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.

Grading the Administration 1

Weekly Poverty Grades for Obama Administration: B-

Every week we are going to try to assign a letter grade to the new administration on how they are doing with regard to reducing poverty with a concentration on housing/homelessness. It is hard not to compare this administration to the last, and their record on poverty. We will try to avoid that, because in all honesty every week would be an A on that scale. It is difficult to focus on these activities every week, when it has taken decades for us to get the country in this bad shape. I mean, we have now come to accept that a certain percentage of our population will become homeless and will not have basic health care, an opportunity for a job, or a roof with some privacy. There is so much riding on this administration probably because of all the promises made, and that we can no longer grade on a curve.

Week #1 is a B-. This week is difficult to judge because the administration really only had 4 days to accomplish anything, but it is a good baseline. Here are a few short takes on why:

• The new HUD Secretary was approved by the Senate this week, and he knows about housing issues and is not afraid to say the word "renter", "affordable", or "homelessness." He comes from an affordable housing background, and pledged to work on family homelessness. He is planning to take an active interest in stabilizing the housing market. All these are important, and a positive step.
  
• There is a great deal on the White House website about poverty. [It actually says the word "poverty" with only one click away from the home page. Can you believe that?] Yes, these are just words, but that is the second step in community organizing. Write down the problems, agree on a course of action, solicit support, implement, repeat. So, in four days, we are on step 2. Not bad.
  
• The stimulus package will include an extension of unemployment. This is a critical program to stabilize the current workforce while changes are made. Again, at this point just talk.
  
• Pledges on the website of support for National Housing Trust. Good step, but again at this point is just talk.
• Executive Order to open information of the Executive Branch to the freedom of information act. Most would not see the relationship between FOIA and poverty, but it is actually critical. It is impossible to figure out a solution, when we spend all of our time arguing about the facts. We need the information released quickly and without distortion, so that we can then develop solutions. This order moves the administration into the "B" territory on the struggle against poverty, because it is so critical for democracy to have an open and transparent government.
  
• The new ethics rules are also important for the same reason as above.
• Retired General Eric Shinseki was approved by the Senate as the new Director of Veterans Affairs, and spoke often of his goal to make sure that homelessness is not part of the re-integration of veterans from combatant to civilian.
• There is mention on the White House site about urban policy. While short on details, there is a reference to more affordable housing. There is nothing about homelessness, but at least the administration recognizes the need for a focus on urban issues. The other new part of the website is a section on rural issues. Even shorter on details and again no details on rural homelessness, but it is a step.
  

Areas that need work in order to move that grade up to an A:

• Nothing on Katrina or general preparedness of the gulf coast. (There is a statement under additional issues: "President Obama will keep the broken promises made by President Bush to rebuild New Orleans and the Gulf Coast."--but no real action statements.)
  
• No actual jobs were created this week--I think that "Job Creation" should be listed as an agenda on the White House website.
  
• Temporary workers are still not on the agenda.
  
• No one actually received health insurance.
  
• The education system is still not working for many children left behind.
• College is more out of reach than in any time since the 1930s.
  
• The economic stimulus package has not passed.
  
• There was nothing proposed or introduced to protect fragile populations from civil rights violations.
  
• Give us more details on these agenda items of poverty, urban and rural issues.
• Nothing new happened with regard to homelessness in America.
  
• Poor people are still facing incredible--some might say indefinate--debt issues.
  

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

State of Cleveland Homelessness 2008

Statistics About Homelessness Published

The Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless published its second annual State of Homelessness for Cuyahoga County, Ohio 2008. In this report, we survey local homeless service providers and the public entities and collects the numbers from last year. We try to use 2008 figures or at least the most recent Statistics available. Thanks to the County Office of Homeless Services, the Salvation Army, 2100 Lakeside Shelter, CTO, CHN, and Mediation Center. We have to thank CEOCG, First Call for Help, and the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. There are so many who submitted information including EDEN, Enterprise Foundation, and Cleveland Department of Building and Housing. It is a lot larger than the 2007 edition. The report details trends, positive steps, and the final section are recommended solutions. It is available on our website www.neoch.org under Resources and statistics.

Here are a few highlights (or lowlights) from the report:

• Estimated number of homeless people in 2007: 20,087.
• Cuyahoga County residents living in poverty in 2007: 200,873 people or 15.5% of the population—a 1% increase.
• Cleveland Housing Court evictions 2007: 11,416 (no data for 2008 yet)
• Over a half million searches were conducted on the affordable housing website a12% increase.
• Foreclosures filed in Cuyahoga County in 2007: 14,041
• 21% increase in overall calls to 211, and a 22% in calls regarding foreclosure
• 26% increase in calls to 211 regarding shelter between 2008 and 2007.
• 3,788 people received help with identification in a one year period before funds ran out last year.
• The need for affordable housing: 40,000 households.
• 69% of the sheltered homeless population are African American.
• The largest men’s shelter averaged 419 people sleeping inside every night.
• 23% of the residents of Lakeside came from the suburbs or outside of Cuyahoga County.
• To afford a one bedroom apartment at the market level, a person must make $1,806 per month or $11.28 per hour.
• Homeless school age children in Cleveland remained steady in 2008 after a 40% increase in 2007.
• 57% of the women who leave shelter have no income upon exit.
• The largest family shelter saw a 50% increase in families in need of help because of the foreclosure crisis.
• The average rent burden for callers to CTO is now 73% of a families income goes toward paying the rent.
• 23% of the homeless population are veterans.
• At least 10,000 housing units sit vacant just in the City of Cleveland.
• 20% of the homeless population reported that they had never visited a dentist.

Please check it out, and give us some feedback.

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

A New Day of Hope?

How the Social Justice Groups Spent the Day

The last 12 years have been rough on homeless people. We have had flat funding for most programs for years. We have had one group pitted against others. We have tried to solve homelessness for some groups, while we watched other populations grow in numbers. We have seen family homelessness grow, and more and more kids find themselves the innocent victim in this struggle. Housing has declined in its affordability and in the supply. More people do not have health insurance, and the standard of living has declined. So, homeless people are looking for a brighter day with this new administration.

To celebrate the new president of the United States of America all of the social justice groups in our building got together to listen to this historic change of leadership. After all, for social justice groups this was the first president in along time to talk about progressive ideas. This is the first president who even said the word "homeless" in decades. No matter what party you follow, this is a great moment in American history. We gathered in our conference room to watch the inauguration on the big screen. Staff from Community Shares, Policy Matters, NEOCH, Cleveland Tenants, Housing Research, and even a few others on their lunch break came down to watch the peaceful exchange of power from a man hostile to civil rights to one who defended civil rights in court and the classroom. We had about 40 some people attend the celebration. We had some homeless people, one elected official, some executive directors, and the people who do the real work in forwarding social justice in Cleveland all watching a change in the nation. The internet failed us, and so we had to watch it on a small television.

It was special to be together with all those social justice activists, some of whom have marched against wars for 30 years. We were able to gather together and try to see the picture on a small 19 inch television as activists did in the 1960s to watch the Voting Rights Act being signed. We broke bread and donuts with those who protect tenants from unscrupulous landlords and those who give voice to statistics and graphs to provide guidance and direction to lawmakers or the media. We got to hear the beautiful voice of Aretha Franklin blending the concepts of liberty and freedom into My Country Tis of Thee all together in the windowless room of a converted warehouse. It was a good day for the United States, for progressive ideas, and for urban centers throughout the country.

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

The Final Symbolic Image of the Last 8 Years

Separated At Birth?

Vice President Cheney at the Obama Inauguration today (Associated Press Photo)
Mr. Potter from It's A Wonderful Life (Photo from N Y Times)

Outgoing Vice President showed up at today's ceremony in a wheelchair, which I believe was the perfect symbol for the administration. No word if Cheney was wheeling around saying, "No securities, no stocks, no bonds...You're worth more dead than alive" to guests at the inauguration.

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

Melville Charitable Trust

Every Night I Hear Melville is Looking for Solutions?

So, does anyone else wonder how many more years the Melville Charitable Trust will be looking for a solution to Homelessness? Every night I hear on NPR that it is funding "All Things Considered" and working on finding solutions to homelessness? So, how is it going for them on this quest for the Holy Grail? Have they found a solution yet? Homelessness has increased every year for the past 20 in Cleveland, so the solutions have not made it to the Midwest. I went to their website and here is what I found:

What We've Learned

After working with more than a hundred grantee partners for over a dozen years we are now convinced of the following:

1. Homelessness is a solvable problem.
2. Decent, safe, accessible and affordable housing is indispensable to solving the problem of homelessness.
3. Providing housing with support services to those who have enduring disabilities is the smart, humane, cost-effective solution to long-term homelessness.
4. Our society has more than adequate economic capacity to invest in the housing and provide the services that can eliminate homelessness anywhere in America.
5. Government agencies and officials, as well as our elected representatives on the local, state, national levels must be in the forefront of efforts to end homelessness, investing significant resources in housing and service programs that lead to individual and family independence.
6. All that is needed to eliminate homelessness in America is the political will to do so.

I think that they could have stopped at #2, but what do I know? So, they have funded the National Alliance, and are big supporters of the Bush 10 year plan strategy. Some of those 10 year plans will expire next year, and I doubt that any city in America will declare victory. So, where are we? In most of America, homelessness is worse than it was 10 years ago. We have built a whole bunch of permanent supportive housing, but have no plans to fund those services long term. We have decimated public and the voucher program in America, and very few are successfully lobbying on their behalf. We have more poor people. We have more populations who find themselves homeless for longer periods of time. We have more families, more individuals from suburban and rural communities, more seniors and more young people becoming homeless. These populations are increasing, and we have seen a steady population of single men. We have fewer jobs that pay a decent wage, more people without health care, more civil rights violations against homeless people, and less housing for poor people.

I cannot think of many areas in the life of homeless people that are better. There are fewer benefits available to homeless people. There are fewer lawyers. It is harder for a homeless person to vote in America. So, the state of homelessness is worse, and yet Melville keeps pumping money into NPR and looking for solutions? What is NPR doing to reduce homelessness by the way? I have to wonder that all the money spent on staff, advertising, shelters, permanent supportive housing projects, National Alliance, and NPR would have helped more people by just providing a family a housing voucher for one year. They could have paid for an entire year of housing for 1,000 people in Cuyahoga County over the 10 years if they had just given away $6.5 million dollars to us. That would have doubled our Shelter Plus Care program and increased our Voucher program by over 7% with $6.5 million.

I hope that all national groups will re-evaluate the decisions (funders, government, and service providers) that have been made over the last 10 years. I hope that activists will look for solutions that do not take a decade or more to come to fruition. We need to have a massive investment in housing. We cannot lose anymore housing. We have to have put people to work and provide those on disability with more money to survive. Or at least we could provide a housing voucher along with their disability check. It is time for a change, and maybe a new statement on All Things Considered for Melville.

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

Akron Paper Reports Bogus Homeless Numbers

Counting Jelly Beans While They are in Motion

The Akron Beacon Journal reported today that homelessness had dropped in Summit County. The article itself has contradictory information with COHHIO having different numbers. This all does not make any sense when compared to the US Census numbers. In 2006, a little over 12% of the total population in Summit County were living in poverty. In 2007, the Census shows over 14% of the population living in poverty with about 10,000 more poor people than in 2006. So, if poverty increased, how could homelessness decrease? How does the most extreme expression of poverty decrease when poverty increased? The figures from the National Alliance to End Homelessness are incorrect. The numbers cited in the ABJ article are based on a flawed system for counting homeless people, and should not be part of the discussion.

We have talked about this before, but once again this research is based on the annual count required by HUD every year. This is where a bunch of volunteers go out and try to count people where they are sleeping on one morning. This is similar to counting jellybeans while they are in motion. People move around all day. Homeless people go to work at 4 a.m., and others are returning from third shift around the same time. It is hard to tell one homeless person who is sleeping from the guy walking down the street with a large bag. Every city has a different method for attempting this impossible task including giving out rewards for the simple fact of being counted. There is variation from year to year on how the count is done, the area covered, and the diligence of the volunteers. It is rediculous to use these numbers for anything. It is a waste of time, and NEOCH never participates. There will be this big report put together. A bunch of researchers will put their name on these meaningless words and will get paid to produce future door stops.

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

Quick Takes

A Few Random Thoughts

Rough times....imagine waking up in the morning and the guy in the tent next to yours is dead. Then you find out that the guy was waiting for sentencing for an insurance scam in Indiana. Could you stay in that area after finding a guy who died? We have noticed an increase in the number of people sleeping outside since September, but we did not know that there were people hiding out from the law in these camps. I hope that this does not paint the impression that homeless people are a bunch of people hiding out for the law.

Web Stats from 2008... The NEOCH website had 40,210 unique users in 2008. Our best month was Feb. 2008 with 4,700 unique users. The largest day of the week is Monday, and there are more people who visit in the beginning of the month. People visit 3.27 pages per visit, and this blog is the top website linking to the main NEOCH website. We are going to continue to add content and new stuff to the website, so keep checking back.

Shelter cuts...The three big shelters in Cleveland are facing a 5.5% cut in 2009, because of the County financial issues. This means that 2100 Lakeside shelter will have a harder time feeding everyone and staying open 24/7. The Community Women's Shelter will have to drop the cleaning and kitchen staff as well as cutting back on bus tickets in order to stay within their reduced budget. The Disabled Men's Shelter is going to have to close down for a one shift during the day weekdays in order to survive. It is expected that the new North Point Transitional shelter will face cuts in October 2009. The other shelters receive most of their money from the federal government. They will not face a cut in 2009, but they have not had a cost of living increase for 9 to 10 years. How they continue to make it on the same amount of money as they had in 2000 is amazing to me.

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

What Can You Do to Help???

Stand Down is Coming Soon!!!




Speaking of the Homeless Stand Down, there are still opportunities to participate in this year's service fair for homeless people. We still need volunteers. We still need hygiene kits, and bagged lunches. We still need boots and coats. These are perfect volunteer activities for groups to think about working on over the next month. All of the information is available on our Stand Down website www.homelessstanddown.org. If you want to volunteer call Toni at InterAct Cleveland 216/241-0230 or complete the application on-line. We will most likely serve 2,400 people over the three days, and we need all the help we can get. This year the Stand Down is January 31 (boots and coats) in Tremont. We are doing the Health Fair event at the Convention Center on February 6, 2009, and then respite from cold at Trinity Cathedral on President's Day all under the banner of the Stand Down.

With the rough economy, we need your help to to make this 18th Stand Down in Cleveland a success.

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

Foreclosures Up in 2008

File Under "How is This Possible?"

We are collecting our State of Homelessness 2008 report right now, and we were shocked to discover that foreclosures in Cuyahoga County are up between 2007 and 2008. All the attention directed at the crisis; all the arrests of criminal predatory lenders; and the moratoriums by various lending institutions have done little to help. How could we have an increase in foreclosures with all this government intervention? Then the icing on the cake is the huge increase in foreclosures in December. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays Cleveland! Here are a boat load of foreclosures for you to suck on. To all the representatives from the financial sector, we would like to thank you for this Christmas gift. Cleveland and Cuyahoga County can use more foreclosures. What is your return gift policy?
Here are the 2007 estimated number of homeless in the big cities in Ohio. The Census poverty figures are always one year behind.
The first number is the Census population figure for 2007.
The second number is the percentage living in poverty from the Census American Community Survey released in the fall every year.
The third number would be the actual number living in poverty.
The final number is the estimated number of homeless people in that County. This is based on percentage in poverty. The higher number living in poverty the larger percentage who face homelessness. These percentages are based on research conducted by HUD.

The entire report will be released on January 22, 2009 as part of the press conference for the Homeless Stand Down.

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

Good Article in the Washington Post

Sexually Based Offender Law Encourages Homelessness

When I started working 14 years ago, everyone who showed up at the door had the possibility of finding housing. Many were not very good candidates for housing because of debt or criminal background, but there was nothing that was an insurmountable barriers to housing homeless individuals. Now, with the ill-conceived sexually based offender laws, there are many people sleeping in our shelters or on the streets that we have no chance of housing. There was a nice article in the Washington Post about this new issue that effects every community in the country.

There are now a group of men and a few woman who have no possibility of getting into housing. Being labeled a "Sexual Predator" for life and all the hassles associated with that make these individuals un-houseable. We can work all day, but the reality is that they cannot work or live near a child care facility, which turns out to be most of the City and County. Then there are the majority of the landlords who do not want the community notification, and so they bar these individuals from renting a place. Almost all the subsidized properties in the community exclude sexually based offenders. So, these men serve their time, and then they are stuck when they get out. In most of the big cities in Ohio, they cannot even sleep in the shelters. We have one facility in Cleveland that still allows homeless people with a sexually based offense to sleep inside. But in Columbus, Cincinnati, and Dayton there are no shelters for the sexually based offenders, and so the men sleep on the streets.

How stupid a system have we designed here? Men who violently attack women or children are released to sleep on the street. How safe is that for the community? It is one thing to punish people, but to force them to live on the streets seems like torture to me. The reality is that a large majority of the people who abuse children have a relationship with the children (family, friends or acquiantences) they abuse. It is rare that a total stranger kidnaps and abuses a child. These cases make the news and terrify parents, but it is not the norm. At this point, the law probably has the opposite affect in that it encourages the death of the child in order to reduce the number of witnesses. The lifetime punishment is so horrible that the offender might as well go all the way in order to avoid life as an outcast. For many death or life in prison is better than life living on the streets. Legislators throughout the United States need to rethink this community notification and bans on where sexually based offenders can live. If we want to go for a life time punishment then we need to set up some special housing for these individuals that they can be monitored. Forcing the shelters/outreach workers to be the lifetime babysitters for those designated as sexually predators is bad public policy.

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

Mangano Must Go!!

More Harm Than Good

The Washington Post did a profile of Phil Mangano, the Director of the Interagency Council on Homelessness today. (Thanks to CynDe for sending the link). I guess Mr. Mangano is working on securing a job in the Obama administration. There was some mention in the article from NPACH advocates about Mr. Mangano's problems, but they did not go into enough detail. There was also a feature on one of the NPR programs Tell Me More yesterday about Mr. Mangano in an effort to bolster his resume. Anyway, I don't think that the NPR host or the Post gave enough of the other side of the story on Mr. Mangano. Here is my impression of Mr. Mangano from my position in Cleveland and Board Member of the National Coalition for the Homeless. Bottom line for President Elect Obama get rid of Mr. Mangano. Send him back to Boston to write his memoir on the relationship between his struggle against homelessness and the abolitionist movement, which can sit on the shelf next to all the Ten Year Plans to End Homelessness.

Why Mr. Mangano should be fired, and why he has caused great harm to homeless people in America:
1. Hurricane Katrina: The largest number of people made homeless in a few short days in the history of the United States. It would seem that the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness would take the lead in the recovery effort. Since Mr. Mangano had instead focused on "long term homelessness," they had no ability to deal with natural disasters and were as unprepared for Katrina as the rest of the Executive Branch. Mangano never spoke up and said that there was a problem or that the administration dropped the ball in the destruction of one of America's great cities.

2. The Phrase Chronic Homelessness: This expression came into vogue under Mr. Mangano. I and many homeless people hate this phrase. It sounds like a disease that homeless people have contracted. Does it catch or spread through some kind of airborne pathogen? Homelessness is already a politically charged expression that many homeless people hate to use, but add the word "chronic" and it is like being tagged with the label "Black Plague Victim."

3. Malcolm Gladwell is Wrong: The entire theory that Mr. Mangano champions is based on Malcolm Gladwell's 2000 book The Tipping Point. Gladwell has a history background, and is a writer/journalist. He is not a social scientist or a researcher. He is a good observer of culture and then attaches scientific principles. It is a good read for the masses with simple explanations of complex problems. Basing public policy and millions of dollars on the work of one British/Canadian writer seems extreme to me. Hey, I like George Carlin, but I would never suggest that we put all our health dollars on Broccoli as the cure for Cancer as Carlin had recommended. I have talked about this flawed Malcolm Gladwell strategy here and here and here. Basically, Gladwell followed one homeless guy around and found that he costs our society a bunch through incarceration, emergency room, and mental health care costs besides shelter and food costs. This is all correct, but as I have said many times is that if you remove this guy from the system and put him in housing the emergency room and jails are not going to pay the shelters the money they saved so that the shelters can serve others. The other issue is that a focus on long term homeless does not work for every community in the United States. It may work in Boston and New York City, but this policy is harmful to Jeffersonville, Indiana and Lorain County, Ohio. There is not one policy created in Washington that will cure homelessness throughout the United States.

3. He never criticized his Boss: Mangano was a good soldier for the Bush administration. He travelled the country racking up huge frequent flyer miles spreading the gospel that George W. Bush cares about ending homelessness in America. This was the biggest spin campaign in the history of politics. It was all a big show with ribbon cuttings instead of offering real solutions or real money. They pulled the rug out from under Public Housing and gave the cities chump change for permanent supportive housing. The Mayors got to champion a brand new apartment building, but did not see that the Public Housing was falling down around their cities. Mangano took money from shelters and put it into brand new buildings for the long term homeless. He never told us how to pay for the long term management of these buildings, but they sure looked nice when they opened. Mangano never said anything bad about the Bush administration lack of a real housing policy (until this last week). The HUD budget submitted by Bush to Congress has for the past seven years called for major cuts to the major housing programs, and Mangano never said anything about how this would only increase homelessness.

4. Ten Year Plans Are Fake: Mr. Mangano cannot speak for more than six minutes without using the phrase "ten year plans". The first 10 year plans were passed in 2000, so we should start seeing an end to homelessness in those cities in 2010? The dirty secret is that many of these plans were only to solve long term homelessness or 10-20% of the population. While we spent a substantial portion of our resources (every new dollar for five years) on solving 10-20% of the problem. The damn broke over the last two year and many of cities were flooded with homeless people while HUD was focused on single adults with a disability. Most of the plans are sitting on the shelf. Others are discredited and forgotten, and the few that are left are suffering because of the recession. In Cleveland, family homelessness is way worse than it was in 2002. We did all this work on providing 400 new apartment units for single adult homeless people with a disability and it has not had any impact on the shelters or homelessness. There are five people waiting for help for every person we took off the streets. The ten year plans in almost every city will be quickly forgotten as soon as the ink is dry. Besides, why do we have to wait 10 years to solve homelessness for everyone?

5. Homelessness Has Grown: Bottom line is that a person should be measured on the success based on the numbers of people suffering. If you are appointed homeless czar and homelessness increases: you get fired. If you are paid to coach a football team and they lose 12 out of 16 games in a season: you are fired. If you are put in charge of rebuilding Iraq, and it breaks out into Civil War: you get fired (or you get the medal of freedom--but that is a different problem). Despite HUD trying to reclassify homeless people or change their status, by nearly every measurement there are more homeless people than there were at the start of the Bush Administration. We do not trust the HUD count, but I do trust the Cleveland Public School numbers. The school district has had a program to serve homeless children for 20 years, and they saw a 40% rise between 2006 and 2007. Even though we have developed more shelter beds in Cleveland, we still have people sleeping on mats on the floors in our shelters. More homelessness means the guy in charge has to go.

6. Families are Suffering. When I started working with homeless people, families were served first and were provided the most resources. This changed with Phillip Mangano who forced shelters and homeless services to focus on long term single adults. Now, families have to split up, and they spend much more time homeless in Cleveland. They have a hard time finding rental assistance, and children are on the move in great numbers. There are long waiting lists for housing, and a Mom has little chance of finding help with rent. We removed welfare with time limits, and now families struggle to keep their heads above water with stagnant wages. The Homeless Czar rarely talked about families. Mangano did not see the Foreclosure Tsunami that has destroyed many cities in America, and caused such pain to families. He never said that the Bush push for a "homeownership society" might not be the best policy for everyone. There is now a five year wait in Cleveland for families to get a rent subsidy for housing thanks to Bush policies.

7. He Never Criticized Bad City Policies. For the past dozen years, many cities that Mr. Mangano visited were developing policies that only made homelessness worse. They were passing anti-sitting or panhandling laws to make it illegal to be homeless. This would only extend the time a person will not be able to find housing or a job. It is a fact that those with a criminal background have a harder time finding stable housing or a decent job. Never when Mr. Mangano was shaking these Mayor's hands did he raise the issue of bad local policies. He had a great speech and heaped praise on these Mayors for their fake 10 year plans, but never said anything about sending the police out to arrest people sleeping on sidewalks. We never heard anything about compounding the problem with incarceration of mentally ill people. It is like presiding over the ribbon cutting of a new dam, and ignoring the screen door built into the center of the dam.

8. We Needed Some Coordination Among the Federal Agencies. The InterAgency Council was supposed to break down barriers in serving homeless people. It was to coordinate all the federal departments so that the HUD rules match those of Health and Human Services, the Department of Veteran Affairs, Education and Labor, etc. This never happened. We still do not have a common definition of homelessness among the agencies. Everyone of the agencies have done stupid things that harm homeless people. They do not work together to reduce the time it takes to be judged disabled or speed up the employment help. They do not have a common screening mechanism or work together to have one agency provide supportive services while the other provides housing. The federal government is just as dysfunctional for homeless people as they were when this crisis started in 1984.

Mr Mangano: you were wrong about the policies to end homelessness and you were silent on the injustices done toward homeless people over the last eight years. There are still 22 days to get the Medal of Freedom from this White House. It is time to move on; take your Powerpoint and look at a job again in the entertainment industry. Hey, how about traveling the country pushing a 10 year plan to restore the status of the Compact Disc?

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

A Good Comment

Do Homeless People Get Lost in the System?

There was a really good comment from CynDe after we posted the names of the people who passed away over the last year.

"It is just as tragic to see a list of names as it is to know their fate. A list of names is just as impersonal as a statistical number. Most of the grief I feel is because they are just a name, nothing more."

I have been thinking about this comment for a couple of days. There was a longer piece about Anthony Waters in the Homeless Grapevine, which does give some background about Mr. Waters. But CynDe is right that we do not feature much background on the men and women who pass away. We have a hard time even getting the names let alone any more information. It is nearly impossible to get personal information on people who become homeless. There is a great deal of embarrassment, so very few people are willing to admit that they were homeless. Families also are embarrassed, and so they do not want to be viewed as having abandoned a relative. There are strong privacy laws that protect the release of information of homeless people. We can get names once a person dies, but would not be able to get much more.

I wish that there was some way to get more information about homeless people--even just their talent or skill that we lost in the community. I have thought about how many talented people are wasting away in our shelters and drop in centers. How many great photographers, artists, community organizers, leaders, inventors, and diplomats are sleeping in America's shelters. With 1% of America becoming homeless every year, there have to be hundreds of potentially great Americans who will never get to show their true talent because they cannot find housing. How much does our society suffer, because such a large number of people are focused on survival? CynDe's point is valuable. I wish there was a way to give the full measure of those who passed and not just the name.

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

Extreme Cold: Deadly for Homeless People

What Happens When it is So Cold?

We do not have a very good natural disaster program for homeless people, but most of the shelter directors realize the extreme danger of anyone being out in the cold for an extended period of time. While there is not typically an official designation of a cold weather emergency in Cleveland, most of the shelters react well to extreme weather conditions. It seems that the City and County rarely get involved in declaring a weather emergency out of fear that they will have to put more money out to take care of additional staffing during the often unpredictable weather of the region. Today, temperatures are in the single digits in Cleveland and so most of the shelters do not kick anyone out during the day or they implement extended hours. On a normal day, most people have to leave the emergency shelters (to go look for non-existent jobs and unaffordable housing) from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays.

When it is this cold the shelters work together to keep their doors open so that no one has to stay outside. There are hundreds who sleep outside, and the social service outreach teams try as hard as they can to convince people to come inside on these rough weather nights. When a few hours outside can result in death, some of the outreach workers can probate an individual if they worry about the individual dying on the streets. Most of those who stay outside are protected from the elements. They either sleep under 10-12 layers or light a fire or they sleep on the heated sidewalks downtown. Some of the sidewalks can give a second degree burn because they are so warm, so the men have to be careful with this solution. There are others who stay in abandoned or vacant housing in the community. Having stayed in an abandoned house, it takes a large number of candles to provide any kind of heat. Also, starting a fire in an a building is extremely dangerous. Even those people who sleep in abandoned garages and start a fire on the concrete have to figure out a way to ventilate the building so that they do not suffocate.

Life boils down to three things: finding warmth, finding food, and keeping safe when staying outside in Cleveland. Everything else is lost. Family, friends, relationships, resumes, bureaucratic red tape, and sports are all forgotten. In one of the most industrially advanced countries on the planet, it always amazes me that we waste the talents of some of our citizens by keeping housing out of reach for so many. During this festival of lights, please remember homeless people who use light as a part of their survival. They stay in candlelit abandoned properties and hunker down at night in the dark waiting for the light of a new day and the hope of a warm apartment, a job in a heated office, or a warm place to have a bowl of soup.

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

Homeless Who Passed Away in 2008

Homeless Memorial Day Names 2008

NEOCH hosted a small gathering of activists to remember those who passed away over the last year. This was the 22nd Annual Candlelight Vigil, and this was the largest number of names that we have ever read. Here are the names of those who lost the struggle this year. If you are a part of a religious congregation please offer your prayers or condolences for these individuals and their families.

Olu Akintunde

Anonymous

Charles D. Anderson

John Andresh

Ronald Armstrong

Cliff Barnhart

Rosemary Battle

Terry Beachman

Paul Bianco

Jacob Bobrowski

Robert Cherney

James Cofield

Ralph Duhan

Robert Eady

Barney Elias

Carol Fergus

Larry Gahan

Jacinda Glover

Carol Good (male)

Jack Hanrahan

Jesse Harris

Gary Hubbard

Joseph Irby

Thomas Jackson

James King Jr.

James King

Perry Kucinich

Rufuss Lenard

Mariam Lozada

Craig Lucas

Marnie Macon

Marion McWilliams

Thomas Milo

Robert Morgan

Bruce Morris

Mary Murphy

Melvin Nance

Robert Okragley

Donald O’Neal

John Pickell

Stanley Pieck

Mark Pirtle

Thomas Rapose

Barbara Rossi

Calvin Sledge

Jeff Stoudemire

Lois Swaysland

Wayne Anthony Tyler

Anthony Waters

William Whalen

On one of the coldest days of the year, on the shortest day of the year, we gathered together in one of the best meal programs in the City to remember those who lost their lives. We joined 70 to 80 cities around the United States to mourn the loss of some of our friends. We look back at this rough 2008, and pledge to try harder to protect the lives of people in 2009.

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

A Day in the Life

Homeless Memorial Day

Thomas died last night. He passed quietly in the night at the shelter. His wife was sleeping down the street at another shelter. They both had health issues, but imagine the loneliness of dying in a homeless shelter in Cleveland away from your spouse. Imagine waking up and the guy on the lower bunk had died. The loss of housing, worldly possessions, car, and safe place is one of the hardest things in the world to endure. It is the ultimate injustice that the life of a person slips away while sleeping in a charity bed. Thomas' wife is not handling it very well.

Thomas is one of 50 people that we found passed away over the last year after experiencing homelessness. This is the largest number of people who died in the 22 year history of the annual candlelight vigil in Cleveland. We will remember those we lost at the candlelight vigil on December 21, 2008 at St. Augustine Church in Tremont. The Homeless Memorial Day is at 12:30 p.m. on West 14th across from Lincoln Park. Treasurer Jim Rokakis will say a few words, and we will light a candle to honor those who passed away. The public is welcome to join us at this important event for the community. We continue to hope that this is the last Vigil.

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

Gov. Strickland: VETO, VETO, VETO Voting Bill!!!

Fake Voting Reform Passes House

The State Representatives in a party line vote, passed a bogus "reform" of the voting system. This is purely an attempt to disenfranchise voters. We previously blogged about the Senate bill here, but the House managed to make the bill worse. We all have to urge the Governor to veto this fake reform bill. The bill was bad as it was originally drafted, but the House made it worse. The changes from the original bill include:

1. There is only one site per county in which early voting can take place. This will put into law long lines in many counties for the foreseeable future. On a couple of Sundays the line was a block long at the Board of Elections in Cleveland, and other cities had similar issues. Instead of addressing these problems, the state legislature is going to make long lines the standard.
   
2. A reduction in the power of the Secretary of State by limiting her ability to disqualify board appointments. The retaliation platform.
   
3. Restrictions on observers at early voting locations.
4. The other change was that they removed the piece of the law that would violate federal law by starting early voting 20 days out instead of stopping registration 60 days out. The 60 day registration deadline would have definitely been challenged by the Feds. This, however, effectively eliminates the golden week, which was great for homeless people.
   
5. Then there is one piece of happy reform in the law: the observers can greet the election workers at the polling location.
   

I understand the emergency nature of passing this law in the lame duck session so that observers will be able to say "Good Morning" to the election workers in the March elections, but I still think that the Governor needs to veto this law.

As stated before, here are the problems with the law:

1. Only 13,000 people took advantage of the golden week, and no one has said that there was any fraud during this week. They are once again fixing a problem that does not exist.
2. Since we have set up an illegal poll tax for homeless people who have to pay for identification in order to vote, golden week is the best option for homeless people who do not have a valid state identification.
   
3. The release of mismatch data will allow more and more challenges at the polling place. This causes anger and mistrust of the system and more lawsuits. Do we really want party officials in dark glasses and trench coats and lawyers singling people out and challenging a person's right to participate in democracy?
4. The social security and driver's license database were never intended or constructed to be a backup for the voting database. This is only going to cause problems and confusion and again will reduce confidence in the voting process in Ohio. (After 2004 and 2006 how much lower can it go?)
   
5. The bill is not bi-partisan and was crafted at the last minute to retaliate against one party for their gains during the last two statewide elections.
   

We need you to step forward, Governor and veto this horrible bill.

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

Oklahoma Senator Picks on Homeless

Open Letter to Tom Coburn:

Thank you for your keen interest in protecting the public from Government waste, Senator. Having intimate knowledge of one of the items on your 2008 list, I have to wonder if you are misguided about all of the items on your list. I worked on the Community Voice Mail program in Cleveland, and know that it can help thousands of people for around $20 a person per year. It will save the community hundreds of thousands of dollars. Since you are so far off the mark about Voice Mail, how many more of the items in your report are equally off base? As you are aware this is from your report:

"Voicemail for the Homeless -- Ohio ($15K)
While the homeless in Summit County struggle to find food, shelter and clothing, this Ohio community made sure they were not lacking in one essential service: voice mail. A $1 million Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) will carve out $15,000 for the free voice mail service. Interestingly, the community spent only $10,000 of the same CDBG grant on transitional housing for “homeless single parents.”

You guys in DC waste millions on prescription drugs, Medicaid, Defense contractors, and rebuilding Iraq why pick on a small program helping homeless people? As a doctor, I would have thought you could understand the need for Voice Mail for homeless people. How does a person staying in a shelter schedule a follow up test at a medical clinic without a telephone? How can extended family get in touch with a relative who is staying in a facility that cannot release even the names of the people in the shelters? How does an employer extend a job offer to a person who does not have a stable place to live? How does a landlord get word back to a person sleeping in their car that they passed their credit/background check and can move in?

The ability to have contact with the world can dramatically shorten a person's homelessness. In Cleveland, Voice Mail was successful in 60-70% of the people who were enrolled in the program. We served 3,000 people a year with the program, and with more funding we could have served more people. I am sure that the $62,000 per year we spent on the Voice Mail program in Cleveland saved the community at least 10 times that amount. It reduced shelter costs, health care costs, unemployment costs, mental health care, criminal justice expenses, cash assistance, and Medicaid costs. Instead of condemning this program, you should be championing this program as a one of the most cost effective in the United States. I would ask you to name one other program that costs $20 for one year and has a 60-70% success rate in helping people find housing, a job or other help.

One thing that we can agree on is that the country would be best served if the private sector would pay for this service. We believe that this should be part of universal service in the United States as defined by the Telecommunication's Act. Congress had the opportunity to require voice mail as part of the tax collected by the phone companies. Or the public utility telephone companies should pay for voice mail systems across the United States so that every homeless person has a telephone number and a place to get messages. Criticizing new technologies that can help people reduce the time spent homeless makes you sound like a Luddite. By the way, as long as we are talking, the Continuum of Care funding which supports almost all the transitional housing programs in the country needs to be doubled or tripled. The federal funding has remained static for four years, and it only pays for the renewal of the shelters as they were originally funded. Basically, most shelters in America have not received a cost of living increase for a decade or more. Please give the shelters a budget increase and Akron will not need to spend any CDBG dollars on transitional shelters and they can fund other innovations in the future.

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

Hunger and Homelessness Report

No One Really Gives This Report Much Confidence

The United States Conference of Mayors report on Hunger and Homelessness in America was released on Friday. While this report was for years, largely dismissed by advocates and by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development as pure conjecture. This is a survey of the Mayor's offices from 25 cities in America of statistics such as meals and shelter capacity etc. Even the activists in the 25 cities have never considered the information reliable. The reality was that using the Mayor's report based on the percentage increase every year would mean there were approximately 25 million homeless people in America. Anyway, it is a December tradition to get the Hunger and Homeless report, which always shows an increase in homelessness. For 20 years, this report has stated publicly that American Mayors are struggling with increases in homelessness. This has not made a damn bit of difference. During the Clinton, Bush 43, and Bush 41 administrations, this report meant nothing. Obviously, the Mayors do not carry much weight, especially if the report is so widely discredited by government and advocates alike.

I always thought that the full report was a failure, but the Cleveland numbers were usually pretty accurate. I knew the person collecting the numbers and I knew that he was relying on accurate information, so it was a good baseline for trends in Cleveland. This year, the numbers are based on the "complete count" mandated by HUD for every city. This is the once a year attempt to count everyone who is homeless in every city in America on one day. Basically, a bunch of volunteers try to count thousands of similarly colored marbles while they are in motion. The complete count is the most useless exercise ever mandated by government. This is now the basis for the Mayor's homeless report including Cleveland's listing. The hunger report is fine, because it is based on something real: meals delivered or consumed. We can all agree that homelessness has increased in nearly every City in America (including Cleveland), but the numbers in the report are useless.

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

USA Today Article on Homeless/Foreclosures

Miami Taking Property vs. Cleveland Asking for Property

As part of this strategic planning process, we have found that many think that I am too aggressive with my advocacy. I have never understood this, but it is an impression among many social service providers. I have visited cities in which the homeless advocacy group constantly antagonize the local administration. The advocates in Cincy created their shelters by squatting on warehouses. Many homeless groups are at war with their cities, and regularly disrupt city business. In Portland, the activists spent the winter in tents on the steps of City Hall. Yes, we have sued the City six times, and I regularly criticize the County for their failure to lead. Unlike others in this struggle, I do not resort to personal attacks against Mayors, bureaucrats or shelter staff. I believe most people working on this problem are fundamentally good -hearted people who want to do right, but may not have the skills to do their jobs. Those who are in it for themselves and have bad motives for working on homeless issues I ignore. My biggest concern is not effectively serving my main constituent: homeless people. For those who do not work with homeless people, there is a ton of anger among people kicked out of their houses. If we do not reflect a little bit of that anger, I believe we are not doing our jobs. How can a person maintain their humanity and not have their blood boil to see Mom's separated from their children and veterans with silver stars sleeping under bridges?

Another example of the style differences in my approach and those activists in other communities appeared in the USA Today on Thursday. In Miami, the homeless activists are fed up and seizing property that are currently in foreclosure. A number of our younger members have for years urged a similar approach in Cleveland. They grew frustrated with our unwillingness to help with these quasi-legal approaches. I have not resorted to leading a charge to take over houses in Cleveland. First of all, it could jeopardize a group's non-profit status. Second, what purpose would it serve? The City does not like the vacant buildings anymore than homeless people do. At this point, the banks are more powerful than the cities. Remember, Cleveland tried unsuccessfully to limit predatory lending only to be shot down by the courts. So, we would put a family in a building. The banks would charge the family with trespassing, and even if the courts or police would not take action, the banks would figure out a way that the family would never ever gain ownership of the house. In Ohio, it takes 21 years to gain ownership of a building through squatting. So, where would we be at the end of the day? The person who helps these families would gain some notoriety for standing up to the city, and banks but they would not be harmed when the banks and holding companies retaliated against the family.

I personally would support families not leaving their houses when the lending company tricked or acted irresponsibility or illegally in drafting the loan, as long as the family was prepared for the hardship they would have to endure in court. In reality, it is more of a short term solution, since it is unlikely to result in a home for these families. NEOCH did defend the squatters at Camelot in the late 1990s, but while we were in court the Mayor sent a wrecking ball to destroy the building. (That guy was a dictator.) I think that the approach that we are taking with asking for support from the City is a better solution. As an update, we still have not had any movement from the City or County, but Councilman Cimperman sent us a nice letter of support for the concept. We are still going to push this issue, and try to get a demonstration project funded that would act in partnership with the City or County.

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