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Elvis refuses to leave the building.

And who can blame him?

At the New Mexico Veterans Integration Center, 82-year-old Elvis Greenlee, who was a U.S. Navy officer in World War II, has a bed to sleep on, clothes to wear and three square meals a day.

"I came here because I was living out of my pickup truck," Greenlee said.

The center on Central Avenue Northeast caters to Albuquerque's homeless veterans.

Michael Archuleta, the center's executive director, said it is the only one of its kind in the state. It functions as a boarding house, but with on-site services designed to help its tenants recover from their homeless experience and become financially independent.

The center, housed in the former Sundowner Lounge at 6101 Central Ave. N.E., offers financial counseling, a part-time nurse, a wood shop, a gymnasium and a cafeteria.

However, its ability to assist those in need is limited.

Archuleta estimates that about 3,000 homeless veterans live in Bernalillo County, while the center has just 75 beds.

A new wave of veterans trickling in from Iraq and Afghanistan has Archuleta turning people away.

"I have 75 veterans now, 300 on a waiting list and people who come in daily that I have no room for," he said.

The center's waiting list has increased by 50 percent during the past year and a half.

Veterans can stay up to two years, but some only remain for a month or two, Archuleta said.

"It's a nice place to live," Greenlee said of the center. "They're very reasonable. If you're out working or anything, they'll take a third of your pay or a third of your Social Security and use that to take care of your bills and give you three meals a day."

A combination of Greenlee's Social Security and Navy pension pays for the room he shares with another veteran.

To earn extra money, Greenlee occasionally draws caricatures at the weekend flea market at Expo New Mexico.

Archuleta said many people don't understand that a homeless veteran "isn't just someone drunk beneath a bridge, but someone who is sick, someone who has lost a limb, lost a spouse. When they come here, they're not men. They've lost all their dignity. Some of them aren't even real, because they've lost all their identity cards."

Before Greenlee resorted to living out of his truck, he had been working for the health care industry. He had a wife, three kids and a history of craft work.

Living out of the truck wasn't an option Greenlee sought until he lost his wife, his job and one of his sons.

Veteran Edward Edgerton had a similar experience.

After 21 years in the Air Force and a failed marriage, Edgerton, 56, said he got into drugs, which led him to homelessness. He heard about the integration center while serving time in prison on drug charges.

Edgerton said he contacted the center to see if it had room for him, and got permission to serve parole while living there.

"I believe in this place, because it gives a man a chance," Edgerton said.

He used the center's services to change his life, he said. He still lives at the center but now works for Archuleta as a program monitor. In his spare time, Edgerton uses his life experience as an example to teach classes on substance abuse and anger management to other veterans.

Many of the center's residents have to deal with substance abuse or alcohol problems, said Fermin Ortega, the center's operations manager.

The center also has problems, Ortega said. Built in the 1950s and only partially habitable, the building requires constant work.

Gradually, the old motel's wings are being improved. But a lack of carpet, tile and plumbing fixtures in some areas prevents their use, Ortega said.

More challenging than the repairs, however, are the debts left by the center's previous management. Archuleta has struggled under the financial weight of a $25,000 electric bill and a $28,000 water bill since he took over as executive director last year.

Archuleta said he sent a letter to the Public Service Company of New Mexico explaining the situation and the utility forgave the debt.

Letters to Mayor Martin Chavez and several City Council members regarding the water bill have not received a response, he said.

Mark Welsh, Albuquerque's veteran liaison — on the job for seven weeks — said he hoped something would be done about the water bill.

After touring the center and learning its history, Welsh said he intended to discuss its needs with the mayor.

"It's so much more than a homeless shelter," he said.

Whether fighting fascism, communism or terrorism, many veterans return home to find they share a similar battle — that of alienation.

"They say the greatest issue is the war. We say `no,' because everyone has already made up their minds and taken a position on the war," said the center's director of administration, Horacio Trujillo.

"What are we going to do for those veterans? That's the critical issue now."