Emergency Solutions Grant

How Should We Spend Our ESG Dollars?

The Homeless Congress in cooperation with NEOCH, the City of Cleveland, the Cuyahoga County Office of Homeless Services, and the Bishop Cosgrove Center are hosting a meeting to discuss the new Emergency Solutions Grant funding. This is a new pool of funds that were intended to replace the stimulus funding from 2009.  It is hardly a replacement since we were given around $5 million per year for preventing homelessness in Cuyahoga County and the new allocation in 2012 will be around $600,000 to $700,000.  This is all because of the push in DC to cut, cut, cut, and cut until it hurts.  The program has been effective in serving thousands in Cleveland, but it will have to be scaled back because of funding from the federal government.

The Emergency Solutions Grant funding is distributed to Cuyahoga County and most every Continuum in the country.  In accepting these funds, the City/County must adjust their Consolidated Plan.  The Homeless Congress is having a special meeting on Tuesday February 28 at 1 p.m. at the Cosgrove Center to hear input from consumers of homeless social services about their recommendations in utilizing these prevention dollars.   The Office of Homeless Services is hosting another public meeting for social service providers and other members of the public on 

                                              Friday, March 2, 2012

                                              9:00 - 10:30 AM at

                                              the ADAMHS Board, 6th Floor

                                              2012 W. 25th St.--the old bank building kitty corner 

                                              from the West Side Market.

Parking is available on the street and at the West Side Market.  Parking is not available in the ADAMHS Board lots. Also, do not park in the depressing shopping center across the street or your call will be towed.

 

Congress passed the stimulus in 2009 to get the economy going, and with the housing crisis there was a huge pool created to prevent homeless.  There was an attempt to get this money on the street quickly, and so they dumped this money into existing programs.  Cuyahoga County received $14 million to be used between July 2009 and July 2012, and is just about out of funds.  Just for context, the program served 10,224 individuals between September 15, 2009 and December 31, 2011.  There were 2,074 families were served which is made up of 4,441 children.  Five percent of the total are veterans and 29% have some long term disability which makes it difficult to find housing.  Of the 6,800 who left the program before the end of 2011, 32% receive Social Security as their primary source of income with another 8% were receiving Social Security Disability, and 38% had some earned income but if they did not receive help they would have become homeless and had to live in a shelter. 

The program has funded legal help, mediation assistance,  the housing website, eviction prevention, rental assistance, housing search help, case management, and education of tenants of their rights when facing an eviction. We will have to figure out how to sustain these services with additional state or local dollars or figure out how to keep people out of the shelters with only about 15% of the money we had before. 

Brian

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Cleveland Heights Gives Away Their Homeless Dollars

Cleveland Heights Can't Find Enough People In Danger of Homelessness

From the minutes posted on the Cleveland Heights Website for City Council Meeting April 20, 2011:

"Previously, council authorized the City Manager to enter into an agreement with Cuyahoga County for expenditure of funds received by the City from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development for the Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program. The agreement actually provided for the County to administer Six Hundred Ninety Nine Thousand Eight Hundred Ninety Four Dollars ($699,894.00) in funding that was to go to Homeless Prevention services to qualified Cleveland Heights residents. During the course of administering the program we expended less money than we expected to and there has not been enough demand to use all of those funds just for Cleveland Heights residents. Although I will say we have spent over $136,000.00 that have helped 67 Cleveland Heights households and 200 persons. It has been a good expenditure of money, we are just not able to spend this all for Cleveland Heights residents by the deadlines imposed by the program. We believe it is in the best interest to enter into a revision of this agreement.

Section 1 of this resolution authorizes the City Manager to amend the agreement with Cuyahoga County to allow the County to administer the remainder of the funds by giving priority to Cleveland Heights residents but also provide Homeless Prevention services to eligible persons in portions of Cuyahoga County outside of Cleveland Heights. We are providing a minimum of 20% of the remaining funds be utilized for Cleveland Heights residents. I offer Resolution No. 40-2011(PD) for passage tonight.”

Mayor Kelley accepted Resolution No. 40-2011(PD).
Roll Call: Ayes: Montlack, Stephens, Tumeo, Wilcox, Caplan, Kelley
Nays: None
Resolution passed.

This is incredibly sad that with 500 evictions a year in the Cleveland Hts. municipal court, they could not figure out a way to distribute the funds to keep people from leaving the City. Anyone that has faced or will face eviction between November 2009 and July 2012 living in Cleveland Hts, should be angry that the City could not figure out a way to keep this money within their borders. City officials requested these funds so what was the plan for distributing the funds? It is a shame that Cleveland Hts. does not have an infrastructure like Lakewood Service Center to help prevent homelessness. These funds could help with rental assistance. They could pay back rent to avoid eviction, and help with the rent during a temporary setback with income to support housing.

NEOCH tried to reach out to the City and the Mayor last year to offer our help to get these funds to residents of Cleveland Hts. and we were ignored. Not enough people knew that these funds were available, and those who did find out had a hard time with the bureaucracy that was constructed to get the assistance. The City of Lakewood was able to figure out how to use their funds, so why couldn't Cleveland Hts set up a process? We proposed a system that would meet people at the court house door, and inform them that there was help available. It is unfortunate that we could not work with Cleveland Hts officials to keep people from being evicted within the city.

Brian
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Calling Advocates in Cleveland Heights

Photo image by Pleasure Simmons from the Grapevine photo project of 2007

Advocacy Alert: Cleveland Hts. Spend Your Stimulus Money to Prevent Homelessness!!!

Overview of the Problem: In 2009, Cleveland Hts. received $715,000 to help prevent homelessness as part of the federal stimulus program. The city pooled their resources with Cuyahoga County and the City of Cleveland--$13 million dollars to serve any low income in the county facing eviction. Last year, there were approximately 500 people who faced eviction at the Cleveland Hts. Municipal Court. By January 2011 (16 months after receiving the funding), Cleveland Hts. has only used 12.2% of their available funding or $87,000. The Federal government says that the City must have 60% of their dollars expended by July 2011 or it is redistributed to other communities, and all money must be spent by July 2012. In July and October 2010, NEOCH contacted the Cleveland Hts. agency overseeing these funds requesting the hiring of an attorney to be stationed at the court to help with evictions and to refer those facing eviction to the Cleveland non-profit distributing the funds in order to spend down the Cleveland Hts funding. No one from Cleveland Hts. ever even acknowledged our letter.

Lakewood received over $900,000 from the federal stimulus. They kept their money within the City and partnered with Lakewood Christian Services to spend the funds. In January 2011, Lakewood had allocated 67% of their funds to help prevent evictions.

Why is Cleveland Hts. not spending their money? Why are they not responding to partner agencies in the community that offer to help?

What can you do? Ask your elected official?

Mayor Ed Kelley
216/291-4756
mayorkelley@clvhts.com

Vice President Phyllis Evans
216/321-5378
Hon_phyllis_evans@clvhts.com

Nancy McLaughton
CDBG Program Administrator
216/291-4845
nmclaughlin@clvhts.com

Or attend the Cleveland Hts. City Council meeting on the First and Third Monday of the Month.

They take questions and comments from the public at the beginning of the meetings. Check out the schedule here. The Next meetings for the Committee of the Whole are:
April 11 at 5:45 p.m.
Wednesday April 20 at 5:45 p.m.
April 25 at 5:45 p.m.

If you get any reply, please let us know since no one is talking to us. Thanks to the Sun Press for publishing our letter two weeks ago, and thanks to Channel 5 WEWS taking up the issue.

UPDATE 4/7/2011: Last night, Channel 5 WEWS did a nice report on the Cleveland Hts. issue, and the reporter was able to interview a resident of Cleveland Hts. who could not get enough assistance to stay in the city. The end of the story was interesting in that it seems that the City is content to give the money over to the County to use. As a resident of Cleveland Hts., I object. The City took the money from the federal government, but has done very little to make sure that people facing eviction will be able to stay in place. Why accept the money and then give it to some other community for help when there are residents of Cleveland Hts who are facing homelessness? It does not make any sense.--Brian Davis

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