Homeless Stats Update

State of Homelessness Report

NEOCH is currently working on preparing a "State of Homelessness Report for 2011."  We ask public agencies and homeless organizations throughout the community to provide us trends, statistics and issues that impact the population.  Some of the things that we have gathered so far include:

• The largest shelter in Ohio, LMM's 2100 Lakeside Shelter, had 140,136 nights of shelter to Greater Clevelanders or the same as 8.6 home games for average attendance at the Cleveland Cavalier basketball game for this season.
• They served 233,000 meals in 2011 or the shelter served the same number of people as attend 3.5 games of the average home attendance at a Cleveland Brown's 2011 football game. 
• The average length of stay decreased by 4 days between 2010 and 2011 at the Lakeside shelter.  The current average length of stay is 36 days.
• There were more people showing up at the shelter requesting shelter in 2011 with 3,905 unique individuals, which was a 7% increase over the previous year. 
• The women's shelter is around one fourth the size of the men's entry shelter at Lakeside, but they served 1,103 people in 2011.  
• Cuyahoga County has about 21.1% of the family population living in poverty according to the 2010 Census.  
• Based on poverty figures, NEOCH estimates that there were over 22,300 people who experience homelessness using the broadest definition of homelessness in the community.  This is a large increase from 2009 figures, but that could be related to the fact that 2010 was an actual figure from the US Census while 2009 was an estimate by the Census based 2000 count. 

We will have the full report available in the next month.  This is a teaser of the information that will be available to you in the near future.

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

Serial Killer and Hate Crimes

Orange County Captures Alleged Killer

Orange County and the city of Anaheim California are dealing with a serial killer targeting homeless people.  Today, the Los Angeles Times is reporting that the suspect in these murders of four homeless people is an Iraq War veteran.  The Orange County Register has done a great job in covering this story, and they report today that the Police Chief is confident that they have captured the man responsible for these deaths.  The national news has centered on a serial killer targeting homeless people, but these individuals were members of our society and were brothers, Dads, and co-workers of the other residents of this Southern California community. James McGillivray was killed Dec. 20, Lloyd Middaugh, 42, was killed in Anaheim on December 22, and then on Christmas eve Paulus Cornelius Smit, 57, was found dead near a library.  The last victim was only identified as John at this point.

The Register also covered the release of the National Coalition for the Homeless' hate crimes report which was released last week.  Advocates from Orange County have been regularly talking to the staff at the National Coalition and law enforcement has been in contact as they investigated this killer.  The report received a great deal of coverage throughout the United States as a result of the serial killer.  Most of the data in the report is from 2010, but it is still shocking to have all these vicious crimes laid out in one report.  Ohio once again was in the top tier of states with reported hate crimes with six incidents in 2010.  We have mentioned most of the incidents in the past on this blog, but there was one that we missed that happened in Youngstown Ohio:

YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO–November 4, 2010
Fifty-eight-year-old homeless man, Tommy was beaten and stoned by a group of young boys ages nine, thirteen, and sixteen. Tommy was well known in the neighborhood and could not defend himself due to his mental illness. The injured man was found by the police sitting on the ground and was taken to a hospital to be cared for. The group of boys is expected to be charged in juvenile court. Their parents will also be held responsible in accordance with the  “Parent Responsibility Act” for the delinquency of their children.

Florida was once again by far the most dangerous place in the country for those living outside followed by California and Texas.   Maybe all this attention on the issue will encourage elected officials to do more to protect the vulnerable and will encourage those living outside to accept help and come inside.  Also, considering the leading suspect in these murders is an Iraq War veteran, it is obvious we need to do more to reach out to those struggling with mental illness as they are discharged from a war zone.

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

A Shameful Day in America

David Westcott and Marcia Bufford at the 2006 Homeless Memorial Day.  Photo by City of Cleveland

An Assault on our Morality

A great friend of the Coalition, David Westcott, passed away a couple of years ago, and was one of the organizers of the local anti-death penalty group. For years I knew David only with regard to his hunger and homeless work.  I was surprised to see him at Old Stone Church for a prayer service when Ohio began executing people again in the 1990s.  I should have realized that David was a part of all the social justice groups in Cleveland, but we had never talked about other issues besides hunger and homelessness.  David would be profoundly sad after the death of Troy Davis by the State of Georgia last Wednesday and the message it sends to the rest of the world. 

We have to say upfront that the death of any law enforcement officer and in fact anyone who dies while serving the public is a tremendous loss for our society.  We cannot forget the initial incident and the victim of the crime in question.  Off duty police officer, Mark MacPhail, intervened in a fight that involved a homeless man.  Sylvester Coles was pistol whipping Larry Young, the guy experiencing homelessness.  Officer MacPhail, a father of two young children, intervened and was shot twice and killed. Intervening to help a homeless guy in Georgia is a courageous and rare act, and we can't forget that this entire incident was about a police offer keeping the peace when he was struck down. 

The problem is that the case against Davis as the shooter had crumbled over the years.  The vast majority of witnesses recanted their testimony, and the two who remained changed their story.  There was no physical evidence or even any evidence tying the gun to Davis.  It just seems that if there is such a large amount of doubt, taxpayers should not tolerate an execution on our behalf.  It is a loss of stature on the world stage that we cling to executions especially with such a flimsy evidence.  It is hard to condemn Iran for keeping our two hikers for two years in jail, when we have engaged in torture of potential terrorists and we executed Davis in Georgia with limited evidence and Humberto Leal Garcia by the state of Texas without giving him appropriate counsel from Mexico. It is just one more of a thousand cuts to our moral standing as a society. As a social justice organization, we are hurt by the taking of a life by the state especially one with so many questions.  As a citizen of the United States, we are all harmed by the state killing a citizen with all the concern, doubt and confusion surrounding the case.  All acts of revenge by the State are improper, but this one was especially painful.

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

Ohio A Dangerous Place for Homeless People

National Coalition Keeps Track of Hate Crimes

The Plain Dealer reported a hate crime against a resident of 2100 Lakeside Shelter this weekend. A group of teens attacked a homeless individual and stole his shopping cart. Ohio is always on the top of the list of states with a large number of hate crimes against homeless people put out by the National Coalition for the Homeless. Florida is by far the most dangerous state for homeless people in the United States with Ohio within the top five most dangerous states. NCH is right now preparing their hate crimes report. Look for it this fall.

County Prosecutor Bill Mason wonders at the end of the story why young people would attack a homeless person. Most readers were wondering the same thing. NEOCH believes that there should be additional penalties for those who target homeless people with violence. Mason's prosecutor lobby organization down in Columbus opposes adding homeless people to the hate crimes statute in Ohio. Mason also allowed the young people from Youngstown who came to Cleveland and attack homeless people with a stun gun to plead to misdemeanor charges and the teenagers only had to do community service. Maybe Mason will support a hate crimes statute in Ohio or will make an example of these teens to send a message that our society will not accept homeless people being easy targets after seeing the number of incidents increasing.

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

The People Who Make Things Work 3

Pat Clifford during happier times as the Drop Inn Center Marked 30 Years of service in 2008.

Pat Clifford Cincinnati Homeless Advocate
Unlike Earl Pike who seems to have parted amicably with the AIDS Task Force, we know that Pat Clifford was unceremoniously dumped by the Drop Inn Center in Cincinnati. This is the shelter that buddy gray started by taking over a building after years of fighting with the City to do something about the rising number of homeless people. Clifford was again another of the deep thinkers in our society who make our government work. As we have demonstrated many times in this blog, Cincinnati is one of the most messed up cities when it comes to homeless policies. They never have ended the war between public officials and homeless people. They are still fighting over space, viability, and NIMBY issues going on 40 years now. These problems date back to the founding of the shelter and the protests that buddy raised. I talked to officials from the Cincinnati Coalition and they see this as a new attempt to sweep out "the old guard" and finally get the shelter to relocate.

buddy's shelter is one of the few large shelters in the United States that serves both men and women at night. They have struggled with all the problems that all of America's homeless facilities have to face. Just a month ago a woman overdosed in the bathroom at the shelter. They fought with the City over the winter to be able to house a homeless man who was dying of pneumonia, but was a sexually based offender and could not find housing anywhere in the city. Also, last month in Cincinnati a police officer recklessly drove off the path in a public park and killed a homeless woman sleeping under her blankets by driving over her while she was sleeping during the day. The only reason to drive over someone's belongings is to show homeless people that the police are in charge of the park. This typifies the on-going battle taking place in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood between developers/police and low income people and their advocates.

Pat was a protege of buddy. He was the director of the Cincinnati Coalition when buddy was shot and killed in the shelter in 1996. Clifford studied homelessness and the best way to house those struggling with poverty. He looked at shelter models throughout the country. He tried to make the housing of last resort the best it could be for everyone coming to their doors at night. Clifford was the Obama of the Cincinnati homeless population. He worked closely with homeless people for years and was their advocate and then was thrust into the job of director of the largest social service provider serving homeless people. He had to make nice with the City, the United Way, funders, and sometimes he had to hold his tongue when he saw how the city policies that harmed homeless people. Clifford, as director or landlord to homeless people, was criticized by some advocates for what was perceived as harsh policies toward homeless people in much the same way as Obama is criticized by the liberals for compromising. Clifford never compromised when it came to attacks on the shelter; acting as caretaker to the buddy gray legacy. He balked at teaching homeless people about the dangers of the legal activity of panhandling as part of the yearly shelter allocation of funds. He was unwilling to relocate the facility to some far away hidden location without new money on the table in order to please the powers in Cincinnati who have rediscovered the 40 year neglected Over The Rhine neighborhood.

It is rough running a shelter, and it is difficult to keep the idealism that inspires young people to want to solve the problem of homelessness when working in a shelter. There are some homeless people who, in order to feel safe, want to strip searches of everyone that walks in the door--civil liberties be damned. There are some homeless people who because of their mental condition make life impossible for everyone around them, and the shelter director has to figure out a way to love everyone looking for help. There are some who are unwilling to take advice from anyone, and give up good housing options to live in the shelters. The majority of homeless people just want to leave as fast as possible, but they are often lost because of the sheer numbers looking for help each with their own crisis or multiple layers of problems that caused them to lose their housing.

On the first day of working in a shelter it is often the case that you are the leading advocate for privacy rights, decriminalization of quality of life ordinances, and a strong belief in government. Most get into the job because they want to provide a hand up to those who struggling in our society, and they can see that they are making a difference for people. Every single day of seeing people destroying themselves with drugs and alcohol and making horrible decisions for themselves a shelter worker must check themselves and recommit to core beliefs or they get lost. It is so easy to become bitter and angry with the population, and disgusted with government to the point that you become part of the problem. I met with Pat in March, and he did not seem burnt out or frustrated with his constituency. In my opinion, Clifford was able to walk this tight rope of providing a home to people struggling without becoming the Mayor of a homeless ghetto or the warden of a homeless prison.

I was told that Clifford went on vacation and then when he came back the board fired him. The Drop Inn Center has a relatively small board, and so it is easy to get a few development minded people to convince the others that it is time for a change. Josh Springs of the Cincinnati Coalition has been all over the news complaining that the local development company that wants to renovate the park and move the shelter was behind Clifford's firing...And the war goes on in Cincinnati with homeless people caught in the crossfire. I am sure that Clifford will land on his feet. I just hope that he is not so disgusted with the politics of homelessness that he decides to move to some other human service or civil rights project.

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

Update on Cincinnati Hate Crimes

Madness Captured, Hate Crimes Legislation Needed

The Cincinnati Coalition is keeping us up to date on the situation with regard to the attack on Robert Meehan. On the first posting, we had a strange comment submitted from a self proclaimed witness to the event. It has to be said that the comment from "the witness" does not match the security videotape. In addition, the Cincinnati police were clear that no crime justifies the beating that Meehan suffered.

The alleged attacker, Michael K. Taylor, a.k.a. Madness was captured late last week. Lieutenant Mike John of the Cincinnati Police department reported that Taylor was captured in Las Vegas, late Friday night (02/05/2010). Taylor will be extradited to local officials on Monday. Michael K. Taylor is charged with felonious assault. Witnesses say that he severely beat Robert Meehan on January 24th, near Bootsy’s Restaurant on Walnut Street in Cincinnati. Mr. Meehan was known to be a homeless man in the neighborhood.

The surveillance tape and witness reports explain that Mr. Meehan was picked up and body slammed to the sidewalk, he was punched several times in the face and struck with a beer bottle. Lt. John reported that this was the worst beating he has ever seen in which the victim did not die from the injuries inflicted. Further, there was not enough intact bone structure in Mr. Meehan’s face to do surgery. Robert Meehan was placed into a chemically-induced coma.

Mr. Meehan came out of his coma on Friday the 5th. He is coherent enough to know that he is in a Cincinnati hospital. Lt. John says the struggle is not over. It is essential for Cincinnati to show support for Robert Meehan in the courtroom and through the court procedure. Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless (GCCH) is part of a larger group from around the state and country that are pushing for legislation to be passed at both (State & Federal) levels, in order to prevent these types of hate crimes. Homeless individuals are a very vulnerable part of our society, therefore GCCH along with all the other Coalitions for the Homeless would like to see legislation passed on behalf of all homeless individuals, so that regulation will be enforced and the homeless will not be assaulted and taken advantage off.

The surveillance tape supports what every witness reports; that Robert Meehan was not aggressive, threatening or of a harmful nature towards Michael K. Taylor or the three women around him. Robert Meehan is the victim of a heinous hate crime that had the potential of killing him.

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

Hate Crime in Central Ohio

Young People Attack Homeless

In Reynoldsburg, Ohio just outside of Columbus, a group of young people attacked a man who was sleeping behind a hardware store. Robert Wirtz was known to the community as a quiet man who did not bother anyone, but lived outside. People in Central Ohio have raised money for Wirtz's medical care, and the Mayor of this suburban community has gotten involved. Eugene Clemons was attacked in Cleveland last April, and had to spend weeks in the hospital and in nursing care. The Veterans Administration eventually caught up with Clemons and were willing to offer housing to this former Marine. He is doing well in housing. Both individuals were attacked by young people.

This is a common occurrence, and the Columbus Dispatch has done a good job of looking at this issue. They interviewed Michael Stoops from the National Coalition for the Homeless and a lawyer from California who has done a great deal to address this problem. It only brings up that we need Rep. Foley's hate crimes bill to act as a deterrent to these kind of attacks in Ohio. If Maryland can pass a homeless hate crimes bill, why not Ohio? For those who do not believe that enhanced punishments do not work, look how attacks on minority and religious institutions have fallen over the last 40 years since hate crimes legislation swept across the United States.

The National Coalition for the Homeless hate crimes report will come out this summer. This is strategic in that many of the attacks happen during the summer when kids are out of school. They get bored and they find easy targets. These targets have become fixtures in our communities. Homeless people are hardly noticed in our cities anymore. Pedestrians walk over, ignore and turn their heads when confronted by a homeless guy or a panhandler. For the young person who has grown up ignoring homeless people their entire life, it is not much of a stretch from ignoring to vandalizing to violence. The problem is that homeless people are not mailboxes or washboard signs that can be tagged and beaten with baseball bats. Suspects are in custody in Columbus for this brutal attack. No one was ever arrested in the Cleveland attack on Mr. Clemons.

The above photo is by Larry Whitted from our 2007 Photography class.
Brian
Posts reflect the opinion of those who sign the entry.

On a Desolute Stretch of Street...

Please Help Us Find the Killers of Anthony Waters

Maybe it was a misguided notion, but I understand the logic. Anthony Waters walked down the industrial part of East 55th to and from the shelter in order to avoid trouble. I talked to a few people in the neighborhood who felt it was better to walk near the houses, because no one wants trouble near their front door. They would have told the young people on the bikes to move it along. Waters was in greater danger in this particular part of East 55th than he would be walking in the more populous parts of Kinsman or Bessemer Rd.

It seemed like such a peaceful place with the exit ramp of 490 to the north and the tow/impound lot, the railroad bridge and a bunch of trees at Bessemer. On Wednesday night, Waters was attacked by a bunch of kids and beat to death. Only one month ago, the National Coalition for the Homeless determined that Ohio was one of the fourth most dangerous places to live for homeless people. We see how this can have deadly consequences.

If you were driving by and you did not stop to help, please come forward now and talk to the police about what you saw. It has to be tearing at you to realize that you witnessed the brutal beating to death of a human being. Any information that you might have can help the police track down these killers. Call the Third District at 216/623-5300 to report any information about this heinous attack.

We will pass along information from the shelter as it comes in about a memorial service or information from the City as it comes available. Mr. Waters had done a lot of work trying to kick the addiction devil hanging over his head, but it usually takes a couple of setbacks before a guy can break the hold alcohol has on some people. He had bounced around the shelter a couple of times as well as sleeping outside when he could not control his addiction. I hope that someone will come forward so that we can provide some peace to the family of Mr. Waters. What kind of cowards jump a defenseless man already down on his luck for a couple of bucks and then beats the guy to death?

After the dust settles and their was time to grieve, we can set about passing Representative Mike Foley's hate crimes bill to add homeless people to the state hate crimes definition. We hope that this will provide some pause to young people who target homeless people, but for now it is time to mourn and remember Anthony Waters.

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

Hate Crimes Against Homeless People

New York Times Takes Up Hate Crimes

The New York Times on Thursday took up the issue of attacks on homeless people. The problem is especially acute in Florida, and the National Coalition has taken up the challenge by putting together a homeless curriculum as well as a Statewide VISTA program to educate young people against violence. Despite all the attacks, not one state has passed a homeless hate crimes bill. Five states rejected the idea in 2007. Ohio will take up the issue in 2008 with a bill introduced by State Representative Michael Foley.

We see the need for this bill after a heinous attack in January in Akron. According to the Plain Dealer, five individuals kidnapped a homeless person, burned the man, and assaulted him over two days. The victim, John Rice, spent three days in the hospital and will need continued medical treatment. One of the strange correlations is that the meaner the City is to homeless people the more likely that citizens will attack homeless people. Florida has repeatedly been selected by the National Coalition as one of the meanest states in the United States toward homeless people. The Coalition gave Akron an award last year as the Roadblock of the Year for their horrible panhandling law. It seems as though when a city passes a law at a specific population like homeless people, it is a signal to the citizens especially young people that it is open season on that group. It is almost like it is a signal to a disturbed, unstable, and frightened group that the municipal government will ignore crimes against this largely forgotten and isolated population residing on the streets of everyone of the major cities in the United States.

If you talk to your local Ohio State representative ask them to support HR 419, the homeless hate crimes bill. It would allow prosecutors to ask for additional penalties if a person is convicted of a hate crime against homeless people. Thanks.

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

Violence Against Homeless People

Are We Ready for a Dangerous Summer Part II?

We posted a concern on Saturday about the murder using a gun that happened on Friday night near the Bishop Cosgrove Center might be a hate crime. We were relieved to find out this was not a hate crime. Henry Casey was killed because of his association with the wrong people in the community. We actually had a lot of contact with Mr. Casey over the last three years. He was one of the individuals who filed a complaint against the state last year because he could not vote because he did not have identification. His girlfriend did a lot of work for us in 2004 signing homeless people up to vote in the Presidential election. Mr. Casey also was a valuable source for what is going on in the East 18th St. neighborhood with regard to homeless people and relations between police and those who choose not to use the shelters. His girlfriend and friends want a memorial session, which we will help to organize. His family is from Arkansas, and will be burying Mr. Casey in Little Rock, but his Cleveland friends want to say "goodbye".

As the Plain Dealer reported today, we have witnessed a string of attacks on people experiencing homelessness in Cleveland. NEOCH sounded the alarm on Monday after the third documented attack in less than a month with three people ending up in the hospital. Care Alliance had two other attacks that they were aware of in the same neighborhood from February and March 2007. This is a sharp increase since the last attack we documented in Cleveland was October and December 2005 and those both were on Public Square. We are worried that these might be connected or might be gang related since they are all in the same area and all involve young white kids. I hope that the attention given by WKSU, WKYC TV3 and WJW Fox8 along with the Plain Dealer will make people more aware of a problem and will keep homeless people safe. Also, we would love to see the dog, Train, returned to the couple who lost their encampment and their puppies after losing their housing last year.

For those who are wondering..."Why would anyone sleep outside, when we have so many shelters and services in the community?"...there are many reasons. There are those who do not like the rules or have an addiction that they cannot kick even for the night. There are those who do not want to accept charity from anyone. There are those who are married without children or just a couple and do not want to break up. Finally, there are those with animals that they cannot part with and so stay outside or abandoned buildings. NEOCH estimates that there are as many people sleeping outside or abandoned buildings as there are in the shelters every night.

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