Drop in donations hurts Elizabeth Gregory Home for homeless women

Kanti Mani came to America from India in an arranged marriage. Her new husband drank, beat her and apologized, she said. Again and again. She was 23. Her immigration status wouldn't allow her to work or to return home.

Mani found refuge and help to resolve her legal status in 2006 as one of the first women of the Elizabeth Gregory Home, a long-term transitional residence for homeless women in Seattle's University District.

In August 2008, this fledgling nonprofit formed by the University Lutheran Church was faced with shutting its doors because of a lack of funding. A story in The Seattle Times produced an outpouring of donations, and the agency has continued to help single women, about two-thirds of them victims of domestic violence.

Now the home is again facing an uncertain future, a symptom, its leaders say, of the poor economy.

Donations from private foundations fell from $160,000 three years ago to $10,000 this year.

A donor who gave $5,000 every quarter saw his interest on investments slip by a million dollars last year. This year, he had to cut his donations by half, said Kimberly Jackson, executive director.

Because of the funding crisis, the house has reduced its full-time staff from 11 to three. Jackson has taken on the job of case manager, in addition to her own work.

The home's greatest expense — the $7,200-per-month lease for units in a nearby apartment complex — has gone up each year.

Social-service advocates say the same story is being repeated at agencies across the region. King County is facing a $56 million budget deficit. Of planned cuts there, $4 million will be taken from human services, according to the proposed budget.

Human services make up only 4 percent of the county's total budget.

"What's happening at the Elizabeth Gregory Home is happening at just about every program or agency in the city and country." said Nancy Amidei, a retired University of Washington social-work lecturer and an advocate for the homeless.

As the U.S. jobless rate hovers near 10 percent, the number of people turning to those agencies only grows.

The Elizabeth Gregory Home gets about 20 calls a day — from hospitals, the police, emergency shelters — seeking housing for single women

Of the estimated 8,500 homeless people in King County on any given night, about 3,000 of them are single women, Jackson said.

Shelters provide housing for up to three months. The county has 110 transitional beds where women can stay up to two years. The Elizabeth Gregory Home provides 11 of those beds.

Since it opened three years ago, it has spent $1 million to provide housing, counseling, medical and legal support, as well as its drop-in-center, which can serve up to 20 women at a time.

Fifty of its residents have graduated to permanent housing. Most have met other goals including education and employment.

Ron Moe-Lobeda, pastor of University Lutheran Church and president of the Elizabeth Gregory Home's board, calculates the agency has helped residents regain their independence at a cost of about $20,000 apiece.

"That's a very modest investment to turn around a life," he said.

Since she fled her abusive marriage in 2006, Mani has earned an associate degree in accounting and is completing a certificate program in fundraising at the University of Washington, she said.

She's also operations manager at the home, all so she can continue to help women like herself.

This story, published Monday, Oct. 19 and corrected Monday, Oct. 19, initially gave an incorrect title of Elizabeth Gregory Home. We regret the error.