1811 Eastlake - Housing First

Produced for the Downtown Emergency Service Center. 1811 Eastlake is a shelter founded on the housing first philosophy. Everyone has a right to housing and housing should come before treatment are a few of its fundamental principles. For an inside look at this shelter, please click on the video to the left.

Produced by:
Ryan McNamee

Assistant Videographer:
Lucas Anderson

Original Music By:
Tyler Hamilton

    Spring Quarter I set out to produce a film which would act as a continuation of The Homeless Neighbor. I began to investigate how homelessness was affecting businesses in Pioneer Square and how the heritage of the area affected the homeless demographics of Seattle. However, my findings became extremely inconclusive, many shop owners felt that Homeless was a major issue but not one that was directly affecting their business. What I was finding was that the economy and tourism was the major problem and one sub-part of that was how homelessness was influencing tourists perception of the area. After looking at different angles of this story, I quickly found that this story would be a stretch, and produce an inconclusive look into the issues affecting local businesses. Changing directions, I began to look into other areas of homelessness in Seattle, and came across a very unique and interesting program; DESC's 1811 Eastlake project and the Housing First Philosophy.

    I began to work with Downtown Emergency Service Center and 1811 Eastlake staff to produce a film which explored this unique and successful program. This has been one of the most difficult and eye opening experiences I have had so far with film. It has given me the opportunity to explore alcohol addiction and homelessness on a deeper level. I am fairly confident that this film will provide viewers a way see what Housing First is all about and why it has become a model that is being replicated around the country.