City staff looking at ways to assist those who will lose housing in Coliseum Inn sale
In early August, I met with Andy Scott, director of the City’s department of Housing and Community Development, and members of his staff, to discuss how the City’s plans to buy the Coliseum Inn would affect the low-income and homeless people who stay there. Street outreach teams from NightWatch and DayWatch regularly visit the Coliseum Inn, and I feared that when the motel closed, most of the residents would have no place else to go. Our homeless shelters and housing programs are full. Our city lacks affordable housing. I assume that if the hundreds of people at the Coliseum Inn had someplace else to live, they’d probably already be living there.
The motel’s clientele includes the working poor and homeless families with infants and young children. But the Coliseum Inn also shelters some of the hardest to serve people in our local homeless population — drug addicts, alcoholics, prostitutes, ex-cons. Many of my friends have stayed there over the years. I’m sure that some are there now. They work day labor, panhandle or use disability income to stay in the motel as long as they can, and when the money runs out, it’s back to the street until they have money again.
At the meeting with the HCD staff, we brainstormed ways to help. It will be easier for some folks than for others. I got a call from a City staffer today who told me that the sale had been finalized and it would be in the news today. I reiterated my offer for our outreach team members to assist in meeting with residents and assessing their needs. I also mentioned an idea that I’ve talked about with friends from the HIVE. It’s not something that I’d necessarily expect the City to be thrilled about right away, but I think it could work here.
All of the City staff that I’ve spoken with about the Coliseum Inn sale have expressed concern about the residents, and are pursuing ways to assist them. I very much appreciate their hearts for our homeless and low-income neighbors.
P.S. Although I am concerned about where our friends and neighbors will go when the motel closes, I do not necessarily oppose the sale and closure of the property. The Coliseum Inn is a very sad and oppressive place.** And it just saps my spirit to walk the halls there. So much hurt… I want these folks to have a different place to live, a different life. A new start.
My hope is that those who are excited about the revitalization of the High Point Road corridor will be not just equally, but even more excited about the possibility of revitalizing the lives of the wounded people who have been a part of this area for years. People matter more than property. Let’s be a city that cares. And I don’t just mean City — government. I mean city. All of us. Community.
**I don’t mean that as a slam against the owners and management. They are providing affordable housing to people who would otherwise have none. There are a lot of people with tragic lives at the Coliseum Inn, and it’s just a very sad place.
UPDATE, 11/18/2008: I never heard back from the City after my initial (and only) meeting with HCD about the Coliseum Inn sale and the need for housing for displaced residents. City Council votes on this issue tonight. More here.