A new homeless center with a large Indian clientele provides residents with a home and a place to drink.

About a third of the residents at 1811 Eastlake in Seattle, Washington, are Native American. They include Rodney Littlebear, who has spent 15 years on the streets but finally has a place to call home.

And in what has drawn the scorn of critics, Littlebear has a place to drink. The 75 residents at 1811 Eastlake aren't required to stop drinking or do anything about their alcoholism.

"When I got here, I said, 'Oh boy, this don't look like no treatment center,'" Littlebear, 37, told The New York Times.

The program is earning the praise of officials who say it's cheaper to take homeless alcoholics of the street than keep rounding them up and putting them in jail. The Bush administration also supports the program.

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Homeless Alcoholics Receive a Permanent Place to Live, and Drink (The New York Times 7/5)
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