Profiles in Success: Ellery

Release Date: Tuesday, August 16th 2011

In May 2011, the DowntownDC BID ran the first in a series of short profiles about homeless adults who transitioned from the streets to independent housing. Thanks to the Downtown Homeless Services Team, managed and funded by the BID, more homeless persons in Downtown are getting a new lease on life. The Team, a group of on-the-street professionals headquartered at Pathways to Housing DC, does remarkable work engaging with homeless individuals every day where they are in the community, to build rapport and trust. Using a pragmatic, street-to-independence outreach program called Housing First, the BID partners with the DC government and non-profit homeless services providers to bring outreach services, housing, and dignity to homeless adults while improving comfort and security for Downtown workers, residents, and visitors. The following success story is a result of this special partnership:

They first found him asleep in an alley adjacent to Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library (901 G Street). Ellery, a lifelong DC resident who suffered from early childhood trauma and later succumbed to drug dependency, had been homeless for four years. Bounced repeatedly from friends’ couches to the streets after wearing out his welcome, he survived on the largess of soup kitchens and rummaged through garbage cans for sustenance. At the time, Ellery, who began using drugs as a teenager, received no help for his psychiatric disability.

That was seven years ago. After the Downtown Homeless Services Team made contact, Pathways to Housing DC gave him an apartment and provided intensive psychiatric services. Despite stable housing, Ellery didn’t unpack his belongings. He also didn’t overcome his drug addiction. Instead, he spent his days loitering in Downtown, where he was arrested multiple times on drug related charges. Eventually, Ellery was incarcerated for 13 months. Once released, he returned to Pathways seeking a fresh start.

Once again, he was given an apartment. And once again, he continued to struggle with addiction. He was arrested yet again. But this time, he had an epiphany. Addressing his addiction and obtaining regular treatment for his mental illness became top of mind. Ellery was on a mission, regularly attending Narcotics Anonymous (NA) meetings and interacting more with Pathways to Housing DC and the Downtown Homeless Services Team.

His stick-to-itiveness paid off.  Today, he resides in an apartment on a quiet block, his home for four years now.  He knows his neighbors, both the young and the old, and they know him—as a positive member of the community, who is often invited to neighborhood events.  After asking if Ellery wanted to work, and then learning that he did, one neighbor submitted his resume to a temp agency that meets the Walter E. Washington Convention Center’s (801 Mount Vernon Place) staffing needs. Ellery was interviewed and offered a job and became a permanent Convention Center employee last January.

Ellery is now in the process of using his income and Section 8 voucher to become a homeowner. He found a house a block from his existing apartment, in a neighborhood where he has established ties and is a welcome member of the community.