Opening doors - building hope

When you're homeless, living on the street, some doorways are friendlier than others. This doorway, despite the bars, is one of the friendliest in Belltown.

It belongs to the Plymouth Housing Group, a leader in the effort to  reduce homelessness. Founded in 1980, under the leadership of the late Rev. David Colwell, PHG has become one of the largest providers - 730 rental units and 17 retail tenants in 11 buildings - of very low-income housing in downtown Seattle.

And while PHG has helped rehabilitate lives, they've also played a part in the preservation of downtown Seattle's history and heritage by rehabilitating turn of the century properties which have historical significance.

More than 1,400 multi-ethnic, multi-racial, and multi-cultural people will be helped off the street and into housing programs owned and administered by PHG this year, dramatically improving their quality of life, and the quality of the entire community we call Belltown.

Learn more about the Plymouth Housing Group and building hope.

Comments

[Chubby Bald Man]

I'm stunned at what this image actually means. When I first saw it - the downward angle, the bars, the institutional "flatness" of the teal (?) door against the way-too-happy yellow - I felt dread. Revulsion (in the sense that i didn't want to look any more). And then I read what it was.

Even though INTELLECTUALLY I know it to be true that things are almost never what they seem, emotionally I still react to the seeming rather than the being. In base society this is probably good and useful... but we live within a complex artificial hierarchy: civilization. I must work harder to weigh my emotional responses.

I don't like the photo. I don't like the chipped concrete paint. I don't like to look at it. But it is very intertesting and thought provoking and I suppose that makes it good. Thanks for posting. Tomorrow I will make it my mission to look more closely at the things around me.

[Bruce Moore]

Thanks CBM - it is the dichotomy of imagery I seek. The tension between our perceptions and other realities, and paths to resolve them.

[LE Bonow]

Just stumbled onto this photo and you are so WRONG. This particular doorway was once the entrance to the BBC Studio, the Ola Wyola Boutique and artist studio spaces for 15 years. The PHG management were the meanist people I know. They really don't have any respect for the poor people they house. They just do it for the money. PHG was always rude and evil to me and treated me like dirt although I paid them thousands, religiously every month they never fixed anything and complained about me non stop. The alley was the worst in the city, fetid rotting garbage mixed with human waste. They never fixed the problem until I moved out!
That was MY doorway my steps leading to one of the most artistic domaines in Belltown from 1990 till 2005. If you want an image of PHG just put up a picture of a two faced liar and that would be mor apt.

[Hank]

Wow, 4 months to the day of the original post and this fellow find HIS doorway and tells his story. This blog thing is remarkable.