THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, December 8, 1994 TAG: 9412080467
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Marc Tibbs
LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
Come next month, when the rest of us are recovering from our holiday excesses, about 40 people from Norfolk will be scrambling to find a place to stay.
Take a stroll around the building they now call home, and the signs of change are evident:
Sports cars, mini-vans and four-wheel-drive trucks are scattered around the parking lot. Older men in suits and felt hats, and young professionals in Eddie Bauer jackets come and go through the glass double doors.
Treadmills, stair climbers and weight machines dominate.
It was this same area, this same building, that once was a springboard for wayward travelers and the downtrodden. People who didn't want a handout, but who needed a hand.
But that was in an era gone by.
The soon-to-be homeless are the last occupants of the Bute Street YMCA, which will close the doors of its residential hotel in January.
It's the last YMCA in the area to maintain a residential hotel. Other Y's in Hampton Roads closed their doors to residents years ago.
``I think it's just horrible,'' said resident Shirley Morgan. ``It's heart-breaking.''
Morgan, 51, moved to the Bute Street Y four months ago. She had been living with her grown children and didn't approve of their lifestyles.
Because she had been on a public-housing waiting list, Morgan says, the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority has offered her emergency housing.
Not everyone is as fortunate.
George Lee just came to town this week from Baltimore.
``Everything is sky-high in Baltimore,'' he said. ``I thought I'd come down here and see if I could find work. I'd take anything: washing dishes, you name it.''
Whatever he takes, Lee had better take it soon. He's only got a few more weeks before his $100-a-week room will become an expanded gym and increased office space.
``Basically, we're victims of being too successful,'' said YMCA Executive Director Al Dustin. ``We're out of program space. There's no room to expand.''
Recently, the Y completed a 25-meter swimming pool, and now has plans for $350,000 in additional renovations.
That's why the residents must go.
``We're changing as the community needs change,'' said Dustin. ``We want to provide programming with Christian principles in mind.''
The current YMCA mission has changed greatly from when the first Y - actually a YWCA - was founded in London, nearly 140 years ago. Back then, prayer circles and affordable housing for single women were the primary goals.
Now, some of the nearly 5,000 members at Bute Street have more pressing needs.
On a bulletin board near the expanded swimming pool, they list their desires: better exercise music, more steam in the sauna, and tanning beds, just to name a few things.
George Lee and Shirley Morgan don't want tanning beds. They'd settle for a safe place to sleep. by CNB