There are more than 600 homeless people living on the streets of Cleveland County, and more than 800 people who are precariously housed.

“With the recession well under way, we are seeing more and more people in need of housing,” Marilyn Strain, case manager at East Main Place in Norman.

East Main Place works to help the homeless in the area by providing transitional housing and life skills. The temporary housing consists of 21 apartments, and the program also provides weekly case management that teaches residents important life skills.

And East Main Place does it all with a staff of only three people.

Executive director Christy Blair said her role is like having a dozen jobs rolled into one.

Her days are full of grant writing, public relations, board development, fund-raising, directing walk-ins to appropriate community resources and collaborating with other agencies.

“But it’s also not unusual to walk in the office and find me washing dishes or having to plunge a toilet in a resident’s apartment,” Blair said. “I am never bored.”

Blair has worked at East Main Place for almost six years as paid staff, but volunteered for four years before that, she said.

She began working at East Main Place after witnessing the struggles of the homeless, she said.

“I grew up in a rural area with many low-income families, but never saw the type of homeless person one thinks of in a stereotypical way until starting my first job out of college in downtown Oklahoma City,” Blair said. “I watched people eat from cans, drink water from outdoor decorative fountains and ask for cash.

“I felt compelled to do something, so, as a resident of Norman, I looked into local shelters and found East Main Place.”

The program at East Main Place is different from homeless shelters because residents are allowed to live in an apartment for up to a full year, provided they obtain employment, set up a savings account and learn life skills taught through one-on-one case management — skills like budgeting, parenting, employment skills and healthy living.

The apartment is fully furnished and also includes a private bathroom and kitchenette, Blair said. This is possible through room sponsors who also furnish the room and stock it with necessary household items.

The average length of stay is five or six months.

“Residents are ready to graduate when they have overcome their major obstacles to permanent housing and have saved enough money to pay deposits and rent on their own home and utilities,” Blair said.

When residents graduate, the room sponsors come in to clean and refurnish the rooms.

Residents also are allowed to take all the furnishings of their apartment with them, so they can “avoid the struggle of starting over with nothing again,” Blair said.

Strain said the best part of her job is “definitely our clients’ successes.”

“There is no other program out there quite like ours,” she said. “Our program furnishes each client with what they need to get back on their feet and move on with their life.”

Strain has worked at East Main Place for one year and said she chose to work there because she wanted to make a difference and “felt that East Main Place was the place to make that difference.”

“I care deeply for the people I work with and for,” she said.

As case manager, Strain listens to residents, inquires about their needs and refers them to important resources, she said.

Strain and Blair both said they would like to see East Main Place grow to accommodate more people.

Cory Allen is the volunteer and donations coordinator, and has worked at East Main Place since April.

Allen organizes people doing community service and works with different groups who donate to East Main Place.

Volunteers are crucial to East Main Place’s upkeep, he said.

“Since there’s only three of us here, we really rely on volunteers and community service,” he said.

Allen said he loves to see the day-to-day benefits of his job, and to see the end result of the hard work.

“I have a passion for helping people, and I’ve always had a long-term goal of working with the homeless,” he said.

Blair and Strain agreed the greatest aspect of their jobs is helping those in need and seeing their progress.

“The best part of my job is seeing a successful graduate turn in their East Main Place keys and show me the keys to their new home with a proud smile on his or her face,” Blair said.

OU junior Allison Stampley volunteers at East Main Place.

“I’m majoring in social work, so this gives me experience for my field,” she said.

Some of Stampley’s duties include helping to keep the lobby, bathrooms and kitchen clean; working outside; taking inventory of donations and answering the phone, she said.

Allen said volunteers “keep the place going strong.”

Students can help East Main Place with everything from reception work to cleaning to landscaping, Blair said.

East Main Place is located on 1100 East Main and can be reached at 447-4663.