Ohio Serial Killer

Photo by Cheryl Harris of the NEOCH Photo Project

Are We Casting Aside Some Women in Our Cities?

As you most likely have read, Cleveland had a serial killer living in the Mt Pleasant neighborhood. I know the victims, and I see them almost everyday. At this point, only one woman has in fact been identified, but we know that they were all African American women. But I can close my eyes and see these women in our shelters in Cleveland. They sometimes have an addiction or a mental health problem or chronic health condition and they always have unstable housing. They "hook up" for short periods of time with men to have a place to stay. They self medicate and struggle to find ways to feed their addiction or find help for their health issues. They see five years of waiting for housing, and so they try to find someone who help. They have a tenuous job and no career. These women have strained relationships with family or no family in the area, and they are looking for a lifeline. The short cut is to stay with a man and put up with physical or mental abuse or exchange sex for a warm bed or tolerate countless other forms of mistreatment. This is a sometimes a matter of survival, but it is also dangerous for these women.

Did authorities do enough when these transient women go missing? I am not blaming the police, because they have most likely been burnt thousands of times looking for women who were not in fact missing. They have probably wasted thousands of police hours chasing people who do not want to be found because they are fleeing the bill collector or they are just having a hard time finding a place to live. But these grieving families over on Imperial Avenue are angry and confused. They know that if there were two white women missing from the same neighborhood in Westlake there would be a task force and the FBI, National Guard and John Walsh would be here kicking in doors in that neighborhood. We all know that the media would be camping at Police headquarters every night if 10 or 11 white women were missing from Mayfield Hts. The serial killer knew this also and was able to stay under the radar for the last few years by preying on transient African American women. Are their segments of our community that are just forgotten?

Brian
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Homeless Denied Identification

The Identification Crisis Collaborative
*West Side Catholic Center * St. Colman’s Outreach Ministry * Lutheran Metropolitan Ministries- 2100 Lakeside Shelter for Men * NEOCH * Community Women’s Shelter – Mental Health Services * Care Alliance * St. Malachi Center * Project SAVE * The Church
* Catholic Charities – Bishop Cosgrove Center and Emergency Services at St. Augustine

Fiscal Agent: West Side Catholic Center, 3135 Lorain Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44113, www.helpcleveland.org

November 3, 2009
PRESS RELEASE

HOMELESS DENIED STATE PHOTO ID’S:
With No Proof of Residency Homeless Are Not Eligible for Jobs or Housing

As of October 8, 2009, people who are homeless and not living in shelters, are no longer eligible for state photo ID’s or drivers licenses because they have no proof of residency. Because state photo IDs are required for services including employment, housing and health care, these people cannot meet their basic human needs. This new mandate by the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles prevents people who are living in their cars, abandoned property, on the streets, or any place where they cannot prove residency, from any chance of improving their lives.

The members of the Identification Crisis Collaborative are agencies that assist homeless and low income people to obtain their birth certificates and state photo IDs. They include homeless shelters, drop-in centers, churches, mental health services, and other agencies working with this population.

The process of acquiring a state photo ID is already fraught with Catch-22s. A birth certificate is required to get an ID, but in many states, you must send a copy of a state photo ID to get a birth certificate. People born in Cleveland can get their birth certificates at Cleveland City Hall, but a state photo ID is required to enter.

Now, all applicants for state photo IDs and drivers licenses must bring proof of residency – lease agreements, utility bills, etc., with them to the BMV, or leave and return with the documents. These regulations apply to everyone, but are particularly difficult barriers for the elderly, disabled, homeless and low income citizens.

Jim Schlecht, Outreach Worker for Care Alliance, which provides health care and help for people who are homeless, stated, “This new rule is keeping people homeless and a continuing burden on the community. It doesn’t make sense.” He is currently trying to assist someone who stays around E. 9th and Superior. This person, who is homeless and has no residence, has been sober for almost a year and wants to get off the streets. He has the opportunity to get a HUD subsidized apartment, but he cannot prove he has a current residence so that he can get a state photo ID. Because HUD requires a state photo ID, he is being denied the apartment.

Brian Davis, Executive Director of the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless, stated, “The fundamental expression of American democracy is voting, and Ohio requires identification for those who want to vote in person on election day. These new rules will make homeless people into second class citizens on election day, unable to vote in person.”

Gerald Skoch, Executive Director of the West Side Catholic Center which operates a drop-in center for people who are homeless, stated, “The residency requirement is yet another burden placed upon the indigent and homeless striving for self sufficiency. The unintended consequences of this type of regulation are significant and usually overlooked. In our efforts to achieve greater safety and security we trample on the hopes of the marginalized.”

Eileen Kelly, Outreach Minister from St. Colman Church, stated, “Even if the homeless can’t prove their existence to the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles, we know that the men and women who are most affected by these new unreasonable requirements do exist. We meet them every single day at our doors and struggle with them to break down the barriers to work, to decent housing, to basic human services. By building these new barriers to obtaining official ID, it seems to us that the Ohio BMV is now in the business of preventing some of our most vulnerable neighbors from providing for themselves, from working, from living in decent housing, from voting.”

Signed:
Francis Afram-Guyaning, Executive Director of CARE Alliance
Brian Davis, Executive Director of Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless
Gail Doucette, Director of Catholic Charities Emergency Assistance
Carol Fredrich, Executive Director of Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry – 2100 Lakeside Men’s Shelter
Eileen Kelly, Director of St. Colman Church Outreach Ministry
Susan Neth, Executive Director of Mental Health Services – Community Women’s Shelter
Gerald Skoch, Executive Director of West Side Catholic Center

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Good Will Gone Wild

Local University Students Sleeps Outside

I have never been a big fan of these fund raisers, but apparently Habitat for Humanity supports the concept locally. CWRU students slept outside earlier this month, and had a great night. One of our old interns wrote a letter to the editor complaining about the mixed up message and inappropriate stereotypes. Mike is correct that it is difficult to match the goals of raising dollars with awareness campaigns. There is some debate at the national level about these pizza and box nights. It is not fun to be homeless and it is nearly impossible to realize the problems faced by homeless people in one night.

The issues associated with being homeless is that there collapse of all stability without an end in sight. There is no place that is safe that people can use as a headquarters. There no place to put your stuff as George Carlin loved to talk about. There is no privacy and the future is always cloudy when you lose your housing. It may be fun for one night or even a couple of weeks, but that sense of freedom wears off real fast. Eventually, we need a regular safe place to return to. We all need a dresser to hold important documents and clean clothing. We want to stay up late if we feel like it, and we want a private quiet place to just think.

I know in Columbus and Athens do a homeless experience project to try to get across to students the frustration of being homeless, but they are not usually fundraising opportunities for the agencies. Back in the 1980s, the students built a shanty on the quad at CWRU. This was my first experience with the problem of homelessness, and got me interested in working on these issues. It was not a fund raiser, but an attempt to get the students involved in the problem. This was similar to the anti-war and anti-apartheid movements of the 1970s and 1980s. The organizers brought in speakers both local and national and confronted the university administration over their lack of involvement in addressing poverty. The students were arrested, but it generated a great deal of media and student attention. The group that formed met throughout the rest of the year and did a few other events to try to push the university to become more involved in taking a leadership role in addressing the poverty all around the school.

Brian
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We Need Blankets!!!

The Shelters Are In Need of Your Help!!

The Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry Men's Homeless Shelter at 2100 Lakeside is in need of blankets for their residents. The economic downturn has caused them to lose a few of the sources they had supplying their blankets so they have asked for our help. They will take any new or good used blankets in any size. Please consider doing a blanket drive where you work or at your faith congregation for 2100 Lakeside Shelter. Blankets can be dropped off at the shelter on your way to work, at lunch, or on the way home. If you do a blanket drive and can collect more than 30 blankets one of the shelters would be happy to pick them up for you. For more information or to schedule a pick up call NEOCH at 432-0540 ext. 103

Brian
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Reply to Shelter Standards Request

Guidelines vs. Regulations

The Homeless Congress has secured the endorsement of 20 City Council candidates to pass some kind of regulations of the shelters. The list of council members is regularly updated on the NEOCH website with a link to the proposed legislation as written by the Congress.

One interesting note came by fax on October 5, 2009 from current City Councilman Anthony Brancatelli and candidate for Ward 2. While he checked the box in support of the proposal to regulate the shelters, he altered the the form to say that he would work to pass "or support" the regulations. Then at the end he added that he supports the concepts, and Brancatelli added "and understand that the state may provide such regulations." Some Council members have been deceived into thinking that the guidelines published by the State Department of Development are an adequate substitute to local regulations.

These guidelines have no enforcement mechanism, and there is no place within the State to go to complain about violations of these guidelines. All the shelter director has to do is sign once a year that they follow these guidelines and they get their money. No shelter has ever had their funding removed, because they are not following the guidelines. These rules have no provision for even enforcing violations of the suggested guidelines. So, even if a homeless person walked all the way down to Columbus and found the Department of Development they have no way of filing a complaint. There is not even an inspector general who can ever audit the shelters to see if they are in fact abiding by the state recommendations.

What homeless people are asking for is some local oversight of the shelters. They want someone to complain to when their stuff is inappropriately thrown away. They want someone impartial who will listen if they think that they were wronged. They want someone watching the millions of dollars that go to the shelters in our community. It is a simple request, but it seems like some bureacrats don't want to have to take sides and so are forwarding the myth that the shelters are already regulated. We are not accepting support for guidelines as a substitute for support for regulations.

Brian
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State Homeless Memorial Day

photo by the City of Cleveland Press Office of Mayor Jackson at the 2006 candlelight vigil at Franklin Circle Church.

December 21 is Now Recognized to Remember Homeless People

Back in December 2008, without any fanfare, the State of Ohio recognized December 21 as Homeless Persons' Memorial Day. Senate Bill 243 was passed on 12-17-2008 with a bunch of other designations and markers for various months, days, etc. Rep. Michael Skindell of Lakewood placed this in the legislation to remember those who passed away over the last year. There are current memorials in Dayton, Toledo, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Columbus, but it is nice to have the state recognize that people are dying while sleeping outside or living in shelters.

We hope to have a representative from the State delegation to our event this year as we recognize December 21 as Homeless Persons' Memorial Day. We will have more details about the memorial posted in the near future.

Brian
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Retirement of a Local Organizing Legend

Photo by Toni Anderson of the NEOCH Photo Project from 2009. Tim Walters is on the right and Steve Cagan is on the left.

Tim Walters Retired from May Dugan Center

Community organizing is not as valued as it was in Cleveland in the 1970s and early 1980s. Curiously, homelessness exploded in Cleveland in the late 1980s when community organizing began to decline. But one of the legends of organizing retired last month from the May Dugan Center here in Cleveland. Tim regularly attended the Homeless Congress, and kept MetroHealth honest (obviously not with regard to capital contracting) for the last 20 years. One of the most important services offered by Tim was his expertise on utility issues locally. No one who represents the interests of consumers knows more about the utility regulations than Tim Walters. This is a huge hole for the community to fill. There is no funding for this type of activity, and there is no one else who has this knowledge. We all thought that Tim was going to work fighting the good fight until the end of this century. Tim had to sit in on hundreds of meetings and hear politicians blather on and on just to stay informed about potential roadblocks or table scraps that may be available for the neighborhood.

Community organizing is no longer valued in the Cleveland. We all have to prove with deliverables and logic models and measurable outcomes our value. No one seems to see the value of just getting poor people together in the same room to talk about their own community. No one will give money anymore to have agencies host meetings between the disenfranchised and the power structure. Foundations and government do not understand the insight of the people receiving the government assistance or social services. We pay lip service as a society to asking for feedback, but we do not pay hard cash for this service.

Tim is the modern day monk scraping together a living from various agencies, but everyday listening to his constituents and working to solve problems. His faded jeans were his community organizing robes. He tried to work out the problem of how do you order your birth certificate at City Hall if you have to have ID to get to the birth certificate office? He worked on the problems of out of state slum lords in the neighborhood, and the attempts to preserve access to health care on the near west side. He was involved in Civil Rights issues and voting, but he never grandstanded for publicity. Tim has done a ton of walking for peace, universal health care, universal housing, and against unfair labor practices over the years.

Tim is still going to be around and is going to spend more time with his grandchildren. We are going to miss being able to call over to get an answer to a question. We are not going to have his ear on the West Side to pick up issues and pass them along when he heard about a problem at a meeting or talking to people he sees at the Center. Tim was the glue that bound lower income people together on the near West Side and prevented corporate interests from destroying the neighborhood. Tim has had a great career as an agent of change and a defender of social justice. I was able to see Tim receive a resolution from Congressman Kucinich on Monday recognizing his long career in community organizing. It was read or will be read soon on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Brian
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Homeless Prevention Funding: Background

Changing the Homeless System in Cleveland

A Little Background
The Obama Administration as part of the American Recovery Law put $1.5 billion into preventing homelessness and quickly moving some homeless people into housing. In an effort to not create an entirely new bureaucracy, they put the funds into the Emergency Shelter grant program even though these funds could not fund shelters. It was to be dispersed by formula and distributed the same way the ESG funds are given out. How this was distributed locally was:

• Cleveland receives $9.8 million
• Cuyahoga County receives $1.55 million
• the City of Lakewood receives $902,000 and
• City of Cleveland Hts. getting $715,000
• Later, it was announced that the state was just going to divide up their funds among the 10 largest communities in Ohio, so there was an additional $1.6 million from the State to Cuyahoga County.
  

Originally, the County had negotiated a deal in which all the funds would be pooled and one Request for proposal would be issued with all $12.8 million (not including the State dollars). In a March 11 memo to the community, the Office of Homeless Services originally advertised a May 11 deadline for applications, and then the applications would be approved by June 1, 2009. We were told that this short time line would allow the Cleveland City Council to approve the contracts at their last meeting before summer recess on June 4, 2009.

All the funds had to be given away in 30 months, and they were part of the effort to stimulate the economy. It was hoped that jobs would be created and people would quickly move back into housing or would not become homeless in the first place. There was no money for foreclosure/mortgage assistance (there was a separate pool for this help). There was no money for oversight or monitoring. The funds could go to rental assistance, outreach, preventing evictions, or moving people quickly back into housing and then paying for 18 months for rental help. They were really broad guidelines and a quick turn around time to help stimulate the economy. These were a once in a lifetime opportunity that would fund a new idea to prevent homelessness instead of just serving the emergency needs of individuals.

In February 2009, when it was announced that the Obama administration was going to include millions in the stimulus dollars to prevent homelessness in America, NEOCH along with the Cleveland Tenants Organization set about to organize a redesign of the rental assistance program as well as the shelters (see Plain Dealer article “How best to help the homeless with expected stimulus money” on February 25, 2009). We gathered together all the large providers in Cleveland in order to transform the system so that at the end of 30 months there will be fewer homeless people waiting for housing in our community. The keys to success that would have resulted in a change in the system were:

1. A new organization was to be formed to coordinate all of these resources. All the partners would have sat on an oversight committee with clear roles and will respond to the issues of housing instability in a coordinated manner. One group would do all the data entry, which were required for the receipt of the dollars.
2. Every social worker in the community would have had a tool to use to figure out the household’s risk of homelessness in order to begin to address possible homelessness before there is a crisis. We had designed a process for referrals among the 12 partner organizations so that there was more than one entry point into the system. A few of the partners (Lakeside, West Side Catholic, AIDS Task Force, and Domestic Violence Center) would offer expertise to provide specialized case management.
3. All shelter beds and all rental assistance would have been distributed out of one facility with an impartial third party professional making those decisions for the good of the community.
4. Everyone in need of housing assistance would have received a follow up call or voice mail to figure out if the assistance that they were given was effective--basically follow up case management.
5. There was a storage furniture bank funded so that homeless people could have furniture delivered as they are moving into their housing. There was some help for those who need identification financial assistance, and some help to fund the housing website in the long run.
6. Finally, there was outreach to the suburbs with placement of staff in the eastern and western suburbs to help prevent evictions. This was combined with help from Legal Aid and Homeless Legal Assistance to offer legal advice and defense against eviction for the 8% (1,600 evictions in 2008) that did not involve a person's inability to pay the rent.

We were able to get the following groups to sign on as partners that would not compete with this collaboration: NEOCH, CTO, EDEN Inc., Mental Health Services, Inc., West Side Catholic, Domestic Violence Center, AIDS Task Force Cleveland, Mediation Center, Legal Aid Society, Cleveland Metro. Bar Association, Catholic Charities, Lutheran Metro. Ministry/2100 Lakeside. All these groups signed a non-compete contract and a commitment that they would work together to implement the plan. The goal for the collaboration was that at the end of 30 months, we would have helped thousands prevent homelessness, but more importantly we would have fundamentally transformed the system. We would have reduced the need for all of the emergency shelter beds and created a rational system for preventing people from having to go to shelter. We all understood that at least half the population does not want to go to shelter, so how do we best serve them without forcing them into a shelter?

The collaboration then applied for the $12.8 million that was coming to Cleveland. This is a little background that the Plain Dealer and others did not have the space to talk about. We will follow up with how this all broke down this summer. This is a follow up to our post from last week.

Brian Davis
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Two Big Events This Week

Housing and Landlord Tenant Forums This Week

On September 22 at 3 p.m. at Franklin Circle Church (behind Lutheran Hospital at Franklin and Fulton Blvd. ) there will be a forum for homeless people and homeless service providers on the Fair Housing Laws as well as the Landlord Tenant Laws. Representatives from the Cleveland Tenants Organization and the Housing Research and Advocacy Coalition will each do a presentation and answer questions. Anyone is welcome to attend, but this is geared toward educating homeless people as they prepare to move back into housing. For questions call Brian at NEOCH at 216/432-0540.

On Friday September 25, a large group of agencies will present a Housing Fair for Homeless people at the Bishop Cosgrove Center Gymnasium. This forum will have owners of affordable housing available so homeless individuals are asked to bring identification and proof of income. The "From Homelessness to Housing" fair is from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at 1736 Superior Ave. The traditional fantastic Cosgrove lunch will be served, and many groups will be on hand to offer help. For more information call Randy Cunningham at 216/432-0616.

Brian
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