Cleveland Power Summit

Advocates Gather at St. Ignatius

We are going to start migrating to our new blog which is actually part of our new website.  So, this site will remain active as an archive, but will only have a summary of the issues for new entries.  We are in the process of migrating to the new site this week, so don't bookmark the new site yet.  The names of the pages are not set yet, and will likely change this week.

The advocacy world of Cleveland will gather at St. Ignatius High School this Saturday March 24, 2012 for the Cleveland Power Summit from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. To register and for more details go to the Organize!Ohio website. 

For more information go to our new blog on the NEOCH website.
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Senator Brown Responds to Call for Senior Support

Senior Services Program Needs Protected

 

This was a reply from Senator Brown from the letter we sent earlier this summer regarding the cuts to the Older Americans program.

 

"Thank you for getting in touch with me about the Community Service Employment Act for Older Americans (CSEOA) program.

Today, our seniors face a tough economic climate.  With rising health care costs, utility bills, and food prices, seniors on a fixed income are forced to make painful cuts that can harm their health and reduce their quality of life.     The CSEOA program promotes economic self-sufficiency by connecting older unemployed Americans with job opportunities.  Without these additional earnings, many seniors would face even more difficult choices about their health care and personal care needs.  During this period of economic hardship, it is critical that seniors receive the support they need and deserve.   You can be sure that I will continue to support the CSEOA program as the appropriations process moves forward.  Thank you for your advocacy.   Sincerely, Sherrod Brown United States Senator"   We called for an advocate for this program to protect it from cuts as Senator Kennedy had done for the last 35 years.  This program from the 1960s helps millions every year and can help older folks retrain for new careers.  These programs have been invaluable to the Coalition and to seniors who have worked at NEOCH. Brian Davis

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An Open Letter to Congress

Senior Employment Training Needs to be Restored

An Open Letter to Members of Congress:

RE: Title V Cuts of the Older Americans Act

Dear Member of Congress:

The Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless is proud to be one of the thousands of host sites in the United States providing skills upgrades to seniors as part of the Senior Employment Act (Title V of the Older Americans Act). We have been one of the host sites for over a decade. The seniors who participated in the program enhanced their computer skills, office administration, and all were able to develop a tremendous amount of knowledge on homelessness.

As you know, this program was strongly supported by the late Senator Kennedy. He nursed this program and saw it grow over the decades. It is shameful that upon his death the program was cut so drastically. The program was funded at $825.4 million in Fiscal Year 2010, and then cut to $449 million for Fiscal Year 2011—a 46% cut. Even using the pre-stimulus funded allocation of $691.9 million in 2009, there was a 35% cut in a time of a extreme need for additional government jobs to stimulate the economy. In a time of huge downturn when seniors are already struggling, we do not understand how cutting funds from seniors can be viewed as a positive.

These decisions have real impact on seniors across America. I wanted to give you some idea of how this is impacting our senior trainees. Our two current trainees had their hours cut by 20%. While these are small amounts for each individual, it could mean going without a prescription drug or electricity for a month. One of our members has had to delay serious dental care, because of the cut in his hours. Another of our members will not be able to replace his car that was recently stolen because of the cut in the program. This wonderful employment program supplements the income of seniors while they also refresh their skills.

We need someone to take up the gauntlet from Senator Kennedy and become the champion for this program. America’s seniors need someone to work to restore the funding for Title V of the Older Americans Act to allow seniors in training to get back to the 20 hours a week. The work sites, most of whom are non-profits, are overwhelmed with people in need, and we need all the help that we can get. The mature members need the money to be able to meet the increasing cost of living for food, heating, prescriptions, that is often not covered by their fixed incomes.

We would love to sit down to talk to you about this issue. This is an extremely valuable program for senior citizens in the United States. The program was working well with many thousands of examples of positive outcomes. We urge Congress to restore this program in order to help seniors to re-enter the workforce. This program follows the proven model for training in which the individual is reimbursed for their time while participating in a training program. Finally, the thousands of non-profits working on homeless, hunger, tenant issues, and other human services benefit from the seniors working for social change.

Sincerely,
Brian Davis
Director of Community Organizing
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Homeless Support Collective Bargaining in Ohio

May 6, 2011 Homeless will Collect Petition Signatures

Many homeless individuals were laid off union workers or certainly want to be part of a union in the near future. We all realize that union membership means social justice in the work place. Many are concerned about attack on collective bargaining taking place in Ohio, Wisconsin, New Jersey and Indiana. The Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless along with the Coalitions in Cincinnati and Columbus are proclaiming Friday May 6, 2011 as "Homeless Support Collective Bargaining Day in Ohio." Volunteers and advocates will work on May 6 to get Senate Bill 5 legislation on the November 2011 ballot by collecting petition signatures.

Vendors at the three street newspapers (Cleveland Street Chronicle, Cincinnati Street Sense, and Columbus Street Speech) will be collecting signatures for part of the day. We will also have volunteers go into the area shelters to gather signatures to overturn SB 5. Contrary to popular belief most people experiencing homelessness are registered to vote and a higher percentage then the rest of the population actually do vote. Homeless people are well educated on current events and are concerned about this attack on public employees. They have a special relationship with EMS workers, social workers at the Department of Human Services, Community College professors, and continuing education teachers who will all be impacted by these new rules. There is a big concern that this is only the beginning of a broader attack on unions in the state.

If you would like to volunteer on Friday May 6, please call the office at 216/432-0540 in Cleveland to help collect petition signatures. You will go out in pairs to the shelters and drop in centers to collect signatures. We need your help to protect collective bargaining in Ohio.

Brian
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Rally on Tuesday in Columbus

"Don't Make Homelessness Worse in Ohio" Rally!!!

NEOCH, ABLE and other advocacy organizations in the community will be attending a rally down in Columbus organized by One Ohio Now. Buses are leaving from Merrick House in Tremont at 7:30 a.m. for the rally, but anyone can carpool down to show support for a sensible budget for the State of Ohio. The budget was announced on March 15, and we still are having a difficult time figuring out how individual program are going to be impacted by the cuts. So, for example, we do not know how much money will go to the Ohio Housing Trust fund in the much larger Department of Development budget. We know that the State will close the mental health facility behind MetroHealth and move it to Summit County. We know that the planned state hospital will not be built in Cleveland, but we do not know if there will be money to serve new patients in Cuyahoga County. We know that the Cleveland and suburban schools will take a hit, and be forced to layoff personnel which could lead to future homelessness.

We know that city and county funding will decrease by 33%, but we do not know if that will mean a cut to the shelters or outreach teams. There is a $100 million proposed cut to the human services budget, but it is difficult to tell if that will prevent access to child care, child support enforcement, or medical care. It is likely that public colleges and universities will be more expensive. Higher education is often the ticket out of poverty. Many advocates will be going down to Columbus to the noon rally and to meet with their legislators. So get on the bus down to Columbus before the Kasich bus runs you over. Call Merrick House to see if there is still space available: Brian Larson at 216.771.5077 ext 135

Brian
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Advocate of the Year

2010 Advocate of the Year

Tim Walters

Walters retired from the May Dugan Center last year, but has continued working to protect the rights of low income and homeless people. Tim is an authority in Cleveland on public utilities and how low income residents navigate this complicated system. Tim has helped create the state advocacy group, ABLE, in order to help lower income families lobby for justice in the state budget. Walters regularly volunteers with the Metanoia Project and Project Save. He attends the Homeless Congress to listen to the views and opinions of homeless people. Walters has helped improve the outreach safety net in Cleveland and has successfully integrated advocacy with the human service needs of homeless people to support the NEOCH mission.

Tim talked about the graduation ceremony that took place the night before with the men and women who entered the Courage for Change program that they run at the Metanoia Project. Tim also talked about the upcoming work of ABLE including the Public Square rally today, and the big trip down to Columbus on April 5th. If you want to participate and ride down to Columbus with the 2010 Advocate of the Year call 216/771-5077 ext 137.

Brian
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Save the Date

Rally for A Sane Budget for Ohio

There is a new collaboration of groups concerned about the future of Ohio schools, the Housing Trust Fund, social services, and state support for local government. The group is called OneOhio Now. The national economy is in recession, Ohio's revenues continue to fall below what's required to meet people's rising needs. In response, Ohio has over-relied on reducing services that assist communities and vulnerable families. In its next two-year budget, our state faces a record shortfall of up to $8 billion. Schools, police, hospitals, libraries, and local services are all endangered. It will take a balanced approach that includes revenues to minimize the impact on Ohioans and ensure our state emerges strong when prosperity returns. NEOCH has signed on as a supporter of this organization.

Their first major event is January 14, 2011 at 2 p.m. in Columbus at the Ohio Statehouse. You can RSVP for the event here. NEOCH can help with carpooling if you are interested in going, but do not want to drive. The group has been able to get three opinion pieces published in Cincinnati, Akron and Dayton. We hope that you can attend this first in a series of gatherings to come over the next six months. If you need any more information Andrea Fejes e-mail and telephone number are available on the One Ohio Now website.

While we prepare for massive state cuts, please get some rest and have a Happy New Year!! Homeless Advocates are going to need their energy over the next six months.
Brian
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Time to Support the National Housing Trust

Sign on to National Letter Asking Congress to

Fund the National Housing Trust Fund NOW!

Within the span of a week, organizations from every state, DC and Puerto Rico have signed on to the letter - Thank you for your action!

Now, the goal is to get as many signatories as possible, including organizations from all 435 Congressional Districts, in order to urge every Member of Congress to support funding for the National Housing Trust Fund.

Please JOIN the national sign-on letter today. Please make sure every organization in your network or coalition signs on.

Let your Members of Congress know that your organization supports the NHTF and that their support of the NHTF will help your state build and preserve housing for people with the lowest incomes, and create needed jobs.

Please SIGN the letter in this link

Brian

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Melville Charitable Trust Again

Still Looking For Solutions?

In January 2009, we wrote about the Melville Charitable Trust, and then in February the program director responded. It is a year later and I still hear the same advertisement from the Melville Charitable Foundation on NPR on a regular basis. They still have not found an end to homelessness, and from their website they are no closer. It is not complicated, and for way less than the money that they gave to NPR I could have provided a solution by now. I guess maybe I am just wondering why they don't change their underwriting announcement. I can't be the only one who hears that every week and wonders, "how long does it take to come up with a solution to homelessness?"

Recently, an advocate from California, Art Vanden, posted a rant on our site about Melville and advocacy groups. Here is the comment that he submitted.

One of the most vile of scams is that so many "homeless advocacy" groups are in it for their salaries and not much more. There was a "charity" in Fresno advertising nationally as "motor homes for the homeless" an advocacy group who's plea for donations of higher end motor homes to help the homeless... Well in reality they were selling motor homes to to lots around southern CA to advocate for homeless people's need for housing (printing brochures) Their president claimed a vast salary and they had a large staff "no homeless of course" to shift the donated motor homes into their pocket and of course "help the homeless"

I've volunteered some advertising on my website because by the sound of their mission statement, they sounded like they were really doing something beautiful and needed.

So, upon some complaints from members on the site I did some further investigation (I volunteered) in the Fresno area... It would seem that their entire budget went to "advocacy"??? Hmmm??? they obviously were doing damn good, big office, plenty of staff... All to produce a flyer/advertisement describing the need for the homeless to have homes...

POVERTY PIMPS... ALL "advocacy groups are indeed POVERTY PIMPS.

Just look at the facts of how much the Melville Trust donates to NPR for their name recognition... Now, look at how much they have given to actually "print their flyers" and 700k over the past ten years to a Connecticut educational program is a spit in the face of all homeless people.

Now let's see Melville trust disclose their hierarchys (sic) salaries, I would bet it is a lot more than they helped the homeless with.

I do not understand the relationship that Mr. Vanden makes between a foundation that gives money to national groups like NPR along with Connecticut groups and advocacy groups that try to push public policy issues locally. I think he misunderstands advocacy groups.

As a representative of an advocacy group, I have to say that it is true that most of the cost of running our organization is salaries and rent but we have a role in the community. We are not a charity that provides food or housing or a shelter bed. If the United Way organizations that serve people were doing public policy, community organizing and advocacy along with their services, there would be no need for us. We do not provide direct service to individuals facing the emergency of homelessness. We support and respect those throwing life preservers to individual's struggling with poverty. Advocates wade up stream and figure out why people are falling into the water and try to build retaining walls. We push our Mayor and County Commissioners to keep homelessness in mind with every decision. NEOCH is looking for large scale housing solutions or the development of jobs programs or universal access to health care. Without advocacy groups there would not be money for family shelters and all the shelters would be mats in basements, homeless people would not be able to vote, there would be far fewer affordable housing units in Cleveland, and all health care would be provided through the hospitals among other changes.

I agree that all directors of charities should not have excessive salaries. I agree that all charities should have strong community oversight that can move a neighborhood, city, county, or state toward some tangible goals. But, I think that community organizing and facilitating discussion among a group is an important activity. Assisting lower income people to speak collectively is a useful function and facilitating meeting that allow homeless people to speak directly to politicians is a critical function. Just providing a meal and a shelter bed is important, but it does not solve the problems associated with homelessness, the lack of jobs or the lack of housing. Please take a second look at Advocacy organizations, Mr. Vanden.

Brian
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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.

Upcoming Senate Session Advocacy

We Do Not Support Pseudo-Hearth Act--Drop S. 1518 until 2009

On October 2, the House passed the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing Act (HEARTH Act), which re-writes the portion of the McKinney-Vento Act that governs HUD's homeless assistance grant programs. The original HEARTH Act had the support of many homeless advocacy groups, and was introduced by the late Rep. Julia Carson of Indiana. However, the version of the bill just passed by the House is a compromise version of the legislation reached behind closed doors and passed with only 34 minutes of debate on the House floor. It is an almost unrecognizable version of the bill that was introduced, and we would like it dropped by the Senate. We would like the Senate and House to take up a new bill that has the support of a new administration early next year. Although there are many areas of improvement over the current McKinney-Vento legislation, such as key protections for homeless children and youth, NEOCH has several areas of concern. This legislation currently awaits action by the Senate in the form of S. 1518. We urge you to call Senator Sherrod Brown to encourage the Senate to hold this law until 2009. We do not support the current compromise legislation. Some of the biggest problems include:

The New Definition of Homelessness is Overly Complicated and Contains Some Arbitrary Timeframes and Provisions that Will Exclude Individuals and Families in Need: The bill expands the definition of homelessness and is an improvement over current law and practice. However, the new definition would be very complicated to administer at the local level, which might result in many families that need homeless assistance being found ineligible. It also arbitrarily excludes many persons and families in urgent need of assistance (ex. a family living in a motel but which has enough funds to stay at the motel for over 14 days), which limits flexibility for communities seeking to respond to the economic and foreclosure crisis with help to families becoming homeless. People at the local level should be given a larger role to determine eligibility for services based on need.

The Bill Places a Definition of Long Term Homeless into Law. The bill uses the offensive term “chronic homeless”, and while it expands the definition to include families we do not believe it is necessary. We should not segment the population and provide additional assistance to those based on the length of time they have spent homeless. Every homeless person needs help and our goal should be to end homelessness for everyone we come in contact.

The Bill Requires Every Group Receiving Federal Dollars to Submit Personal Data About Their Clients to a Central Database. The Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless does not support forcing shelters to have to submit personal data about their clients to a central database. We do not support the unfunded mandate, because of the privacy concerns of homeless people. We also have seen this data used to inaccurately reflect the total number of homeless people in a city, and we fear that it will be used as the basis for distribution of the federal funding.

The Bill Must Balance Homelessness Prevention with Needed Services for People Who Are Already Homeless: The bill increases the flexibility with which communities can use funds from the re-named Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) program, which is a positive development. However, the bill does not set any minimum required amount for communities to spend on emergency shelters, meaning that communities could choose to eliminate emergency shelter in favor of spending all of their grant money on homelessness prevention. Although an end to homelessness is our ultimate goal, in reality there will be individuals and families who will need emergency shelter. Also, the bill sets aside a higher percentage of overall funds for the ESG program, which means less money for the main McKinney-Vento program to assist people who are already homeless. Therefore, the McKinney-Vento appropriations must be increased to ensure that we are sufficiently funding both homelessness prevention and services for people who are already homeless.

Mandatory Set-Asides Should be Removed: The House bill maintains the current requirement that 30% of funds to go to permanent housing for individuals with disabilities or families with a disabled head of household, and adds a 10% required set-aside for permanent housing for homeless families with children. Although the goals of these set-asides, to ensure permanent housing for individuals and families in need, are to be commended, this is the wrong approach because it severely limits communities’ flexibility in responding to homelessness. For example, it would inhibit the ability of a locality that funds transitional housing or innovative programs to be more cost effective than permanent housing or that already has permanent housing resources to use the funds in the way best suited for the particular community.

We Need You To: We ask that you call Senator Sherrod Brown’s office 202/224-2315 asking him to hold this bill until the 2009 Congress and the new Administration. For more specific information, contact NEOCH at (216) 432-0540. Please call us if you get any feedback from the Senator’s office. A full analysis of the bill and comparison to existing law can be found at the website of the National Policy and Advocacy Council on Homelessness. The full text of the bill passed by the House can be found with the highlighted link.

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

Congress and Homeless Dollars

Congress Working to Renew HUD McKinney Vento Homeless Funding

(Photo by Pleasure Simmons graduate of the Grapevine Photo Class--For prints of any of the photos from the class contact NEOCH.)

BACKGROUND: HUD McKinney-Vento (HMV) programs make funds available to service providers in urban, suburban, and rural communities across the nation to provide emergency shelter, transitional housing, permanent housing, and supportive services to persons experiencing homelessness. Congress has not formally reauthorized the HMV law since 1992, leaving policymaking about HUD homeless assistance programs largely to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, with limited Congressional involvement. Congress is currently considering HMV reauthorization legislation. In the House, the Financial Services Committee is considering the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act, H.R. 840. NCH strongly supports the introduced version of the HEARTH Act.

STATUS: The Financial Services Committee postponed a markup session for the HEARTH Act that had been set for Tuesday, July 15, 2008. While a new markup date has not been rescheduled, it is expected that the Committee will call up a substitute amendment to the introduced version of the HEARTH Act later this month or in September.

WHY ACT: The substitute amendment will reportedly contain provisions that weaken the original HEARTH Act (which NEOCH supports) in some significant areas from the standpoints of homeless consumer access and protection and community flexibility. Among them:

• Ineligible People – The amendment’s definition of “homeless individual” for purposes of eligibility for HUD programs (and other federal and state programs that use the HUD definition) fails to include some living situations understood to be homeless, meaning that people in those situations will, with rare exception, remain ineligible for HUD-funded homeless assistance.
• Weakens Community Decision-Making – The substitute amendment does not assign a role to homeless people or service providers as formal decision-makers in a geographic area’s collaborative application for funding, as did the original bill.
• Restrictions on Eligible Activities – The substitute amendment puts into the force of law restrictions on a community’s use of funds that exist now only as administrative practice … and adds some new restrictions. This step will further reduce geographic areas’ flexibility to respond to homelessness the way it makes most sense.
• Privacy Concerns – The substitute amendment authorizes a data collection and reporting system on clients of HUD-funded homeless assistance, but does not ensure client privacy and safety of their data.

ACTION NEEDED NOW: Please fax letters or make telephone calls NOW! Markup of the HEARTH Act was postponed for July 15, but could be brought up again by the Financial Services Committee at any time. Financial Services Committee members need to hear from you as soon as possible. The message to your Congress member is that we support the original HEARTH Bill as proposed by the now deceased Rep. Julia Carson, and we do not support the anticipated changes. We urge Congressional leaders to work with the National Coalition for the Homeless on a bill that would work for Cleveland.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CALL OR E-MAIL NEOCH AND TO REPORT ANY FEEDBACK TO NEOCH:

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