She has been through drug addiction, child abuse and a final episode of domestic violence that started over a 99 cent cheeseburger. Now she talks about earning her high school equivalency diploma and designing aircraft for the Air Force. "I look it at this way," she said. "I'm still young. I can still start my life over.