Denver: Illegal to Be Homeless

Denver Council Passing Anti-Camping Ordinance

It all sounds so nice and innocent until you actually begin to think of the implications.  The City of Denver is going down the path of making it illegal to be homeless downtown.  The Denver Post is supporting the plan while the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless is opposing the ordinance.  They had battling editorials/commentaries this past week.  These are awful laws that do nothing for the city, and have failed nearly everywhere.

To read more go here.
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Bellefaire Youth Initiative on the Streets

Who Intervenes When Kids Hit the Streets

We invited staff from Bellefaire JCB's Youth Outreach Program to our outreach leaders meeting.  We have all the agencies that serve homeless people resistant to shelter in Cleveland.  We try to update the workers about new projects or new opportunities in Cleveland to better serve the population.  At the February meeting, Karen from the Youth Street Outreach team presented.  In the same week the Cleveland Jewish News featured a story about the project, and will mostly likely appear on the Channel 3 News (WKYC) on Monday or Tuesday. .

The team attempts to build trusting relationships with those who are estranged from their family or are having issues in the foster care system.  Bellefaire has started a drop in for young people at St. Paul's church on the near West Side of Cleveland on Thursday evenings and Saturday from Noon to 4 p.m.  St. Paul's Church is at 4427 Franklin Blvd.  The outreach staff are out at night on Thursdays in the winter at libraries, coffee shops, and other teen friendly spots.   If you are having issues or you know a teen struggling with their housing, you can call 216/570-8010 for help or go to their website at www.bjcb.org/homeless-youth-program. They have come to the understanding that young people need safe places and activities with other youth or they will find things to do that may not be safe or legal.

The other access point for the project is the RTA buses and Rapids.  Each of them have a "Safe Spot" logo that means that a teen can ask for help from the driver.  The RTA drivers and police have been trained to respond if a young person presents themselves and needs help. The staff are trained to deal with teens who are kicked out after coming out of the closet or struggling with being a victim of bullying in their school.   The problem of displaced youth is complicated because there are a number of criminals who prey on vulnerable young people.  These young men and women can be recruited into criminal enterprises or may be forced into sex trafficking rings.  Bellefaire, the Salvation Army and local and federal law enforcement partner to break up these evil enterprises that deal in the sex trade.

This is a difficult situation for the rest of the outreach workers to deal with.  There is always a question about reporting young people to Children and Family Services, and the rights of the guardians in these cases.  It is nice to have an agency that can navigate its way through these minefields.

Brian
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Boise and Fullerton Updates

Criminalization and National Updates

In 2009, the city of Boise Idaho passed a "No camping" ordinance to allow police to ticket those sleeping outside anywhere in the city.  Advocates and homeless individuals sued the city in order to strike down this broad law.   In 2011, the city amended the law to only allow police to ticket homeless people for "camping"  when the shelters were full.  This stopped the lawsuit which was declared moot, but it has scarey implications.  It has the impact of forcing people into shelter if they become homeless.  If there is a space available in Boise Idaho, you must sleep there or face a ticket from the police.  This is a backward way to provide help to those struggling with housing.  How can an agency or religious organization build a trusting relationship if the individual is forced into their care?  Isn't that a prison?  The National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty is taking the lead nationally to overturn this law, and are debating appealing the dismissal of the lawsuit.

Also, the County Prosecutor out in Orange County/ Fullerton California has charged two police officers with murder and involuntary manslaughter in the death of Kelly Thomas, a developmentally disabled homeless individual. The LA Times has praised the decision to charge the police officers, and I am pretty sure the National Coalition is going to weigh in soon on this issue. This arrest sends a signal to all law enforcement that they need to handle the mentally ill and developmentally disabled with some compassion or step aside and allow professional outreach teams handle the situation.  The description provided by the District Attorney in Orange County was chilling, and advocates are awaiting for additional charges against the other four officers who covered up this attack.  

Brian
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Sleeping Outside in Cleveland 2010

Award winning photo by Pleasure Simmons of Downtown Cleveland from the 2008 NEOCH Photo project.

Outdoor Count

Every year since 2000, volunteers have gone outside to count the number of people who sleep downtown. This was in response to the lawsuits in the 1990s challenging the City of Cleveland repeated arrests of homeless people for sleeping outside. We eventually settled with the City and then every November, we go out to make sure that homeless people are not being harassed. This year we saw a decline to only 14 people staying in the downtown. This is really good news for the Downtown Cleveland Alliance and the folks at Block by Block who act as ambassadors to keep people visiting downtown. This is the first serious decline in five years. With the horrible economy and the lack of jobs, I thought for sure that we would see an increase. This is also good news for the City and County that have done all they can over the last few years to keep the shelter doors open. Finally, we have to recognize the most important reason that we have such a small number: the fantastic outreach teams in Cleveland.

We really have an exceptional group from Mental Health Services, Care Alliance, Volunteers of America, Helena from Downtown Cleveland Alliance and the Veterans Administration who are on the streets every day. We have support from 2100 Lakeside, St. Pauls outreach, the Salvation Army, as well as the John Carroll, Case Western Reserve and St. Ignatius Labre Projects to serve the population. All of these men and women who go out in the cold and rain to assist those resistant to shelter deserve a ton of credit. They are working to build a relationship with the men and women living outside to try to move them back to stable housing. They are out on the street protecting people from freezing temperatures and from the health effects of the elements.

The Thanksgiving week is typically the low point for the winter, because many family take their loved ones in for the weekend. So, this is the smallest number who will be outside for the entire winter, but it is a good number. We have a graph on the blog measuring the last 10 years to give some idea of the history of downtown homeless. We had over 60 people sleeping in the immediate downtown in the late 1990s and today we are down to 14. That is pretty impressive.

There are many that complain about panhandling and homelessness, but compared to nearly every other American city, we really don't have a big problem. There are not people sleeping on every corner like in Washington DC. There are not people trying to wash your windshield at every traffic light like San Francisco. There are not massive encampments of homeless people like in Columbus. There are not the hundreds turned away from shelter every night like in Cincinnati. We have a lot to be proud of in Cleveland with regard to keeping the number of people sleeping outside down to a small number.

Brian
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Cleveland: A Nice Place to Live

Photo by Pleasure Simmons, which was one of the images selected by the Downtown Cleveland Alliance Photo competition.

What Makes Cleveland Great???

The City of Cleveland feels scorned by the loss of LeBron James, and we all feel like electing Dan Gilbert as the County Executive for what he wrote and said. Cleveland is not all about sports, and no matter if the Indians, Cavs and Browns stink we have a great deal going for this city that often goes unrecognized. In the area of housing and homelessness, there are a number of things that make us among the top cities in America.

1. Guaranteed Access to Shelter: There are still some issues to work out on release of information, intake, and disciplinary procedures, but we still maintain the appearance of allowing everyone who comes to the door into the shelters. If a person is willing to abide by the rules they will have access to one of the publicly funded shelters. This is expensive and causes overcrowding, but it is a life saver for many. The City of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County officials should be thanked for all their work to protect homeless people.

2. Peace with the Police: The City of Cleveland signed a consent decree in 2000 that settled 10 years of lawsuits. The Coalition repeatedly sued the City over their policy of arresting and threatening arrest of anyone who decided not to sleep inside. We finally settled the lawsuits, and the City agreed not to arrest or threaten arrest of those who are sitting, sleeping, standing, or eating on the sidewalk. This agreement has held for the last 10 years. In that time, the population of those living outside has decreased.

3. Project ACT: The homeless children and youth program at the Cleveland Metropolitan School District is over 20 years old and a model in the United States. They try to serve every child that becomes homeless in our City. They make sure that the child's school is not disrupted if the family becomes homeless during the school year. They serve thousands of children every year.

4. EDEN Inc./Shelter Plus Care: Cleveland is unlike most of other cities in that a private non-profit distributes the vouchers to the disabled. We have over 1,000 vouchers currently on the streets providing housing to homeless people with a disability. This is a great resource that the County has continued to put more funding every year into this program, and is a great supplement to the Housing Choice Voucher Program.

5. Coordinated Outreach: In both Columbus and Cincinnati, they have one or two teams out on the streets, and in both cities one of the outreach teams is a for-profit social worker employed by the downtown business district. Cleveland has five or six teams that go out on the streets to try to build a trusting relationship with homeless individuals. These teams have mapped out the entire city, and regularly meet with people as they struggle to stay alive. They have saved countless lives and moved hundreds into the shelters or housing.

There is plenty more, but this is a good list for now.

Brian
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Cleveland Media Forgot About Homelessness in 2010

Top 10 Homeless Stories Missed by the Cleveland Media in 2009

There were so many stories in the homeless community from 2009, and below are the top 1o that were missed by the local media. I was thinking back to 20 years ago and how many options there were to get stories into the media. Every radio station had at least one reporter and there were magazines that featured news, and we had weekly newspapers from all over the community. Now there are blogs but very few feature general news stories that are not opinion driven.

Here are the stories that were missed in 2009:
1. Despicable Process for Distributing Stimulus Dollars. President Obama helped get $1.5 billion out to the states and communities for preventing homelessness. Cuyahoga County received $14 million. There was one story in the Plain Dealer that focused entirely on a NEOCH vs. the County dispute over these funds. The story was much bigger and was the prime example for why voters distrust County government. The City let down their constituency by just giving their $10 million from the Stimulus over to the troubled Cuyahoga County. A good plan was developed by homeless people, service providers and advocates which was set aside by the County and for some inexplicable reason a different plan was funded. So far in the first 2 months only 10 people were given housing help. So much for stimulating the local economy.

2. Homeless Memorial Day 2009. We read the names of 45 people who passed away over on the first state designated homeless memorial day. This was the 23rd time we have presented the homeless memorial day, and the first time no media showed up to cover the event (except the Grapevine).

3. Homeless Stand Down 2009. Again, an important event with over 2,000 homeless people in attendance. This year no media showed up to cover this huge social service fair. We had entertainment, 60 health care/social service groups, and hundreds of volunteers. No television, no radio news reporters, and no special interest coverage.

4. Huntington Bank Help with North Point Transitional. Introduced in late 2008 and early 2009 was a new effort to get homeless people to start using the banking system. There are so many poor people excluded from the banking system, which manifests itself in the proliferation of payday lenders. Huntington Bank has stepped forward to help guys who are trying to rebuild their lives with support in getting a bank account. A good program that has received no publicity.

5. County Publishes Blueprint for Change. As part of the stimulus dollars and the new focus on prevention efforts, the County Office of Homeless Services published a new strategy for how to end homelessness on July 1, 2009. This document got ZERO coverage in the media, and is a fairly radical departure from what was done in the past. The document had zero input from homeless people and very little input from homeless shelter providers. It was also unfortunate that it came out one and half months after all the groups submitted proposals for how to use the prevention dollars. Maybe it is better that this got no coverage, so that it will be easier for this document to quietly fade away.

6. Shelters Overflowing even in the summer. The New York Times, Washington Post and other papers did stories about the overflowing shelters in their cities due to budget cuts and the instability in the housing sector. There was a brief mention on WCPN, but for the most part the story did not get any coverage in Cleveland.

7. Many work while living in the shelters. This is on the list every year, but it is a good story that never gets enough attention. The mythology is that most people living in a shelter or on the streets are lazy. No one ever does a story about how these guys get up at 4 a.m. to try to get sent out to work at the Temp. company. No media tries to dispel some of these horrible myths about homelessness in America.

8. Failures of the Alcohol and Drug System and its impact on the Imperial Ave. murders. It was said over and over that most of the women killed on Imperial Ave. were substance abusers, but I never saw one story breaking this down. What happened to the alcohol and drug addiction system and the safety net that we pay for as tax payers? Where was the breakdown? Did these women try to get help? Why do we base most of our treatment on outpatient assistance? Why does the alcohol and drug system not follow people long term and why don't they help with housing? How does this system work or how does this system fail poor people? There was such a wealth of stories about the failures of government to protects its citizens from this predator that just never got any coverage.

9. Tough Decisions Made By the Shelters in this Bad Economy. There were a number of stories this past year about the problems of suburban hunger and the growing issues with pantries. I never saw similar stories about the struggles within the shelter community. Cleveland has seen a loss of six shelters in the last six years, and none of the shelters have seen a cost of living increase from government. They should all be given metals for the ability to keep costs under control in the face of flat funding from the government. Despite the rumors, no shelters gets paid based on the number of people entering the building. All the shelters get a set yearly budget and have to figure out how to make that work.

10. The Ability of Social Service Providers to keep the Outdoor Homeless Numbers Down. Over the last three years, despite increases in the number of people sleeping in shelters, the numbers sleeping outside in the downtown area have remained steady. This is a testament to the social service outreach units that go outside every night to build relationships with those who are resistant to shelter. The Volunteers of America, Care Alliance, Veterans Administration, Mental Health Services, Salvation Army, and John Carroll's Labre Project all provide a valuable resource to Cleveland. The media did not do any stories about these wonderful people who earn the trust of those disenfranchised from government and "the system" and in fact save many lives.

Brian

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Interesting Articles

Airport Homeless and Tent Cities

The Associated Press did a feature on homeless people living in the Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson Airport. They have trained officers to identify homeless people and coax them to shelter. In the last year they have transported 400 homeless people to shelter, and the United Way outreach visit monthly. I suspect that the 400 involve many duplicates, but it is still a large amount of law enforcement time taken for social services. The article mentions that the City is working to eliminate long term or the offensively labeled "chronically" homeless over 10 years, but does not mention that the City has almost totally destroyed the shelters within the city limits. We are so fortunate in Cleveland to have a strong network of outreach workers to respond to these issues.

At Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, the city and homeless advocates sent outreach teams into the airport almost every night for two months in 2006 after police found dozens of homeless sleeping in sensitive parts of the airport, such as in doorways to secured areas, said Brian Davis, head of the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless.

The effort cleared all but the most stubborn handful of men and women, and most of them have stayed away. It took city funds and five outreach teams available for near nightly sweeps to make it happen though, almost unheard of resources even in the best of times.

The article goes on to describe this effort as too expensive in Atlanta, because the groups are "stretched thin" with their other efforts. City officials always complain about these homeless issues, but they are rarely willing to put funds into solving problems. Law enforcement should never be drafted into becoming social workers.

Tent City in Sacramento

We talked about Oprah doing a feature on the Sacramento Tent City, and this story then drew national attention on MSNBC, the NBC Nightly News, and the New York Times. The Terminator Governor visited the site, and the news went international with stories in the Times of London, Al Jazeera, and the Sydney Morning Herald. Former NBA star and new Mayor, Kevin Johnson, created a task force and wants the tent city closed by the end of March. Johnson was quoted as saying, "I don't like having a third world country inside the city." The City announced that they will begin to move the tents from this private property.

Another example of why Cleveland has set up a better emergency infrastructure compared to other cities. The article states that they will layout a plan in Sacramento on Tuesday to move 150 people to another location even though the estimates are that there are more than 300 people in the camp. Again, we have the outreach in the city who would be regularly talking to the men and women staying outside, and would be better prepared to meet the situation facing Sacramento. City officials are talking about endorsing a plan to establish a tent city in the model of Seattle, Ontario or Portland. Very few of the articles talk about how this got to be so bad? Why didn't anyone respond when 12 tents were gathered together? Has the safety net become so totally tattered that no one notices a group of homeless people living in a tent? How could these refugees of Capitalism be more obvious? They constructed brightly colored temporary structures in the capital of the largest state in the union. I guess the citizens of Sacramento were distracted over the last few years with the games going on within the state capital of California that they did not notice third world conditions invading Sacramento.

Brian
Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.

Another Day: Another Report

Photo by Pleasure Simmons (NEOCH Photo Graduate 2008)

State of Downtown Cleveland Homeless

The Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless has published a report on the State of Downtown Homeless in Cleveland. It is on our website under Solutions/Public Policy section of the site. In 2007, during our budget woes at the Coalition, the City of Cleveland engaged a contract with NEOCH. This was a historic change from the bad days of the 1990s when we were forced to sue the City of Cleveland on a regular basis. NEOCH had never in our 20 year history had a contract with the City of Cleveland. Anyway, we completed our one year contract working on assisting the City with issues of homelessness downtown. The big success was moving the food providers to a new location without a lawsuit or a big demonstration. We started to see a large reduction in the number of people sleeping in the downtown. Unfortunately, with the problems facing our economy, the number has started to increase again. We could claim that there was a direct relationship between the numbers starting to rise immediately after our contract ended with the City, but that would not be true. We have continued to do much of the work, because the coordination is valuable.

We have a better network of coordination of outreach workers, we have a coordinated food distribution, and we have far fewer people in the overflow shelter system. NEOCH staff and board hope that the City will renew the contract this spring, and we can continue to work on other issues to reduce homelessness in Cleveland. It is a good report that gives a good overview of homelessness downtown.

Brian

Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.

This is Why it is Worth Coming to Work

Helping a Guy Sleeping on the Street

Working with homeless people is one of the toughest jobs in the community. And every shelter and food provider needs to be complimented. This is not to say some workers do a better job than others, and there are a few who need to find other jobs. It is rough to have to see the worst problems in our society and the impact of homelessness on innocent children, seniors, family members, and veterans. NEOCH staff are not direct service providers, and so we are one step removed from the tragedy as well as the triumph. We spend a great deal of time on the infrastructure, the community-wide problems, reports, and coordinating services. Every so often, we get to see a life transformed. Yesterday, was one of those days.

We coordinate the outreach workers in the City. So, if a councilman or police officer or just a member of the neighborhood calls us, we can send out an outreach worker to help someone sleeping outside. There are thousands resistant to staying in a shelter in our community, but we have a great safety net set up to serve those living outside. Sunday night a concerned neighbor on the Near West Side of Cleveland sent us an e-mail saying that there was a guy with one leg sleeping behind a building. The concerned citizen had offered food and comfort, but realized this guy needed a lot more and was in danger of dying this winter. He sent us the e-mail, and it turned out that this guy was "lost" in the homeless system. Having someone identify where he was turned out to be a big help. The outreach workers at Care Alliance got him into a nursing home yesterday. He slept in a warm bed last night and will get the level of care he needs. It was a good day to come to work yesterday.

Brian
Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.

Baby Living in a Abandoned Apartment

The Bible Story Looks Different in America

The Coalition coordinates all outreach workers in the community, and so we ask community groups to call NEOCH about homeless people instead of calling law enforcement. The idea is that law enforcement have enough work, and social workers should address problems surrounding homelessness. We get about one call every week at the office, but we do not usually deal with problems of homeless babies. There is a protocol for taking babies into County custody if they are living in a car or in an abandoned property. This happens on a regular basis in Cleveland and we never hear about these cases. The child is quickly taken into custody if the homeless mom makes herself known in the community or if her power or heat is turned off. The reality is that Children and Family Services act first and ask questions later.

This week we heard from a suburban official about a Mom-lets call her Mary- her boyfriend- let's call him Joseph- and a five month old baby who were living in an abandoned building. It seems that officials from a Cleveland suburb were preparing to tear down an abandoned apartment, and doing a walk through when they stumbled upon this couple and their baby. An outreach worker went out immediately to try to connect the family with a shelter. Unfortunately, the Mom was already arrested for child endangering and her baby was in the custody of Cuyahoga County. We have no idea what happened to Joseph. The woman from the suburban development office who called us was not the only one who had encountered this family, and they did what most do: call the County to take the baby into the foster care system.

After the initial shock of trying to get this family in a better place as soon as possible, I started thinking about how different the Bible would be if it were set in Cleveland, Ohio in 2008. The basis for Christianity was based on a story with all the indoor beds full, and so the founder of a religion was born outside among the animals. In Cleveland, the Biblical Mary would have lost her child to Cuyahoga County, and would have had a one year time limit to get her act together or the child born among the animals would be adopted by another family. It seems unlikely that the Biblical Mary would have been able to remain an important part of her child's development or be a part of his young adulthood while he was challenging authority figures or even to be a witness to his execution in modern day America because she had endangered this child with the birth in the barn.

Our own modern day Mary tried the shelters, but could not believe that she had to leave every morning with her baby and could not live with the father of her child. She was arrested and charged with child endangering. She now is fighting the clock, a criminal record, and a case with the County to get her child back. I am not saying that children who cannot speak up for themselves should not be protected. I just have to wonder how these policies have changed our society? How many families have been destroyed because Moms cannot find a place to live? How many children will never reach their full potential because of their 18 year struggle to find a place in our society? How many families make bad decisions because the shelters cannot bend their rules? How many world events have been altered because we are quick to split up families?
Brian
Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.