Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Good Article in CWRU Magazine

Consider the Difficulty in Finding Identification

The CWRU Magazine, Think, had an interesting article about how difficult it is for those re-entering from incarceration to obtain identification. As we move forward in Ohio again on changing the process for voting (Remember how great a job we did in the 2005 reform?), legislators need to keep in mind how difficult it is to obtain identification.

In case the article disappears on the CWRU website here it is:
Regaining Identity a Nightmare for Recent Inmates

Obtaining an identification card is, seemingly, a normal passage through life. But those who recently have been released from prison, a valid ID can be a nearly impossible luxury.

Case Western Reserve University social-work researcher Amy Blank Wilson, PhD, says obtaining identification is an uphill battle for inmates reentering society. Lacking it can bar ex-offenders from public assistance programs like food stamps and Medicaid, which require clients to show ID.

“Released prisoners are being systematically excluded because of UD requirements,” she says.

The problem starts early in the criminal justice system: Suspects routinely have their identification confiscated when they are arrested. Those who don’t have it with them as they are apprehended are never given an opportunity to grab it. And the homeless are often forced to abandon all belongings on the street.

Wilson says that for those who are lucky enough to have some form of ID when they’re released, often what they have isn’t enough. Obtaining major forms of government-issued identification-such as a Social Security card- can require two different forms of Ids, such as a driver’s license and birth certificate, neither of such can be granted without at least one other major form of ID.

“When they’re released, former inmates face the Catch-22’ that it takes ID to get ID,” Wilson says. “This is keeping people from receiving life-sustaining resources. They’re missing out on the services they need.”
As a founding member of the local Homeless ID Collaborative under the guidance of West Side Catholic, the public needs to realize that it is very difficult to both afford and obtain a birth certificate. For those not born in Ohio, it can take months to get a birth certificate and the cost can be as high as $70. This is not an easy undertaking, and as the article suggests identification is now invaluable for housing, voting, obtaining a job and health care. Legislators need to be aware that identification is not so easy to come by even if the state decides to pay for the state identification card. A citizen cannot get a state id unless they have a birth certificate and social security number.

Brian
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Friday, May 27, 2011

Health Care for Homeless People

Photo by Cheryl Jones of the NEOCH Photo Project

Healthcare Initiative at NEOCH


The staff at the coalition advocate for quality and comprehensive healthcare for all people as a key component to ending homelessness and keeping people housed. This includes behaviorial health issues such as addiction and mental health problems. The cost of out of pocket healthcare can quickly bankrupt a financially comfortable family as well as a family living in poverty. It is a given that routine and preventative medical appointment is necessary throughout life in order to fulfill the most basic needs, and typically more complicated and expensive medical needs are sought as a person ages. The effects of the economic recession have caused greater numbers of people to seek out programs that provide free and reduced medical care.

NEOCH has been researching healthcare among people experiencing homelessness the last few years. In 2008 staff surveyed 300 homeless people and published a report called Heading For The Emergency Room: Ohio s Inability To Care For Its Poor, which outlined the finding of the surveys. The survey highlighted the fact that emergency rooms serve as the only place that poor people living in Cuyahoga County can find comprehensive health care. The 2008 study showed that preventative and maintenance care are often left unattended. For example, the majority of those surveyed had not been to a dentist in three years. It is the hope of NEOCH staff that we can raise funds to hire a Homeless Healthcare Advocate to serve the people of Greater Cleveland, below is a list of the project(s) the advocate would work on.
  • Review Entry/ Discharge policy for nursing homes
  • Review and solidify an alliance with direct health care organizations to develop common intake procedures.
  • Review the coordination of services to discharge protocol between and within the different health care organizations especially those responsible for providing health care to homeless individuals
  • Survey and meet with shelter director to learn about their interaction with the local hospital. This will include following up to see if both the local hospitals and shelters are adhering to the agreement that the County organized a couple of years ago to manage discharges into the shelters.
  • With the development of the new health care law, develop recommendations in collaboration with Care Alliance to improve access and discharge and intake methods.
  • Create steering committee to carry out recommendations on how to best serve homeless people locally.
  • Review other similar program and highlight two of those that could be used as a model for Cleveland to improve access and long term health care outcomes.
  • Provide a point person (health care individual advocate) for those experiencing homelessness who can advise a person experiencing homelessness about the services in the community.
Currently in the community there are only 8 to 10 respite beds available (that can only accommodate men) at a transitional facility. They can reside at this facility for up to four months. Shelter, especially the local emergency shelter, are not designed to help a person recovering from illness. Emergency shelters do not allow persons to stay in the shelter during the day, and those living in non emergency shelter are often not able to be in their sleeping quarters during the day. There is also the fact that shelter residents have no one to assist them with personal care issues or to monitor medication or to provide appropriate dietary needs. Care Alliance does a good job with medical clinics at some of the larger shelters and a doctor and nurse do regularly visit nearly every shelter in the community. But there is only the one facility that is specifically designed for respite care to those recovering from a health care crisis and do not have a home of their own.

There are many wonderful organizations that provide free or by donation healthcare to those experiencing homelessness in the greater Cleveland area, undoubtedly these programs save lives and lesson the health burdens of poor and homeless people. Unfortunately, there is a large demand for all health care services including treatment, counseling, dental, and rehabilitation. In order to be a healthy productive person, regular healthcare screenings are required. This is especially true for homeless people who face inclement weather, excessive time on the feet, poor nurturing, sleep deprivation, poor hygiene, self medication issues, or a lack of mental health services. It is exciting that in the near future poor and homeless people will have the majority of their preventative care fully covered by Medicaid and additional assistance with prescription coverage. While poor and homeless people will still face large barriers to healthcare, healthcare reform will offer many needed services and hopefully be a stepping stone for more comprehensive coverage that includes addiction services, mental health and reproductive health services to all fragile population.

by Holly Lyon
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Thursday, May 26, 2011

Nice Letter to the Editor: Sun Press

Letter Writer Responds to Cleveland Hts. Surrender of Prevention Funds

Richard Merritt had his letter published in the Sun Press website on Monday. In case the link goes away here is the text of his letter.

I was disheartened, but not at all surprised, to read the May 5 Sun Press story, “Homeless prevention funds given to county.” I was also not surprised to note that Assistant City Manager Niermann O’Neil seems to have a blunted understanding of how the program works, in addition to misdirecting candidates to 2-1-1 (try to find HPRP on the 2-1-1 website).

The program, known as Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing, is designed as a bridge program to help those who are either at risk of being homeless or literally homeless from being so. It was designed to help those people who were displaced by virtue of the economic meltdown to meet their housing costs until they could again re-enter the workforce and then be self-sustaining, and there are a number of eligibility requirements imposed by both HUD and the local Continuum of Care (CoC) that administers the program.

HUD strongly advises the local CoCs to develop marketing pieces to make potential candidates aware of the program, yet neither the City of Cleveland Heights nor the Office of Homeless Services have done so. Moreover, the intake process OHS has implemented is deeply flawed and lacks the ability to either prevent homelessness or to properly assess and deliver candidate needs in a timely fashion. In a twisted irony, the local CoC requires a stay in shelter for those who cannot stay in their present dwelling despite a stated goal of the program as diversion from shelter.

Also, as in my case, the amount of the award is not up to the standard rent reasonableness HUD mandates, making it impossible to acquire adequate housing as allowed by the program. This forces award recipients into the untenable position of appealing their awards or accepting an award that is likely to result in an unsustainable outcome.

Lastly, it is a sad commentary that a program so thoughtfully conceived of by HUD has been so completely perverted by the local CoC as to turn the intent of the program on its head and thereby fail miserably to reach the target population or deliver the aid in adequate measure to fairly ensure a successful outcome.

The local CoC has failed to accurately gauge the full impact caused by the economic dislocations visited upon many county residents who normally would have a job, but are now displaced due to untoward hiring discrimination against the long-term unemployed and a slow return to full employment. As such, its players have failed to develop a program that is consistent with HUD guidelines and resident need. The proof of this is the City of Cleveland Heights is one of the worst laggards in spending of all CoCs nationwide.

The process of navigating HPRP is opaque and its administration deeply flawed. This is a travesty for those desperately in need of aid.

Richard H. Merritt

Cleveland Heights

We have covered this story a couple of times here and here. Richard is exactly correct that Cleveland Heights should have figured out a way to give these funds away to the 500 who faced eviction at the Cleveland Hts. Municipal Court in 2010. This points out the need for homeless and housing social services in the Eastern suburbs. There are many questions with regard to the federal stimulus dollars. Why do people facing eviction have to go downtown to get help especially if the money was intended for residents of Cleveland Heights? Why didn't at least one Council member from Cleveland Heights object to giving away their money? Why are there not any shelters in the suburbs? Why do the qualifications for HPRP keep changing without any public comment or approval by the federal government? Why isn't there anyone in the suburbs that can help those experiencing housing instability? Why aren't the rules for receiving this assistance posted anywhere on the web? Why weren't the residents of Cleveland Hts. notified of the existence of these funds like the residents of Lakewood were notified?

So far, no one in the community has offered answers to these questions.

Brian
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Wednesday, May 25, 2011

What is Happening With Health Care Reform?

Health Care Reform Forum at Cleveland State University

Clarity is one of the last word most people would use to describe our healthcare system. I had the opportunity to attend the National Health Care Forum: The Ohio Story, held at Cleveland State University on May 17th, the purpose of the forum, was to provide the public with information about healthcare reform. The forum gave a view of healthcare reform and how it specifically pertains to the state of Ohio.

Four speakers, all healthcare reform specialists in different capacities gave brief presentation on how the Affordable Care Act (healthcare reform) will impact the purchasing of healthcare, access and coverage issues of Ohioans in the coming years. Steve Millard, president and Executive Director of the Council of Smaller Enterprises, Lee Kamps, an independent health insurance broker, Kathleen Gmeiner, Project Director at Universal Health Care Action Network (UHCAN) Ohio and Carrie Haughawout, Assistant Director for Health Policy at the Ohio Department of Insurance all gave presentations. There were also two personal narratives by healthcare consumers who have both been affected by the aspects of healthcare reform that have already occurred.

Each speaker highlighted various aspects of the reform: Carrie Haughawout, discussed the various aspects of the act that have been implemented, what remains to be implemented, as well as describing the possible plans that consumers will purchase (a website that serves as a marketplace, often referred to as the Exchange) and the state of health insurance in 2014, when most of the reform will have been fully implemented. Lee Kamps, explained that healthcare reform is not a panacea for all the problems within the industry. He explained that the market will stay competitive because individuals will be able to purchase new policies if they are dissatisfied with one they have purchased or their employer has provided to them. In addition, he anticipates many large insurance companies will merge. He also felt supplemental (small plans that are meant to fill a gap in coverage) plans would become more prevalent and profitable.

Kathleen Gmeiner, described potential problems, the need of the federal government to create independent entities to oversee the Exchange (such as the state government) and the need of the federal government to set minimum qualifications for participation. She indicated that there was a need to provide mandated minimum qualifications to prevent inexpensive plans that provide minimal coverage. Steve Millard described the changes and what small business owners can expect with healthcare reform.

It was clear that healthcare reform if it is successfully implemented will provide better care for more people. A few examples key examples of how healthcare reform will benefit the uninsured, those who are under insured, and those with barriers to obtaining coverage are as follows:
  • Insurance companies must spend 80 to 85% (depending on size of company) of income on care.
  • No lifetime caps on healthcare reimbursements
  • Not sudden or unexplained cancellation in coverage
  • Must provide coverage even those children with pre-existing conditions
  • Improvements in coverage of those considered “High Risk”
  • Coverage of a myriad of preventive health services for those on Medicaid.
  • Improved prescription coverage for those receiving Medicaid.
One of the most unique features of the forum was that it was non-partisan and appropriate for uniformed and well informed audience members. I was pretty much a novice to the subject myself, only hearing snippiest on the news about the act itself. I had heard far more personal opinion about the act than about the content of the new legislation. The forum allowed me to gain a rudimentary understanding of the current and coming changes, as well as supplied me with oodles of helpful information; I spent much of the following day at work reading up on the Affordable Care Act. I listed the resources given and highly suggest reviewing some of them as well as attending the remaining two forums that focus on economic impact as well how employment will be affected.

Below are the date, time and location of the remaining two forums.
National Healthcare Reform Begins, The Economic Impact on Northeast Ohio
Thursday, June 2, 2011 and Monday, June 20, 2011
4:00-6:00 p.m.
1717 Euclid Avenue
Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs
Glickman-Miller Hall, Roberta Steinbacher Atrium
Cleveland State University

Other places to get additional resources:
  • Ohio Consumer for Health Coverage (OCHC)--Report to the Community on the Implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in Ohio.
  • Consumers Union, publisher of consumer reports, The Affordable Care Act: The First Year Discover What The new Law means For You And Your Family.
  • Council of Smaller Enterprises (COSE), Health Care Reform Game-Plan (pertinent for small business owners).
  • Universal Healthcare Action Network, UHCAN Ohio’s Helpline (614) 456-0060x 233 or e-mailmgreenham (at) uchanohio (dot) org.
Types of calls UHCAN accepts include:
  • Uninsured caller who do not qualify for Medicaid and cannot explore the option of private insurance
  • Low to moderate income level callers who want more information on affordable healthcare options and need help with navigation.
  • Caller who do not qualify for Medicaid that need prescription assistance.
  • Caller who do not qualify for Medicaid that have current outstanding medical bills.
  • General Healthcare questions or concerns.
As mentioned before the forum also included two personal narratives from consumers affected by the new legislation. I thought it worthwhile to give a brief synopsis of the two stories shared, as one highlights positive change and the other describes a tragic situation reminiscent of pre-healthcare reform. After the introductions were made two narratives were shared. One was a middle aged mother talking about her sense of relief knowing her adult daughter could stay on her insurance plan until she was 26. The daughter recently graduated college, but could only find part-time jobs and did not have access to her own coverage. This was compared to the mother's own experience of not having health insurance until she was in her early 40s.

The second story is shared by a gentleman in his late 30s with three small children and a wife. He describes a tragic story that provided the audience a chilling account of his struggles. He is dying of terminal brain cancer, and found out shortly after starting a new job. At the time of the discovery, he and his family were covered by COBBRA (an interim/temporary insurance policy). Without treatment he had 3 to 6 months to live; with treatment, he could potential live well over a year. His illness necessitates that he not have a lapse in coverage. While healthcare reform will make it possible for people deemed “high risk” to receive healthcare for pre-existing conditions the recipient must be uninsured for six months, time the speaker does not have to give. He did eventually find coverage but was devastated by the amount of time he had to dedicate to procuring insurance.

All forums are archived at the Cleveland State site. Carrie Haughawout of the Ohio Department of Insurance provided her contact information and encouraged people to provide her with questions and feed back in regards to Healthcare reform. NEOCH is currently surveying homeless people about their experiences with the health care system. NEOCH staff plan on sending Ms. Haughawout the result of our homeless healthcare survey to keep this state office abreast of the challenges homeless people face when accessing healthcare.

by Holly Lyon
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Friday, May 20, 2011

Erie Square Residents Need Help

Cleveland Housing Network Looks For Help from the Community

We received a note today from the staff over at the Cleveland Housing Network asking for help from the 44 households burnt out of their apartments over at Erie Square on East 79th and Euclid. There were no serious injuries, but all 60 residents of the west wing of the building need a new place to live. Erie Square was renovated in the last three or four years, and was one of the quality subsidized housing complexes in the community.

CHN is looking for help from the community to get these families out of hotels and into housing. They are looking to connect each of the 44 households with donors who could help with gift cards to local merchants. The residents need to start over with household items, beds, furniture, cleaning supplies, personal items, clothing, and anything else to re-establish a home. They are looking for churches, religious groups, civic organizations or even corporations who want to help a family move back into a home while Erie Square is rebuilt to contact CHN.

You can reach CHN if you want to help by contacting Laura Boustani, coordinator of the family to family effort at 216/774-2364 or e-mail familytofamily (at) chnnet (dot) com. You can also click on family to family on the CHN website. Residents burnt out of an apartment do not automatically get a housing voucher that will follow them. They will get a temporary subsidy to use in an apartment somewhere in the community while the building is being rebuilt, and then they will return to Erie Square.

Brian
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Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Youth Forum Set For Saturday
























Organize!Ohio Event at Trinity

The Youth Truth Commission will be this Saturday, May 21 at 2:00-5:00 pm at Trinity Commons, 2230 Euclid Avenue (parking off Prospect). We would like as many of you as possible to attend. We are still looking for testimonies from youth. If you know of youth who would like to testify please let us know. Particular areas where we are looking for youth testimonies include:
  • Right to a Quality Education,
  • Right to Feel Safe in your School,
  • Right to Shelter for those who need it,
  • Right to access to Public Transportation
  • Right to Decent Paying Jobs

There will be also skits music and refreshments. We hope that many of you will be able to come. NEOCH staff, Luke Drotar will be part of the commission hearing the testimony from youth. We hope that you can attend.

Brian

For more information contact:

Larry Bresler

lbresler (at) organizeohio (dot) org

Organize! Ohio

216-651-2606


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Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Suburban Affordable Housing

Photo by Cheryl Jones graduate of the NEOCH Photo Project
June CAHA to Focus on Housing in the Suburbs of Cleveland

The June Cuyahoga Affordable Housing Alliance Meeting will feature a forum on suburban affordable housing with community development and planning staff from some of the largest suburbs in Cuyahoga County. The forum is Monday June 6, 2011 at 1:30 p.m. in the lower level of the HUD/US Bank Building (1350 Euclid Ave.). There is plenty of surface/parking garages and street parking around Prospect and East 14th St. The presentations will focus on the foreclosure crisis, the state of rental housing in the suburbs, and potential threats to affordable housing in the suburbs. Confirmed guests include:
  • Mary Leigh--Chair of Economic Development in Lakewood,
  • Sally Martin--Housing Manager of South Euclid and co-chair of the First Suburbs Housing Committee,
  • Karen Knittel from the Cleveland Heights Planning and Development Department, and
  • Eric Tollerup--Director of Economic and Community Development for the City of Parma.
CAHA is a monthly forum to bring together advocates, city, county and federal officials to preserve and protect affordable housing in Cuyahoga County.

Brian
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Monday, May 16, 2011

Health Care Forum

Universal Health Care Action Network Introduces Series on Health Care Issues in Ohio

WEDNESDAY, MAY 18, 2011
4:00 to 6:00 p.m.
Levin College of Urban Affairs
Glickman-Miller Hall
Roberta Steinbacher Atrium
1717 Euclid Avenue
REGISTER NOW
Free and open to the public.
Please register at
www.urban.csuohio.edu/forum
or by calling 216.523.7330.

ABOUT THIS FORUM
This forum, entitled “National Health Care Reform: The Ohio Story,” provides a unique opportunity to learn how health care reform will affect consumers, small businesses, insurers and health care providers in the state of Ohio. Following a short video greeting by Senator Sherrod Brown, Carrie Haughawout from the Ohio Department of Insurance will kick off the program with an update on what the state is doing under health care reform. A panel of experts will then offer their individual perspectives about the effects of the changes. The forum will conclude with an open dialogue between the panelists and participants, who will be invited to ask questions and share their concerns.

FEATURED GUESTS
• Diane Suchetka, Medical
Reporter for The Plain Dealer

• Carrie Haughawout, Assistant
Director for Health Policy for
the Ohio Department of
Insurance

• Steve Millard, President and
Executive Director of Council of
Smaller Enterprises (COSE)

• Kathleen Gmeiner, Project
Director, UHCAN Ohio

• Lee Kamps, independent
insurance representative

• Consumer advocates Colleen
Clark and Fernie Legat

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Friday, May 13, 2011

Voting Under Attack Again

Advocates sign up homeless people and take them to the polling places during the 2010 election during "Golden Week."

Advocacy Update: VOTING

In another effort to solve a problem that does not really exist in Ohio, legislators have proposed a reform of voting laws in Ohio. This voting legislation will make it more difficult for low-income voters to participate in the electoral process. Current Secretary of State, Jon Husted has proposed a reform of Ohio election law despite not having any evidence that there is a problem with the current system. Activists are hosting a press conference on Monday to show their opposition to this reform of the voting system. The Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless, Cleveland Tenants Organization and others oppose this proposed bill. We believe that these are bills to limit access to the ballot box ahead of the 2012 Presidential election, and Ohio will again see a controversial presidential election like we saw in 2004.

PRESS CONFERENCE DETAILS:

When: Monday, May 16, 12:30pm or 1:00pm
Where: Steps of the Board of Elections
Invited participants: -Rep. Sandra Williams -Councilman Jeff Johnson -Rep. Mike Foley -Rick DeChant, Voting Rights Institute -Rev. Marvin McMickle

Text of bills: House Bill 159 (Photo ID bill)
House Bill 194 (House version of Husted bill)
Senate Bill 148 (Senate version of Husted bill)

Here are is the summary of the the Husted bill:
  1. The plan will make it harder to vote. The bills slash early voting days from 35 to as few as 6 days. In 2010, 1,200 homeless people in Cuyahoga County voted early. In addition, the bills eliminate the busiest early voting days: the Monday and Saturday preceding the election. Politifact recently gave Secretary of State Jon Husted a “Pants on Fire” for the lies he told while advocating fewer early vote days. The bills also give the Secretary of State unprecedented ability to purge Ohioans from the voter rolls.
  2. Under the plan, fewer votes will count. Under the bills, a vote won’t be counted if a voter fills in the oval for a candidate and also writes in the name of the exact same candidate. This particularly disenfranchises low-income voters who aren’t familiar with optical scan ballots. An estimated 10,000 voters would have their ballots thrown out, even though their intent is 100 percent clear. In addition, these bills require additional personal information from voters casting provisional ballots, including a voter’s full Social Security number, exposing voters to potential identity theft.
  3. Local control is eliminated under this plan. The bills take away the right of local boards of elections to determine how best to use resources to run smooth elections in their counties. Larger counties have made it easier to vote early by mail, which helps prevent long lines on Election Day. The plan would take us back to the days of voters standing for hours in line in the rain on Election Day. In addition, the plan eliminates counties’ ability to set up early vote locations that accommodate older voters and may provide adequate parking. NEOCH supports uniform standards across the state, but we feel that we should implement laws that allow the largest number of voters to participate and not limit access to the ballot box as this legislation does.
Brian Davis
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Wednesday, May 04, 2011

Cleveland Heights Gives Away Their Homeless Dollars

Cleveland Heights Can't Find Enough People In Danger of Homelessness

From the minutes posted on the Cleveland Heights Website for City Council Meeting April 20, 2011:

"Previously, council authorized the City Manager to enter into an agreement with Cuyahoga County for expenditure of funds received by the City from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development for the Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program. The agreement actually provided for the County to administer Six Hundred Ninety Nine Thousand Eight Hundred Ninety Four Dollars ($699,894.00) in funding that was to go to Homeless Prevention services to qualified Cleveland Heights residents. During the course of administering the program we expended less money than we expected to and there has not been enough demand to use all of those funds just for Cleveland Heights residents. Although I will say we have spent over $136,000.00 that have helped 67 Cleveland Heights households and 200 persons. It has been a good expenditure of money, we are just not able to spend this all for Cleveland Heights residents by the deadlines imposed by the program. We believe it is in the best interest to enter into a revision of this agreement.

Section 1 of this resolution authorizes the City Manager to amend the agreement with Cuyahoga County to allow the County to administer the remainder of the funds by giving priority to Cleveland Heights residents but also provide Homeless Prevention services to eligible persons in portions of Cuyahoga County outside of Cleveland Heights. We are providing a minimum of 20% of the remaining funds be utilized for Cleveland Heights residents. I offer Resolution No. 40-2011(PD) for passage tonight.”

Mayor Kelley accepted Resolution No. 40-2011(PD).
Roll Call: Ayes: Montlack, Stephens, Tumeo, Wilcox, Caplan, Kelley
Nays: None
Resolution passed.
This is incredibly sad that with 500 evictions a year in the Cleveland Hts. municipal court, they could not figure out a way to distribute the funds to keep people from leaving the City. Anyone that has faced or will face eviction between November 2009 and July 2012 living in Cleveland Hts, should be angry that the City could not figure out a way to keep this money within their borders. City officials requested these funds so what was the plan for distributing the funds? It is a shame that Cleveland Hts. does not have an infrastructure like Lakewood Service Center to help prevent homelessness. These funds could help with rental assistance. They could pay back rent to avoid eviction, and help with the rent during a temporary setback with income to support housing.

NEOCH tried to reach out to the City and the Mayor last year to offer our help to get these funds to residents of Cleveland Hts. and we were ignored. Not enough people knew that these funds were available, and those who did find out had a hard time with the bureaucracy that was constructed to get the assistance. The City of Lakewood was able to figure out how to use their funds, so why couldn't Cleveland Hts set up a process? We proposed a system that would meet people at the court house door, and inform them that there was help available. It is unfortunate that we could not work with Cleveland Hts officials to keep people from being evicted within the city.

Brian
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Tuesday, May 03, 2011

Drumplay Supports the Cleveland Street Paper II

Upcoming Show

Drumplay has a gig at the Beachland Ballroom on May 4-- opening for Electric Junkyard Gamelan. They will continue to read from "The Big Book of Daniel" with guest, Bill Kennedy. Kennedy has one of the smoothest voices in Northeast Ohio and does a radio show on WCSB radio on Saturday evening. Again, our friends over at Cool Cleveland have a good overview of the event. Jim from Drumplay is trying to raise enough to publish the next issue of the Street Chronicle at all of these events.

Brian Davis
Posts reflect the opinion of those who sign the entry.