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SALT LAKE CITY — Chris Stratton lived on the streets for three years. He said he made a bad business decision that cost him everything.
"It was getting hard on me," Stratton said Wednesday. "I suffer from depression a lot, chronic depression."
Now, he'll sleep in his bed in his apartment next door to Alliance House, 1724 S. Main Street, in Salt Lake City.
"It gives us dignity, for one," Stratton said. "It gives us a place to be clean, if nothing else."
Stratton is among 10 adults with severe mental illness who now have studio apartments to help them transition into regular life. Alliance House opened the new apartments, right next to the clubhouse operated by members and staff, for members who need housing.
"It gives me stability," said Stratton, and a safe place where he can get his life back together and transition into the next chapter.
"Alliance House was founded in January 1987 by concerned parents of adults with severe mental illness. In partnership with Valley Mental Health, Alliance House provides a nonprofit 'clubhouse model' psychosocial program that takes place in a setting that is neither institution nor treatment center. Those Alliance House serves are considered members, not clients or patients. The basis of Alliance House is our uniquely supportive and collaborative clubhouse setting in which members and staff work together in an atmosphere built on principles of mutual respect and caring."
Source: AllianceHouse.org
Friends brought him to Alliance House, a place where adults suffering severe or persistent mental illness can work to reintegrate into the community in a clubhouse format.
Stratton is taking welding classes to pursue a career and to make jewelry from metal he finds on the streets.
For members who may have been homeless, having their own places gives them an opportunity to clean themselves up and clean their clothes. Stratton said it also gives them stability: a great launchpad for reintegrating into the community.
"It's hard to think about maintaining your mental health and your physical health if you don't have a safe environment where you know where your next meal is going to come from, or where you are going to lay down next time," said Leif Oldert, executive director of Alliance House.
Members, staff and supporters gathered Wednesday to celebrate what the apartments mean to the members striving toward independence. In the clubhouse model, all members come to Alliance House voluntarily, but they're encouraged to assume a role in the daily functions of the house — like cooking, cleaning and running the house.
"That's where all of us gain our sense of dignity, identity, community and purpose; all of it," Oldert said.
The studio apartment units are subsidized on two-year leases for qualified members who help run the house. Alliance House now has a total of 39 housing units for its members, but these units are especially helpful for members because of their proximity to Alliance House.
The Utah Legislature came up with $70,000 for the project that exceeded $500,000. The rest was paid for by a Salt Lake County community development grant and grants from the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation and the William R. Hearst Foundation.
The executive director says Alliance House has 300 to 400 members today, and hundreds of former members who now live independent, productive lives in many of our communities.
Stratton was the first to move into the new apartment building, but his neighbors are already arriving. He now has a new community, new support and new hope for a better life.
"It's a very great place for me to be," he said. "I feel at home here."
