It's been three months since Tony Hayes moved into his new digs at Palmer Court Apartments in Salt Lake City.
But after 25 years on the street, it still seems like a dream.
"I'm telling you, there are still some mornings I wake up and still can't believe it. It just hasn't set in," said Hayes, 55, who was among the first residents of the 200-unit apartment complex for chronically homeless people and families when it opened in March.
Although there's still plenty of work to be done before the complex reaches capacity, hundreds of people -- from the homeless and formerly homeless to leaders of government and business -- gathered Tuesday to dedicate the new facility.
As the crowd -- with some in tattered T-shirts and others in cocktail dresses -- filed in, Hayes ambled slowly with his cane into a dark room alongside the lobby, where he sat down, smiled broadly and shook his head.
"I'm still in total shock," he said. "This place has given me new life."
Those who nurtured Palmer Court into existence say that's exactly what they're trying to do. The former hotel is intended to provide transitional housing for those who have spent years without a stable place to rest their heads.
Rent is calculated at a third of each resident's monthly earnings. Those without a job pay $50 a month. Though the complex cost $21 million to renovate and will cost millions more to run, advocates for the homeless say it's actually more cost effective to provide services in this way -- particularly because it helps keep homeless people healthy and keeps them out of hospital emergency rooms.
For families, there's an on-site preschool. For those with mental health and substance abuse issues, there is counseling.
That's been key for Troy Martineau, who also moved into the complex in March. The 41-year-old Utah native had spent the past 15 years without a home, living in hotels when he had money and often on the streets when he did not.
"I lost several jobs due to drinking," he said. "I couldn't keep it together. Nothing in my life was stable."
Martineau still hasn't been able to find steady work -- he takes whatever work he can get at a nearby temp agency -- but he doesn't have to worry about finding a place to rest at the end of the day. He says that's helped him deal with his other problems.
It's also given him the security he needed to do something that he's been meaning to do for a long time.
"I'm going back to school," he said, flashing a gap-toothed grin. "I'm going to get my high school diploma and then I'm going to start at Salt Lake Community College."
Palmer, he said, "is paradise."
