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Most of the time when we talk about homelessness, big cities come to mind, but about 7 percent of homeless people live in rural areas, where access to help can be harder to come by. Flagstaff, Ariz., is one of those places. While city officials work to find solutions, one woman has taken an old motel and turned it into transitional housing. From Flagstaff, Laura Morales and Mark Neumann of member station KJZZ reports.
MARK NEUMANN, BYLINE: Route 66 runs through Flagstaff and a lot of old, rundown motels from its heyday still stand, empty shells from a more prosperous time.
LAURA MORALES, BYLINE: The Mother Road has long been an American emblem of change. People who want to remake their lives - Depression-era Dust Bowl refugees, post-World War II travelers dreaming of leisure and adventure.
NEUMANN: That same story of transformation is still being told in the old 66 Motel.
LORI BARLOW: The motel with a smile - 15 units, some kitchenettes, hot water, heat.
NEUMANN: That's the Lori Barlow. She's a former financial planner who's giving the old motel new life. A spirited blonde who started her own new chapter, Barlow gave up a six-figure salary and a home on the California coast to help people.
MORALES: But she wasn't sure how to go about it until one night inspiration struck.
BARLOW: I think it was 3:36 actually. I woke up and sat up in my bed, and this clear message just came and said you need to go take over distressed motels and turn them into transitional housing to help, you know, the poor. I don't know how to explain it. I just thought OK, you know, what do I do with that?
NEUMANN: Barlow made some calls and leased a motel.
MORALES: And suddenly realized she might be in over her head.
BARLOW: Now I was coming in going, holy moly (laughter). It was pretty bad. The ceiling was caving in and the insulation was hanging out of it. There was a lot of evidence of mice. I just looked at it and thought OK, I'm not going to let my kids come up and see where I'm going to be living (laughter).
NEUMANN: The floors slope. The walls are uneven.
MORALES: Even the fixtures are crooked in some units.
BARLOW: The toilet seat is at an angle because it's too small. You couldn't sit down and close the door (laughter). And watch your head (laughter).
WILLIAM FULTON: She let me stay here while I was remodeling it for rent.
MORALES: William Fulton, a former engineer, lived in a van before he moved into the motel.
NEUMANN: He also became the on-call fix-it man.
FULTON: The plumbing's been the worst, so basically it's getting that fixed up and flooring. The old wood rotted, leaky plumbing smells, so we dried them out, redid some of the floors. It's like a new building after we get done with it.
NEUMANN: One of the current residents, Julie Bowman, also remembers there were a lot of shady characters when she moved in.
JULIE BOWMAN: One lady was selling drugs out of her back window. These people were literally using this for a drive-through. And they would walk by her window, and she would hand it out. This was going on all night.
MORALES: Back when she leased the motel, Lori Barlow painted the phrase ANEW Living Community below the old neon sign. A lot of the residents are making a new go of it.
NEUMANN: She provides a computer room and a list of community resources. They have two years to pull their lives together.
MORALES: Tomorrow, we'll report on how they're trying to make the near-impossible leap from shelter to home. For NPR News, I'm Laura Morales.
NEUMANN: And I'm Mark Neumann in Flagstaff.