Update from CAHA

CMHA Public Housing Presented

The Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority periodically presents at the Cuyahoga Affordable Housing Alliance to update the group on the state of the agency.  It was Scott Pollock's time on Monday November 7, and he had a great deal of information on all the development taking place around the city.  From the introduction of their new headquarters in the forgotten triangle to the Woodhill Community Center ribbon cutting (pictured above) that same morning. They have ground breakings at the Lee Harvard Senior Housing, in East Cleveland and Fairfax Inter generational townhouses.  Most of these new units were made available because of the 2009 Stimulus funding or the Neighborhood Stabilization fund which was put in place after the foreclosure crisis.  CMHA was fortunate to receive millions in stimulus and other capital funding, and seem to have upgraded hundreds of homes to be more energy efficient.  They have built hundreds of new units to replace worn out housing that was taken down.  They have worked to de-concentrate poverty and make public housing more attractive to neighbors.  All the groundbreakings and ribbon cuttings seem to indicate that they got busy when the stimulus dollars came to Cleveland.

Let's roll the numbers:
CMHA Public Housing has 9,412 available units with 8,992 occupied.  There are 420 total vacant units which is the lowest since 1974.  They are modernizing 257 of those vacant units and 163 units are being turned over to others on the waiting list.  CMHA's adjusted occupancy rate is at 98.3% when taking out those units under modernization or renovation. 

The waiting list is overwhelming and huge with 11,424 people waiting for a public housing unit and 69% of those individuals are looking for a 1 bedroom apartment, and 24.6% for a 2 bedroom apartment.  They serve 16,753 individuals and 34.4% are families with children and 19.5% are seniors (which mirrors the local census demographics).  My beef with CMHA is that they have segregated 27% of their properties only available to those over 50 years old (which makes it harder for the large number of younger people to get into a subsidized unit locally).

The largest segment of public housing residents have no income at all (20.1% or 1,742) with residents relying on social security second at 19.4%, and 18.2% are employed.  17.4% of the residents have SSI as their sole source of income.  The average annual income for the population is only $7,072.  With only $7,000 annual income, it is unlikely that the average tenant has the ability to pay the market price for rent.

The massive waiting list is a symptom of the housing crisis in America.  It points to the massive number of units we need to renovate or build in order to restore stability to America's cities.   Every single person currently housed would have to leave public housing before the guy who applies today will get offered a housing unit.  At this stage, turnover in the units is anemic, because there are so few places to go.  Local rents have not come down, but wages are stagnate or falling.  People are staying put and not risking the loss of their housing.  The federal government is again talking about cutting the public housing budget.  Our local housing authority has climbed out of the days of decay and crime ridden neighborhoods.  We have a housing crisis in the United States with 11,400 people waiting for public housing and 65,000 having applied for a voucher about two months ago.  It make no sense to cut any federal dollars going to house people.  What is Congress thinking?

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

East Side Suburban Housing

September Cuyahoga Affordable Housing Alliance

The September Cuyahoga Affordable Housing Alliance Meeting is the second Monday this month because of the federal holiday this Monday. We meet every month to discuss affordable housing locally to protect, preserve and hopefully in the future expand housing opportunities.

Since being off in August, we are back with a strong presentation for the September forum for Affordable Housing in Cuyahoga County with the other two entitlement communities in Cuyahoga County.  We will have presentations from the staff of East Cleveland and Euclid to discuss affordable housing in the suburbs.  In June, CAHA hosted three entitlement communities and the City of South Euclid to discuss housing/homelessness in the suburbs.  We now have the last two entitlement communities who had scheduling conflicts in June.   Marty Castelletti of the City of Euclid Community Development and Joe Mazzola of the City of East Cleveland Community Development will talk about the state of affordable housing including a look at foreclosures in the suburbs. They will talk about their efforts to assist residents who maybe struggling with their housing and build neighborhoods in their two eastern communities.  We will also hear any other updates from any partners regarding state, federal, CMHA or local developments with regard to affordable housing.  The meeting is at 1:30 p.m. at HUD lower level at 1350 Euclid Ave. (US Bank Building).  All are welcome to attend.

The next meeting is October 3, 2011 will feature Mark McDermott of Enterprise Community Partners

Brian Davis

Posts reflect the opinion of those who sign the entry.

What is Happening Around Homelessness?

Upcoming Dates

Remember that this week is the week to get your clients to sign up for a housing voucher. Right now the website is down, but it should be up soon. This is only going to be up for this week. You can also go to www.cmha.net to get more information. The housing voucher program is only open for a short time every five years. If you do not get on the waiting list this week, then it could be a long wait. Last time 40,000 people applied and 10,000 were put on the waiting list.

Hand Up Gala--October 21, 2011
Mark your calendars for the second annual fine dining meal for homeless people will be October 21, 2011 at the Cosgrove Center. The dinner will again be prepared by Sans Souci chef John Aldewereld, and will mark the kickoff of the winter activities for NEOCH. This is a fund raiser for both Catholic Charities and NEOCH in addition to raising awareness. Cosgrove will use their funds for transportation, and NEOCH will use our funds for our blanket and winter supplies distribution program. Check the website for more details and to look at the pictures from the event last year.

Homeless Congress September 8 at 1 p.m.
Every month homeless people meet to discuss issues that have an impact on the entire community. The big issue is passing a County minimum shelter standards bill. The meeting takes place at the Cosgrove Center at 1 p.m. typically on the second Thursday of the month.

Cuyahoga Affordable Housing Alliance meeting--September 12, 2011 at 1:30 p.m.
Every month housing advocates, landlords, social service providers and government officials meet to work to prevent any further loss in affordable housing. Typically, there is a speaker who details new projects or expanded opportunities or gives a status update on critical programs in the community. Then someone from HUD provides information on any troubled property in the community. The meeting is the first Monday of the month at HUD 1350 Euclid Ave. unless there is a federal holiday (like in September).

Finally, NEOCH is introducing an electronic newsletter only for paid members of the organization. We hope to send this out every two weeks and will give additional resources as well as look at current advocacy around homelessness. If you are a paid member of NEOCH, send us an e-mail to make sure that you are on the list (neoch (at) neoch (dot) org.

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

Recent Affordable Housing Updates

Mayor Frank Jackson and State Rep. Mike Foley at the 2007 Candlelight Vigil

July CAHA Meeting

There was no Cuyahoga Affordable Housing Alliance Meeting in August. The last meeting was in July, and we invited State Representative Michael Foley and City of Cleveland Community Development staff member Bill Resseger. The CAHA meeting is a monthly meeting to work together to try to prevent any further decline in the amount of affordable housing in northeast Ohio. Rep. Foley previously was the director of the Cleveland Tenants Organization and previously led the urban initiative when the Democrats controlled the House in 2009 and 2010. Rep. Foley is a strong partisan for urban communities and a strong Democrat, but he is perhaps the foremost expert on housing issues down in Columbus. This is why we bring Rep. Foley to the CAHA meetings, and besides everything now is a partisan in this deeply divided society.

At the July Cuyahoga Affordable Housing Alliance (CAHA) meeting, members had a grim picture painted about all the changes that have taken place in the Ohio Congress in its first half-year. Rep. Foley talked about some of the deep threats to urban communities with the passage of the new budget. In Foley's opinion these cuts are a threat to Cleveland and will destabilize affordable housing in the community. State Representative Michael Foley began the meeting by outlining the opposing parties agenda, which he characterized harms Cleveland and those living in the big cities.

First up on the chopping block is the Ohio Consumers' Counsel, which had its funding cut by 40%, including a $3 million cut in funding previously supplied by utility companies and not by tax payers. There's no good reason for this, according to Foley; it's simply an ideological attack. There was a dramatic cut to local city and county governments, including the elimination of Ohio's estate tax, 90% of which went to local governments. In addition, income tax rates are being lowered on Ohio's wealthiest citizens, along with a new Invest Ohio tax credit, which, according to Foley, contains no requirement for any proof of job creation.

A source of much public outcry has been the recently passed election reform, which drastically reduces the ability of many voters, especially those who are most disadvantaged, such as homeless people, to be able to cast a ballot. In a party line vote, the Republican party reduced early voting and mail-in voting periods, as well as discounting many earnest but "mistakenly filled-out" ballots and requiring more information to fill out a provisional ballot. The tightening of voter ID laws are most likely to pass in the near future according to Foley. [The bill might have died with the sponsors resignation from the Ohio House over a drunk driving arrest.]

Foley concluded his long list of problematic legislation that has passed recently including allowing companies to drill for oil and gas on state land and siphon water from Lake Erie for commercial use. Foley was concerned over the redistricting that could eliminate representation from Cuyahoga County. Foley stressed how frustrating a process these first six months have been, and he felt that much of the legislation will hurt the average Ohioan, not to mention those most reliant on public assistance.

Bill Resseger from the Cleveland Department of Development then took the helm to explain how budget cuts have and will impact affordable housing in Cleveland. He mentioned that since 2002, both CDBG and HOME have seen at least a 30% decline in funding, but that legislators are still looking at these two programs for more cuts. Some of these cuts will be reduced because of the r the Neighborhood Stabilization funded programs, beginning next year. Another troubling fact is that much of the stimulus money that Cleveland to address the foreclosure crisis got went to tearing down buildings.

On the plus side, the city will see an additional $450,000 in Emergency Shelter Grant money coming. These funds will probably soften the blow of the ending of the 2009 stimulus used to prevent homelessness which will probably end in March or April of 2012. The City is putting money into renovating Neal and Boulevard to go along with the private funding. In addition, things appear to be moving right along for further expansion of Permanent Supportive Housing projects in the community. However, with all the budgetary cuts coming out of Columbus and Washington affecting local governments all over Ohio, it will be harder and harder to maintain an adequate availability of affordable housing moving forward. At a time when the housing market is still in peril and many homeless and low-income people are struggling to put a roof over their head, it is going to be more difficult for cities to preserve affordable housing and it looks like developing new housing is off the table.

by Brian with Sam the Interns help
Posts reflect the opinion of those who sign the entry.

Affordable Housing Forum in June

Cuyahoga Affordable Housing Alliance Meeting June 6, 2011

Four guests appeared at the June 6, 2011 Cuyahoga Affordable Housing Alliance meeting to talk about affordable housing issues in suburban communities. NEOCH assists in hosting this meeting every first Monday of the month unless there is a federal holiday. This is a venue in which government regularly meets with advocates and housing providers to talk about the state of affordable housing in the Greater Cleveland. This is a chance to exchange information in order to prevent any further loss of affordable housing in our community. We review possible troubled property and have regular reports from key community stakeholders such as the Housing Authority, the City of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County Community Development. These meetings are a fixture in the community for the last 12 years.

In June 2011, we invited representatives from the largest suburbs around Cleveland. There are five communities (Cleveland Hts, Euclid, East Cleveland, Lakewood, and Parma) all are designated entitlement communities by the federal government. This means that they are a sufficient size and have enough people living in poverty to need additional help from the federal government. This additional help (Community Development Block Grant) is available to assist with housing emergencies, homelessness, eviction diversion or other similar programs. Those who were able to attend included:

• Mary Leigh--Chair of Economic Development in Lakewood,
• Sally Martin--Housing Manager of South Euclid and co-chair of the First Suburbs Housing Committee.
• Karen Knittel from the Cleveland Heights Planning and Development Department,
• Don Graves Assistant Building Commissioner for the City of Parma.

About 30 people attended the event, and each of the four presenters gave a short presentation before chair Phil Star of Cleveland State University opened up the forum for questions.

Cleveland Hts.
They fell below 50,000 residents as a result of the foreclosure crisis after the 2010 Census. It is estimated that Cleveland Hts. is now a community of 46,000 people. They are hoping to remain an entitlement community, but that is a decision made by HUD Washington. Cleveland Hts. does fund housing programs for low and moderate-income residents. They have staff to assist seniors & the disabled with issues. Code violations are making it difficult to meet the home buying assistance goals also the age of the housing stock and the problems with lead paint also are complicating the City's efforts.

• Down Payment Assistance fund helped 30 people last year.
• Neighborhood stabilization fund helped to renovated 12 homes.
• Now they are working to sell these newly renovated homes to those with a modest income.
• Demolished 13 homes that are severely distressed

Lakewood
Mary Leigh of the Community Development Office runs all the federally funded programs and is following their local consolidated pPlan. They are working to try to increase home ownership in Lakewood, which has been a challenge over the last three years. They also have CDBG funds, HOME funds from the federal government, Neighborhood Stabilization funds (federal help to confront the foreclosure crisis). Lakewood does a great deal of code reinforcement and supportive service by partnering with Lakewood Community Services. They also fund fair housing activities through Housing Research and Advocacy Center. They are attempting to strategically analyze impediments to housing stability in Lakewood. The City funds CTO for rental help and dispute resolution. Lakewood is trying to encourage the development of ADA accessible housing for seniors. They have a low interest loan program and a senior deferred loan program for seniors. Lakewood has a first time homebuyer program to encourage renters to become home owners. They are distributing rental assistance through Lakewood Community Services as part of the federal stimulus. There is a financial education program, and a home weatherization assistance.

South Euclid
South Euclid was the only non-entitlement community represented at the forum. Ms. Martin is the current chair of the First Suburbs Coalition which is a group of 18 Inner-ring suburbs. South Euclid has gone through some of the same problems associated with the foreclosure crisis as the others. They have 700 residents at risk and 380 homes being foreclosed on with 9,600 homes hard hit by the downturn. NPI helping map out the city to show where there are problems. Non-entitlement communities rely on the County government to assist with housing issues. South Euclid was part of the $1.5 million grant from the county from Neighborhood Stabilization to assist the first suburbs governments. South Euclid has created a program called "Make the Bungalow Hip Again" to try to encourage families to move back into the aging South Euclid bungalow housing. They also have a green building initiative that they are advertising. South Euclid has a public private partnership with the completion of four green homes.

Ms. Martin described the pain within the suburbs with many homeowners hurting – there are lots more people on Food Stamps and struggling to pay the mortgage. She described the Housing department as becoming more of a social worker staff. They have sent letters to everyone in danger of foreclosure trying to get them help before it is too late. She and senior South Euclid housing staff have walked with representatives from ESOP through the neighborhood to offer help to those facing foreclosure. They created some community gardens where houses have been come down due to foreclosure. City officials have had to deal with 240 Foreclosures that now have been declared not fit for human habitation.

Parma
Don Graves a building commissioner filled in for Eric Tollup from Community Development who was called away. With the assistance of Neighborhood Stabilization funding they NSP purchased and tore down 26 houses. Employers have not fled as much as they have feared especially with the help of the bailout of the auto industry. Parma also has a first time home buyers program. They have senior services to help with utilities as well as property maintenance division and can help with seniors who are struggling. The City has to deal with around 300 vacant and foreclosed property. They are seeing more foreclosures because of people not being able to find jobs. ESOP and others present at Seniors Centers to offer assistance. Citizens are concerned about foreclosures and people abandoned properties. There was a great deal of discussion about properties not being taken care of by the banks or government entity which owns a vacant or foreclosed building. Most of the foreclosure assistance money given to the city was used to take down properties. Parma has developed a collaboration in which Fire/County Health Dept. and social workers all go out together when there is a crisis at a housing complex. They have a crisis intervention model to help with a need. Having all agencies present at same time reduces the runaround with ADAMS Board staff, housing inspectors, Police and Senior services all present makes it more likely that the person will be able to find the help that they need.

A number of questions came up including:

• The question came up with regard to the relationship of the suburbs with the County Land Bank? Most said that they were just beginning to work with the Land Bank. South Euclid seemed to be the furthest along in trying to work with the County Land Bank.
• Most of the communities did not see a change in the next two years in the state of housing.
• There was near universal condemnation of the new process initiated by HUD Washington with regard to cutting grass complaints in Fannie Mae or HUD owned foreclosure property. Previously, the suburbs had one contact to call and they would immediately respond. Now there are a number of contacts and the response is very slow.
  
• There is still no resolution of the shell game the banks are playing with filing a title on a house that has been retaken by a bank.
• Parma and others have unpaid furlough days for staff, and yet they are all being asked to do more. Most of the suburban governments are suffering and just cannot keep up with the amount of work expected by taxpayers.
• It is getting impossible to keep up with growing amount of work coupled with a lack of resources. Most communities had to lay off staff while their workload grew.
• Some of the banks are trying to help, but others are acting in a disgraceful manner.
• Banks are still stalling at living up to their obligations with regard to the foreclosures.
  
• Suburbs are still seeing no end in the number of foreclosures and the tsunami has not ended.
  
• Suburbs are still seeing strategic defaults where a homeowner walks away. This makes it difficult to keep up with maintenance on these properties.
• Most of the communities are being aggressive with vacancies so that they do not get out of control and bring down property values even more. South Euclid has 600 vacant units-- Parma has 300 vacant units. South Euclid did see a couple of units burnt down in their jurisdiction.
• Communities are just starting to implement the second stage of the neighborhood stabilization funding. They are trying to acquire the worst housing inventory to take down and reuse.
• A few suburbs reported seeing squatters in their vacant properties.
• Questions came up with regard to allowing Fannie Mae property owners to become renters. Most suburbs use their law department to help with these issues. A couple of communities mentioned contact with Hoarders.
• All first time homebuyers have to use a traditional lender in the hope that they will not go through a foreclosure later. Also, most communities have a required financial literacy class to educate new homebuyers who receive suburban help.
• The suburbs rely on the County Health Department to help out with bed bug issues.
• There was a question about seeking project based housing units from the Housing Authority in the suburbs. (None have been offered in the last two years.)
• Would the suburbs seek funding from a future County Trust Fund if it were created?
• There was mention of a problem in which seniors took out the equity in their houses to help out their kids, and now they are stuck with an unaffordable mortgage. Or young people will not allow their senior parents to take out a reverse mortgage because there would be no inheritances left.
• They have seen an uptick in the number of single family homes being turned into rental units in the last three years. They have not seen the number of for-profit rent to own schemes in the suburbs like they saw in the past, but it is not a huge problem.
• There was some resistance to building departments taking over lead safety enforcement. This is a health department issue, and the building departments do not want to oversee the issue.

Next meeting is July 11 (because of the holiday), and we will hear from State Representative Mike Foley and the City of Cleveland Community Development staff Bill Resseger. All are welcome to attend.

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

Suburban Affordable Housing

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

The June Cuyahoga Affordable Housing Alliance Meeting will feature a forum on suburban affordable housing with community development and planning staff from some of the largest suburbs in Cuyahoga County. The forum is Monday June 6, 2011 at 1:30 p.m. in the lower level of the HUD/US Bank Building (1350 Euclid Ave.). There is plenty of surface/parking garages and street parking around Prospect and East 14^th St. The presentations will focus on the foreclosure crisis, the state of rental housing in the suburbs, and potential threats to affordable housing in the suburbs. Confirmed guests include:

• Mary Leigh--Chair of Economic Development in Lakewood,
  
• Sally Martin--Housing Manager of South Euclid and co-chair of the First Suburbs Housing Committee,
• Karen Knittel from the Cleveland Heights Planning and Development Department, and
  
• Eric Tollerup--Director of Economic and Community Development for the City of Parma.
  

CAHA is a monthly forum to bring together advocates, city, county and federal officials to preserve and protect affordable housing in Cuyahoga County.

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

Next CAHA Meeting

Pictured above Phil Star (CAHA chairperson) and Bill Faith (COHHIO Director) speaks in 2009.

Bill Faith "Not Under the Bus Yet" Tour April 4, 2011

The next meeting of the Cuyahoga Affordable Housing Alliance is Monday April 4, 2011 at 1:30 p.m. at the US Bank Building in Playhouse Square. We will have a discussion about the state budget with Bill Faith executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio. There is a great deal of concern over the state budget and especially the impact on low income residents of Cleveland, Bill Faith can separate fact from fiction in the state budget. Faith is on his "not under the bus yet" tour to get information out about the State affordable housing budget and potential cuts that we need to be aware of if we serve a mentally ill, elderly or other fragile population. Faith regularly interacts with state legislators and can give an assessment of how this will all play out over the next three months. We hope that you can attend. The meeting will be in the lower level of the building on East 14th and Euclid Ave. in the lower level (1350 Euclid Ave. ) across from the United Way in downtown Cleveland.

Faith would want us to also remind people that the COHHIO conference is in Columbus on April 11, 12 and then lobby day is April 13. CAHA is a one and a half hour presentation of the issues facing Ohio, while the conference is a two day presentation on all of the issues.

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

Updates on Housing Choice Voucher Program

Cuyahoga Affordable Housing Alliance

Every month housing advocates meet to discuss any threats to affordable housing. The December meeting featured representatives from the Housing Choice Voucher program who provided their periodic update on the success of this critical affordable housing program. Priscilla Pointer Hicks attended the meeting to give a report to the community on the voucher program. Currently, they have distributed 99.8% of all the vouchers available or over 14,000 vouchers on the streets. 35% of the vouchers are disabled, and they are hoping to be able to expand if the federal Section 8 reform bill passes.

One of the items that we hear all the time is that the Section 8/voucher holders are bad tenants and turn a neighborhood. There are bad section 8 tenants just as their are bad regular tenants, but what does not get enough attention are the bad landlords. But besides all that, there is a great deal of mythology associated with the Section 8 voucher program. What most people do not realize is how small an impact Section 8 tenants have on a community. Based on the report issued by CMHA here are the top communities based on the percentage of their total rental housing using a Section 8 voucher. These are based on 2000 Census figures of rental housing. A great deal has changed in the last 10 years. So, for example some markets have seen large numbers of houses become rental units because of foreclosures which increases the number of rental units and can alter the percentage of voucher holders.

Community (listed by %) Rental Units in 2000 Choice Vouchers 12/1/09 percent
1. Maple Hts. 1,697 541 31.9%
2. Garfield Hts. 2,460 482 19.6%
3. South Euclid 1,532 256 16.7%
4. Euclid 9,874 1,589 16.1%
5. Highland Hills 128 19 14.8%
6. Bedford Hts. 2,393 278 11.6%
7. Cleveland Hts. 7,960 837 10.5%
8. East Cleveland 7,229 687 9.5%
9. Warrensville Hts. 3,290 283 8.6%
10. Shaker Hts. 4,266 340 8.0%
10. Orange Village 50 4 8.0%

Other notable cities:
Lakewood 14,642 424 2.9%
Cleveland 98,135 7,555 7.7%
Parma 7,904 154 1.9%

It is interesting that the last mayoral election in Lakewood had a great deal of attention on Section 8 voucher holders. The victor in that race railed against voucher holders, and yet Lakewood has such a small number of the renters.

Next meeting is January 4, 2010 at 1:30 p.m. at 1350 Euclid Ave. in the basement of the US Bank building.

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

Upcoming Events

NEOCH is Working On Housing Issues

Cuyahoga Affordable Housing Alliance Speaker in April

The April 6, 2008 Cuyahoga Affordable Housing Alliance Meeting will feature Bill Faith, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio . Faith will talk about state and national budget issues, COHHIO’s advocacy agenda, funding opportunities, and other issues that may impact housing in Northeast Ohio . CAHA is a monthly meeting on the first Monday of the month (unless there is a federal holiday) at the lower level of the HUD building/US Bank Building at East 14^th and Euclid Ave. ( 1350 Euclid Ave —across from United Way ). Everyone is welcome to attend.

National Low Income Housing Coalition Conference in April

One of our national partners, NLIHC, has a housing conference every year. This is the first time in 15 years in which advocates for affordable housing actually have an opportunity to see funds invested in housing. Because of the housing collapse, rental housing is cool again. This is a great conference to learn about the NLIHC agenda, and prepare for federal investment in housing. We urge those who care about housing to try to make it to DC April 19 to April 22 for this conference. Please click on this link to sign up to attend their conference here or it is available on the front of their website www.nlihc.org. See you there.

NEOCH Annual Fund Raising Event

If you are a member of the Coalition, you should have received our postcard reminding you to save the date for our May 1, 2009 fund raiser. It will be at Massimo da Milano, and we are keeping the tickets affordable for 2009. We will have our best silent auction ever, and we will give out the Ione Biggs Award this year. We will have details on our website later this week. As always, any questions, call the Coalition at 216/432-0540.

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

Foreclosure Report Issued by Policy Matters

Renters Innocent Victim in Foreclosure Crisis

(Photo by Grapevine Photography Project Artist, Cheryl Jones--prints of any of the photo class graduates are available through NEOCH.)

Policy Matters Ohio released a report on the impact of the foreclosures on renters in Cuyahoga County in June 2008. Zach Schiller, staff for Policy Matters Ohio, presented the report to the members of the Affordable Housing Alliance at the July 2008 meeting. Schiller reported that the cost of a move out for a family is $2,500 including the loss of security deposit with a foreclosure, and the loss of property during a sudden move out after foreclosure. The Collateral Damage report mentions both state (HB 440) and similar federal legislation that if enacted could protect tenants. There was a long discussion at CAHA about why the courts were not working in a more concerted effort to protect tenants from foreclosure. It is also a tough action for a lawyer to take since each tenant must make their own decisions about the best course of action while their owner is going through foreclosure. A lot of questions arise when a tenant finds out their landlord is in the struggling. Should they pay the rent? Do they risk having an eviction on their record? Should they begin the process of moving or wait until the bitter end when the new owner might pay them to relocate?

The study shows that 33% or more of those going through foreclosure also involve some tenants who become the innocent victim. They are usually caught off guard with very little time to relocate. They are typically the last to know that their landlord is in trouble. A landlord does not want them to stop paying the rent, so he or she is not going to inform the tenants. Also, it causes confusion in the ownership in that a landlord may be accepting rent after the sheriff sale and they are no longer the owner. The instability and uncertainty can lead to fraud and there is usually a noticeable decline in the upkeep of the building during the foreclosure. A tenant never knows what is going to happen, and can get caught with all their stuff locked and boarded up in a building that was sold at auction. We have seen where the owner will trash the building when a foreclosure is eminent to "punish" the mortgage company making the building unfit for human habitation and displacing the innocent tenant(s). The utilities can be shut off and the tenant can be forgotten and abandoned while the future of a property is debated in a courtroom in Downtown Cleveland.

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

Another Good CAHA Meeting

Good Information About the State of Cleveland

The Cuyahoga Affordable Housing Alliance Meeting from last week was one of the better meetings. We had David Cooper from the Cleveland Department of Building and Housing, who went through the gruesome details facing the city. Cooper talked about the City's efforts to manage this crisis by taking down 950 buildings last year compared to 220 in 2006. The City is estimating 8,000 to 10,000 structures abandoned. They are working on search warrants in order to enter houses with questionable ownership to determine who is responsible for maintaining these properties. The City has put up another $6 million for this year. Last year, with the assistance of Cuyahoga County, the City of Cleveland spent $9 million to take down houses. The Department has created an Operation Efficiency Task force to make sure that they are boarding and taking down properties in an efficient manner with coordination of all other City Departments. The City has boarded up 1,860 properties in the first four months of this year.

The City Department of Building and Housing averages $8,500 to demolish a building. The one benefit of the crisis is that Cleveland is getting a pretty good deal to demolish a house. Simple economic theory says that with volume comes economies of scale, and cheaper prices to take down these homes. Wards 5, 12, 10, and 14 are the hardest hit.

CMHA also gave a presentation on the state of affairs when they are being funded at 83% of what everyone agrees is the cost of running the agency. They have 8,700 units occupied, which is the highest number since 1989. CMHA has about 1,500 move outs every year and 6,700 people on the waiting list. 60% of those waiting are waiting for a one bed room apartment, because the housing authority has designated 29% of their units for those 50 and over. With welfare reform, now only 4% of the total CMHA households receive cash assistance as their main source of income. 20% are employed and 21% receive a disability check as their primary income. 23% have no income at all. There are 17,000 total people living in a CMHA properties throughout the community. The Housing Authority was represented by Scott Pollack who went through all the current modernization development projects to keep their units in good working order. The Housing Authority gets knocked, but they actually perform a vital function as a key agency in preserving our critical infrastructure. I wish that they would get rid of their senior only (50 and over) housing, but otherwise they do a good job with shrinking resources. We should all make this a high priority to restore CMHA funding for next year.

Finally, Steve Wertheim came to report on final results from 2007. There were 148,100 calls made in Cuyahoga County to First Call for Help. The two biggest reasons for calling were requests for help with utility bills at 14,900 calls and information about the local food pantry at 14,600 calls. Homeless shelters (11,100 calls) and foreclosure assistance (7,900 calls) were the next largest number of calls. Home rental listings rounded out the top five with 5,700 calls and job finding assistance was close behind with 4,300 calls.

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

Two Big Events Coming Up

Martin Luther King March and Lt. Governor at CAHA

On Thursday August 23 at Noon on the Payne Ave. side of the Welfare Building at East 17th and Payne Ave. will feature a MLK Jr. March and Speak Out. In August of 1963, King led a march for Jobs and Freedom, and Stop Targeting Ohio's Poor will mark this anniversary by hosting a demonstration. August marks the anniversary of welfare reform in Ohio and the United States, and activists will call attention to the deplorable job being done to lift Cleveland out of the poorest designation. The march will ask for a strong safety net, jobs. and living wages. After the speak out the group will march over the Cosgrove Center on East 18th for some planning activities.

On October 1, 2007 Lt. Governor Lee Fisher will present the state of affordable housing in Ohio and goals for the Department of Development to the Cuyahoga Affordable Housing Alliance. The meeting is open to the public at 1:30 p.m. at 1350 Euclid Ave. U.S. Bank Building in the lower level. Fisher is also the Director of the Department of Development, and will answer questions from the audience as part of the discussion. More details to follow.

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

Update on Public Housing

CMHA Updates from CAHA

Every month advocates, government, researchers, and social service providers meet to discuss the state of affordable housing in Cleveland. The meetings are open to the public and take place the first Monday of the month (unless there is a federal holiday) at the HUD building/U.S. Bank Building at 1350 Euclid Ave. at 1:30 p.m.. The goal is to prevent any further losses in housing in our community. We hope by meeting we can find out about troubled property well in advance and then work to save those properties. We have guests from all over the community who have some expertise in housing, and can provide the group an update on local housing issues. The meetings provide us a wealth of information so that we are all on the same page with regard to the state of affordable housing. Advocates can use that information in the community to push for more housing or attempt to prevent the loss of affordable units. In March of 2008, CAHA will celebrate the tenth anniversary of meetings. We have had Mayors, State agencies and Suburban Community Development officers in the past 10 years. In October, we hope to have Lt. Governor Lee Fischer attend our meeting to talk about state efforts to expand affordable housing.

Anyway, CMHA regularly attends the meeting and provides information about their program on a quarterly basis. We don't always agree with the decisions made at CMHA--like why take in more applications when there are already 7,000 waiting for housing in a program that only has 9,500 total units in their inventory. Overall, they try to do a good job in the face of criticism and back breaking government bureaucracy. In the last six years, HUD in Washington has tried everything in their power to destroy Public Housing from messing with their budget to eliminating capital repair programs to eliminating the drug eradication programs and the PHAs have survived. It is really remarkable to see how CMHA has been able to make it despite being repeatedly strangled by the bureaucrats in Washington. Most of us realize that we need these Public Housing and voucher programs or homelessness would be so much worse. Most of the enlightened Mayors (Akron and Cleveland among others) realize this and push back against federal cuts. The year to year fight for survival for the PHAs just wears us all down. Every year, the Washington bureaucrats think of another creative way to destroy the PHAs like CMHA, and the advocates have to suit up for a new battle.

So, here are a few numbers from CMHA about what they are doing:

• There are 9,500 units available in public housing and less then 2% are vacant. This vacancy rate is better then in the housing market in general.
  
• 8,700 are occupied with 700 undergoing modification or rehabilitation.
• There are 7,122 people on the waiting list for Public Housing.
• 61% are waiting for a one bedroom and 22% are looking for a 2 bedroom.
• 83% of the waiting list are extremely low income.
• 43% of the waiting list are members of a family and 16% of the waiting list are disabled.
• The average annual income of the tenants are $7,148 per year.
• 89% of the Public Housing tenants are extremely low income (while 79% of the voucher tenants are extremely low income.)
  
• 20% of the Public Housing tenants are employed while 20 years ago only 12% were employed.
  
• 22% of the tenants have no income while 10 years ago only 10% had no incomes.
• Only 4% of the tenants in Public Housing are receiving cash assistance from TANF, while 10 years ago 30% were receiving public assistance.
  
• CMHA only received 85% of the funding that they needed from the Federal government, and have had to cut staff and excess property to keep their budget balanced.
• They are currently working on an agency Annual Plan which is available for public comment until September 21, 2007.
  
• Despite federal attempts to eliminate the funds to modernize some of their housing, Congress has thrown some spare change at this program. CMHA is working on finishing the renovations of Riverview, Lakeview and Valleyview (now called Tremont Pointe).
  
• CMHA is struggling with federal cuts, and no one in the community is very happy with the State allocation of tax credits to build affordable housing.
  

They are not perfect, but they have made huge strides to make up for the insulated and corrupt days of the 1990s. They get a bad reputation in the community, but things are a lot better then we ever get to hear about in the media.

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