Dramatic Increase in Family Homelessness in Cleveland

In most cities, the number of family experiencing homelessness increases during the summer.  The summer is now over, and so we can look back on family homelessness in 2012 in Cleveland.  As of September 12, there were 590 families who attempted to enter the shelters in Cleveland. Last year there were only 383 families who entered the shelters for the entire year according to statistics released by the Office of Homeless Services. That is a 154% of last year and we still have three more months.  This is a huge increase that should trouble everyone.

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Labor Day Week Voter Update

We are going to send vans around during Golden Week Tuesday October 2, Wednesday October 3, Thursday October 4, Friday October 5, and then Tuesday October 9 between 9 and 5 p.m.   We will have a van available to stop at the shelters and take people to the Board of Elections to vote and/or change their address.  
A couple of other questions came up this week from the social service community:
ID law:  What if the address on their ID does not match the voter’s current address?

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Another Victory for Access to Voting...Another Appeal

Those seeking expanded access to the ballot box won another victory this Friday with a federal court judge ruling that the local boards of election must be open the last three days before election day to vote.  This was a lawsuit brought by Democrats, the Obama Presidential campaign and others who argued that it was unfair for active duty veterans to be able to vote in person on the last weekend while the rest of Ohio had to wait until election day to vote.

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Voting Issues in the News

There also were a series of positive editorials in the Plain Dealer regarding the partisan nature of the Secretary of State's office.  They have suggested uniform standards drafted to maximize participation.  They caution against changes right before the election such as purges or changes in procedure, and should allow variation based on the region.

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Another Victory Over Voter Suppression Activities

Yesterday Judge Algenon Marbley has once again ruled in our favor of protecting all legal voters in Ohio and assuring that their ballot are counted.  (I still do not understand why the Plain Dealer does not use our name in the coverage of this court case.  This is our hometown paper but referred to us as a "local homeless coalition?")  We have documented the progess of this case here, and here.  This latest decision orders the state to issue an order to the local boards of elections that they must count all provisional ballots including those which are submitted as a result of poll worker error. Jon Husted, Ohio Secretary of State, and a spokesperson has already told the media that he plans to appeal the order

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Foreclosure Stats Added

We have added statistics on foreclosures in Cuyahoga County and the other big counties in Ohio.  We try to add statistics periodically to the site to keep people coming back.  We have also updated the website regarding the upcoming Hand Up Gala.  We have received a number of great items for the Hand Up Gala auction.  We are hoping for an event in early November depending on the availablity of the chef.

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Homelessness and Housing in the News

Yesterday the Washington Post had a poignant story about Peter Bis who had passed away while living on the streets of DC.  He had a great story of traveling the country, living next to the United Nations, and then settling in DC.  It is unfortunate that our health care system does not do a better job of taking care of those struggling with a mental illness.  Peter Bis sounded like a great person that deserved a place inside with a door to lock for his peace of mind.  Imagine the stories Bis could have written or the creative mind that could have been unleashed on the world had he not had to worry every single day where he was going to live that night.  

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Mexican Students Learn About Local Non-Profits

 I had the honor to discuss creating and building non-profit organizations at the request of the Cleveland Council of World Affairs with a group of future Mexican leaders.  These students were picked to come to the United States because they all had ideas for how to improve the lives of other Mexican teenagers in fragile cities.  They all had ideas for mentoring programs, after school engagement activities or small businesses to occupy the time of those thinking of leaving school.

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Phillip Morris Blames the Poor for Poverty

Finally, Phillip Morris of the Cleveland Plain Dealer stopped picking on low income renters and moved on to protecting the vote in Ohio.  I was afraid he was going to attack elderly Americans for slowing down traffic while they cross the street in their walkers or beating up on kids who force increases in property taxes to pay for "special needs" education.   The last two weeks he has antagonized Ms. Mixon and her struggles with the Cleveland Housing Network. 

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Evictions Stats Added to Website

We have added eviction statistics to the website.   Cuyahoga had a steady number of evictions compared to previous years at 21,600 and the City of Cleveland had 11,100 evictions filed in 2011.  For information on evictions in Cuyahoga County and some of the major cities in Ohio go here. 

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More Voting Items

We have posted three entries about voting in Ohio and Pennsylvania over the last week on our voting blog.  They include:

• Grace, our intern, put together an overview of the Plain Dealer discussion regarding voting on the last weekend before the November election.
• A Pennsylvania judge let stand a law that requires ID to vote this November.
•  Secretary of State ordered uniform voting hours in Ohio then terminates Montgomery County Board members. 

See our special voting blog on the NEOCH website for more information
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Homeless Voting Updates 8/8/2012

Thanks to Bishop Cosgrove Center, Continue Life, Norma Herr Center, North Point Transitional, Railton House, St. Malachi, Transitional Housing Inc., and Y-Haven that all turned in registration forms last week.  
A few voting questions came up over the last week: The first was:  Most of your clients are already registered to vote, but they most likely need to change their address. 

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Veterans Homeless Stats

We have added a page of stats on veterans homelessness and poverty numbers.  These are the latest statistics in the State of Ohio and Cuyahoga County as we are over halfway to ending homelessness among veterans in America.  We have also added more research to the website as well as reorganizing the statistics to make them more accessible.  Grace has improved the site with regard to information on the Hand Up Gala and this fund raising opportunity. 

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Voting Updates for August 1

Thanks to Continue Life, Salvation Army PASS, Zelma George, Joseph’s Home, Hitchcock Center, St. Malachi Center, Salvation Army Railton, and Y-Haven for participating in the voter registration drive last week.  We appreciate all their help in getting homeless people to participate in democracy. You are free to mail the forms directly to the board, but remember that they have to be sent within 7 or 8 days of signing the form.  You can’t really save them all up until you have a large number. 

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Updates on Voting Events

NEOCH staff will be going around every week to pick up completed voter registration cards to drop off at the Board of Elections.  We dropped off blank forms this last week to every homeless social service provider in the community.  Many shelters are sending their registrations directly to the Board, but we are helping out some of the big shelters to get these returned in a timely manner.

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Website Updates

We have made a number of upgrades on the website that we invite you to explore.  We have regular updates of our blog, our information blog, our portraits of homeless people, and press releases.  We have a section of the website dedicated to homeless voting that also has regular updates of new events.  We have added a survey to the site for members of the Coalition to complete.  This survey will allow us to revise our programming to meet the needs in the community.  We hope that you will take a few minutes to complete the membership survey
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Los Angeles Hate Crimes Against Homeless People

While our attention has been rightly focused on the senseless killings in the Denver suburbs at the movie premier, a frightening number of attacks on homeless people while they slept came to an end.  Starting around Independence Day, a man attacked a homeless man with a knife and left a "death warrant" with the man.  The homeless guy who was not named wandered into the street and was taken to the hospital.  Three homeless individuals were stabbed while sleeping in Greater Los Angeles, and two homeless people were suspected of being stabbed in Santa Barbara.

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Secretary of State Appeals Provisional Ballot Ruling

In another waste of public dollars and time, the Ohio Secretary of State is appealing the ruling that went against the State of Ohio two weeks ago.  Secretary of State Jon Husted announced that he was appealing our victory regarding the counting of provisional ballots.  I could not find much in the media about this story and there was not a press release on the Secretary of State's website yet.

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Bogus Solicitors in Coventry

During the nice summer weather, we have seen people out claiming to solicit donations to support homeless programs.  There is a gang of women operating mostly in the eastern suburbs of Cleveland who pray upon the goodwill of shoppers and restaurant patrons by asking for donations for homeless shelters or services.  This is a scam, and none of the money goes to any of the shelters.  Only the Salvation Army bell ringers with their familiar red kettle and the Street Chronicle newspaper vendors are out on the sidewalks asking for monetary support. 

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Obama Campaign Sues Ohio over Early Voting

The Obama campaign and the Democrats have sued the State of Ohio over the hours the polling places will be open for early voting. .  This is great news, but why does every thing have to be so political in allowing people to vote?  There is no way for non-partisan groups like NEOCH to push an agenda that homeless individuals in our society will have the opportunity to vote without looking as though we are siding with one political party.  It is hard for the League of Women Voters, COHHIO or other groups to not appear as fronts for the Democratic Party.

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