Quick Notes

Photo by Pleasure Simmons

A Couple of Comments:

The Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless publishes an e-newsletter with updates, save the dates, things you can do to help, statistics, and resources.  If you are paid member of the Coalition, you can receive the e-newsletter called the E-Bridge every 15 days. Contact NEOCH if you are not receiving your newsletter or you would like to get on the list. Here are a few of the updates that may be helpful:

**The CMHA Housing Choice Voucher waiting list for the next five to six years was released yesterday.  You can get the information from the same website that you applied or your client applied.  You will need to have the number that was generated when the individual applied to see if that number was selected.  Only 1 in 6 people had their number drawn (64,000 people applied).  Here is the link: http://www.applycuyahogacounty.tenmast.com/ and click on lottery results. 

**The new rules for the Emergency Solutions Grant were released yesterday.  The federal government gave Cleveland approximately $13 million as part of the American Stimulus funding to prevent homelessness and to get people back into housing quickly.  These stimulus funds run out next year, and the Emergency Solutions Grant is intended to replace these funds in the community.  As with all things government, they are a sad replacement with only $590,000 going to Cleveland to replace the $4.5 million we spent previously on prevention and rapid rehousing activities.  Here is the link to view the new rules.  We do not know how these funds will be used locally, but NEOCH is pushing for a small amount to go to maintain HousingCleveland.org.

**We have to thank both Congressman Kucinich and Congresswoman Fudge for being two of only 46 members of Congress that signed onto the letter asking HUD for additional funding for homelessness.  It looks as though both the Senate and House are going to provide level funding for the third year in a row for homeless assistance.  This is amazing since we have seen huge cuts to the housing programs, the emergency assistance funding cuts, and other mainstream programs will face the budget hatchet.  While there are huge federal cuts demand is increasing with all the shelters bursting at their seams and the 2009 stimulus dollars will run out to prevent homelessness in 2012.  Nearly every American city needs a huge boost in homeless dollars to keep up with demand, but we are getting the same as we received in 2008.  It is going to be a rough summer next year when many unemployed families are displaced and will not be able to afford rent.  The letter that they signed onto can be found here. Please call their local offices to thank them for looking out for homeless people.  (Fudge is 216-522-4900 and Kucinich is 216-228-8850.)

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

Local Reports from Around the US

National Coalition for the Homeless March 2011
Local Reports

Minnesota still has General Assistance and they may reform it.

Austin, Texas
The House the Homeless group could not get the city to agree to do away with the prohibition on sitting and lying on the public sidewalk, so instead they convinced City Council to provide an exemption for disabled homeless people. White Noise was introduced at the shelter to try to reduce noise and help people sleep.

New York City
All time record shelter population—40,000 people including 16,000 children—the agencies are struggling with recession and government policy changes that also has impacted services. 113,000 spent time in the shelters in 2010 in New York City. This does not include specialized populations (people with AIDS, Domestic Violence victims, etc. or those sleeping on the streets. There are some rough budget battles ahead in New York with historic levels of need. So far, there is not any proposed cuts to supportive housing because of budget shortfalls. The time limited rent subsidy program that advocates were not big supporters of is being cut because it is a revolving door back to homelessness, but the problem is that there is nothing to replace the program proposed. The rent regulations that put a cap on the local rental market is up for expiration in June 2011. 1 million apartment units fall under this law, which translates to 2.2 million people who could see a large rent increase this year.

Puerto Rico
Hate crimes legislation passed in December to include homeless people. HUD is trying to clean up the use of federal funds by the City of San Juan including problems with CDGB. Housing task force created but did not include homeless advocates. There is a great deal of fighting by many organizations over which group will oversee supportive housing projects.

Massachusetts
The Anti-Defamation League sponsored a forum on hate crimes for homeless people—five different police forces attended to learn more about the issue. Boston healthcare providers are trying to work on the issue of housing. They have selected the top 35 homeless users of the emergency room at Boston General, and they are working with other partners in the community to house those individuals. There is going to eventually be a showdown between the criminal justice system with the proximity housing limitations for sexually based offenders and the shelter community who are forced to housed people for long periods of time.

Indiana
Homeless Management Information System problems with the state demanding social security number as a requirement for getting a bed. HUD stepped in to stop this practice. HUD is going to visit Jeffersonville next week to look at a number of issues regarding homelessness, funding, and planning activities in rural communities. Criminalization efforts on the rise throughout the state of Indiana.

Atlanta, GA
8,000 people attended a rally at the capital around the anti-immigration bill that is making its way through the legislature. Lawsuits expanded to include Emory and United Way about the effort to shut down all services downtown to homeless people. Also, there is a pending HUD complaint that alleges that there is a pattern and practice of discrimination in Atlanta. HPRP is not working and anyone who comes back into the shelters are labeled “not compliant” and are denied any services.

Arkansas
Stimulus money was spent and did a lot of good. Housing Trust created but put no money in it. There is a law making its way through the legislature to demand identification in order to vote.

US. Congress
There is a budget proposal being proposed which will have a cap on welfare programs—including the student loan pell grants, Earned income tax credits, Medicaid, and others. The only thing that progressives are doing is playing defense, and trying to protect programs for the poor. Probably one more continuing resolution and there will be big cuts. Big cuts expected for 2012 budget. Emergency food cut for 2011 and VASH was cuts.

South Carolina
An attempt to cut to Medicare/Medicaid within the state to eliminate all non-essential services. Asked their federal representatives to not cut CDBG because it was so important to local communities, and they got almost the same letter back from both Senator and federal representatives. They basically said, that the deficit is such a threat to America it is worse than a terrorist attack. So brace for massive human services cuts—asking business community/religious community to pick up the slack. Businesses and religious groups are already tapped out and have no more money to help out poor people. The state is also proposing an voting ID provision.

Maryland
Eviction prevention dollars were cut, but advocates got it restored but were only able to get back 50% of the funding. There was an introduction of legislation to ban discrimination based on source of income/SSI/Section 8. There is also a movement to “Ban the box” provision to prevent employers from asking about criminal background and credit checks in order to get a job. Bill to propose zoning of shelters within Baltimore for any shelter with over 20 people (use regulations). There is a 10 year plan in Baltimore and the city is trying to increase the amount of money for services in order to accomplish these goals.

Sacramento
State hate crimes bill proposed again. $9 billion dollar cut to human services expected because of budget deficit. Eliminated community re-development agency, which was a $1 billion dollar cut. Agencies are trying to scramble to figure out what to do. Safe Ground (Sacramento tent city) is still going strong. Second Chance Act to help those coming out of jail has been used to provide additional housing/services in Sacremento. Trying to create a re-entry center. 95% of the HPRP referrals are to unsubsidized housing. 111 SRO units are sitting empty. Lots of communication among the three big tents cities in the Northwest.

Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
Governor is cutting everything in Florida. ID is a growing problem. Problems with people storing their items without funding. HPRP is not working because the agency does not have any familiarity with working with homeless people. Lots of tension among advocates, and competition among the social service providers.

South Dakota
Government moved significantly to the right. There are budget woes at the state level with debt issues. Expected 10% cut across the board human services cut. There are big cuts to education including cuts at the local level. ID is a problem within the state. Pushing for a housing trust fund and the banks are supporting it and pushing for it to be created statewide ($10 million total, but only expected to get $1 to $2 million). Local groups are trying to creating community awareness about homelessness.

Montana
Legislature also move to the extreme right. They have proposed a nullification law that would allow the state to withdraw from federal programs like Medicaid and health care system. They are expected to have massive medicaid cuts, education cuts, senior cuts.

Colorado
Hate crimes bill passed the house. There is a $1 billion dollar state budget shortfall. Got $3 million restored to the budget for Healthcare for the Homeless in 2010 through federal funding. Colorado Coalition is opening a 98 unit development and a 102 unit apartment is in development (both are supportive housing project). Kreske Foundation has helped fund a Renaissance work program as part of the supportive works program. They will have a Pizza fusion program that employs formerly homeless people. HPRP only measures status after leave the program and not six months down the line, which is a problem with the program. Prevention requests overwhelming the system may not make a difference may only forestall homelessness for a couple of months.

Mississippi
HPRP is working well in the state and they are using it effectively for the mostly rural state.

Washington
Massive state budget cuts coming. In order to fund Homeless and Prevention at the same level they need a fee recordation fee increase. Landlords are supporting it the increase because it can help people stay in their apartments. Housing Trust fund unlikely to be funded—50% cut to the program because of the budget deficit. $100 million last year—typically only help other tax credits funded. Hate crimes measure introduced, but unlikely to get out of a committee. State is now helping out with funding the tent city in Seattle.

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

Prepare to Close Shelters

Image by Sabrina Otis of dark clouds descending on the Key Tower in Cleveland

Tough Times Ahead--Closing 1,000 Shelters

On January 25, 2011, the House of Representatives passed a symbolic resolution laying out the goal of reducing federal funding back to 2008 levels before the Obama administration took office and before the massive stimulus spending. What exactly does this mean locally especially for homelessness?

I was fortunate to be in Washington on Monday and met with senior Department of Housing and Urban Development staff. I posed this question to HUD officials, and they said that they had actually run the numbers for various scenarios for the federal budget. While they were clear that they did not expect this to take place, and they felt that there was bipartisan support for implementing new guidelines for funding the shelters in the United States, they did indicate that a return to 2008 funding levels would translate to the closing of 1,000 shelters in the United States. This would translate to one or two facilities in each community closing including in Cleveland.

The problem is that in an effort to get funds out to the community to address the unstable housing market in 2008-2009, there was a massive infusion of funds to the emergency shelter system. This allowed for basically a doubling of the funds that each community would receive in federal dollars to be allocated over 30 months. Many communities expanded or started new projects to prevent homelessness. In Cleveland, we hired new housing case managers in the shelters to screen individuals who became homeless and then help those individuals go out and find housing. We boosted our legal assistance, and provided huge support to provide rental assistance to individuals to keep them in their apartments. All of these programs are in jeopardy in 2012 especially if we roll back funding to 2008 levels. Each community will have to decide to either close existing shelters or end those new prevention programs.

No matter what they decide to do, social service workers will be laid off and there will be reduced rental assistance available to keep people in their housing if Congress roles back federal funding for homelessness back to 2008 levels. The big issue for HUD is that in 2007, there was a renewal of the rules for distributing federal dollars that made many assumptions. The first assumption was that there would be many more activities eligible for funding (prevention, capacity building, community planning, legal, services to young people, etc). In order to balance this new broader focus on preventing homelessness there would have to be an expansion in the number of dollars going to end homelessness. We also have a federal push to end homelessness among veterans with additional housing vouchers and expanded services. It will be difficult if not impossible to implement these new rules and new initiatives if funding levels return to 2008 levels. To all those living and working within the shelters, prepare for tough times ahead.

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

Prospects Over the Next Two Years

Elections Have Consequences

There are big changes underway within homeless services and these changes will have huge consequences on the struggle to move away from the "poorest city in the nation" designation. This has nothing to do Republican vs. Democrats. This has more to do with the number of people elected to office who do not like government. There is now a clear majority in state government and within the legislative branch of the federal government in Washington who see government as a huge problem and cannot see government solving problems. Here are a few broad concepts about what homeless people can expect as a result of the elections. We will have a detailed document about what the community can expect with specific project outlooks available to our members, because just as there are consequences for elections there are specific rewards for being a member of the Coalition.

Federal Government:
There is a strong push to return to the 2008 federal funding levels. This will have the most significant impact on the Housing and Urban Development funding, which supports many of the shelters and housing programs in the community. The big issue is what will happen with all the programs developed out of the 2009 stimulus bill that was passed. The original thought was that the prevention programs and rapid rehousing programs would receive additional funding after the 30 months of stimulus funding was exhausted. It was thought that the federal government would add funding to the Emergency Solutions Grant, and would be able to support the existing emergency shelters as well as at least a piece of the programs that prevent families from entering the shelters or the quick movement back to housing. After the election, it is very likely that there will not be enough funds to support both the emergency shelters and the prevention programs, and therefore the local community will have to make big decisions.

State Government:
At the state level there will be huge changes. These would include the privatization of various departments within state government, and even more competition for state dollars. There will be more of a focus on rewarding better outcomes, and probably an overhaul of the state emergency shelter program. It is likely that the state will fund new priorities of the new administration. Ted Strickland had worked as a counselor in a prison before his political career, and there were a number of re-entry programs started over the last few years. It is unlikely that the new Governor will have this same affinity for trying to ease people back into the community. It is unlikely that there will be a state housing trust fund, and this will put additional pressure on the state housing tax credit program. It will be interesting to see what happens with welfare benefits and the job training program, because there is a state matching requirement in order to receive the federal dollars. Both programs will probably mean a greater emphasis on serving those who are most likely to succeed and those people with multiple problems or barriers to stability will be left behind.

The mental health and alcohol drug addiction services will probably be cut again in this budget cycle. It is unlikely that every county will get funding due to forced mergers and cuts. Those who hate government will want to see better outcomes, and might force competition among the big agencies receiving government funding to assist those struggling with addiction or mental illnesses. They might also reward those programs that can show private sector investment to match state funding. Big government opponents often believe that Alcohol services can be done more effectively by religiously based organizations similar to Alcoholics Anonymous. This could lead to the total elimination of publicly funded treatment programs in Ohio. We may hear the same words we heard echoing through the 1990s in the State House with regard to a number of state funded programs, "We provide so few dollars of general assistance to individuals in Ohio that it was not worth it and tax payers might as well cut the program all together." I could see this same logic used on the alcohol and drug addiction programs. This was not the opinion of the single adults who were barely hanging on with $100 in cash that went to parent to allow them to stay in an unused bedroom or to buy hygiene items or clothing in order to find employment. But this bizarre logic is often used down in Columbus to put a positive spin on budget cuts. It is almost like they are saying, "Government has done such a horrible job in addressing the problems facing our society because we have for 20 years starved government for funds that now we might as well eliminate government funding and let the private sector solve the problems."

Cuyahoga County
All these changes at the state and federal level will mean that some tough decisions will have to be made at the local level. We will have to decide on the priorities for scarce resources. In 2010, all the county funded human services programs had to take a 6% cut or more. It is likely that the state funding to cities and counties will be cut or even eliminated, which will blow a huge hole in the County budget. We will have to decide on funding for shelters, transitional shelters or supportive services. We will have to decide if outreach services are more important than eviction prevention. County government will have to figure out how to fund food programs in the suburbs or domestic violence beds within the City. All of the homeless services will have to prove their value to the community in competition with health care, foster care, job training, or child support enforcement programs. How will we be able to operate a 24 hour a day helpline at the same time as we fund a case worker at all the new permanent supportive housing programs. At the local level, there are a few powerful agencies that dominate the current homeless landscape who will probably have to take a haircut in their budgets, and there will be smaller programs without the political influence who will not survive past 2012.

All of these "haircuts" mean cuts to staff, a decrease in financial oversight, a reduction in bus passes available, and fewer housing opportunities available to low income people. We will talk about the impact on homeless people with these changes and the potential struggles faced as a result of the election of anti-government forces to lead critical parts of the government in upcoming posts.

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

InterAgency Council Seeks Comments

Only One Week Left to Comment on Federal Plan

Picture by Cheryl Jones of the Grapevine Photo project 2007.

There is only one week left to make suggestions for the InterAgency Council on Homelessness Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness. The Plan was mandated by Congress by May 2010, and very little was done during the Bush Administration. So, now there is a push to get public comment on a plan by March 15, 2010. Here is the link to go to in order to comment in six different program areas. So, all you experts out there it is time to comment. All those who keep saying that there is a better way, you need to add your voice to the national debate. The InterAgency Council has held a series of town halls throughout the country, and they have gathered information from their website. You have one week to submit your thoughts and your ideas and your crazy plans. They will take all this information and run it by the various cabinet offices and come up with a roadmap for the various departments to use. It is hoped that Commerce, Labor, Justice, HHS, HUD and Education will use the information to shape future funding and future program design.

It can't hurt, and at least they are asking. We the people should get to shape the future of our struggle to end homelessness in America. NEOCH will be submitting comments and most of the national groups have submitted. We encourage you to do the same.

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

Budget Freezes??

Did We Learn Nothing During the Depression?

Last week, the President announced that he was freezing discretionary funding except for defense, education and a bunch of other programs. First, I do not understand why the defense department is exempt, but second why do we need a freeze at this time? Didn't the current Fed Chair tell us that the Great Depression lasted longer than it needed to because government was not willing to take on debt in the early 1930s? We have only barely made it through this giant recession, and we are freezing the federal discretionary spending. It makes no sense.

The States all need help with massive budget deficits. Governor Strickland actually bragged that he has cut the state workforce by 5,000 in his State of the State address. How is this good? In a recession, we should not be cutting the public sector jobs. I get that it is an election year, and his opponents will run on small government and fiscal responsibility, but it does not make sense. The Republicans are always calling for a reduction in taxes and smaller taxes. This does not seem to be good fiscal policies right now. In good times, it makes sense to reduce taxes, but there have to be times to raise taxes or spend more money for government. Governor Strickland, there has to be times that we build roads and bridges or increase support for social services.

Now, the County transition group announced that they want a 15% reduction in spending to put more funds into economic development. This does not make any sense. How does cutting mental health services, treatment, human services by 15% in a time when there is increased demand make any sense? How much will economic development mean if families cannot find help with food or emergency assistance or help with a foreclosure? This whole push for a reduction in government at a time when our economy is so weak is cowardly and an ill advised course of action. It is like they are playing a game to win an election, while we slowly move away from the iceberg. They need to get together on a plan for the good of the country, and stop playing games. They need to come up with solutions to get us out of this mess together and stop thinking only about the next election.

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

Local Reports from Advocates

Homelessness Around the United States

I am a board member of the National Coalition for the Homeless, and at every board meeting we go around the room and hear local reports about homelessness in the United States. It is a great opportunity to hear about the troubles and struggles in other cities in America four times a year. There are some successes, but they are few and far between and are usually centered in Minnesota and Denver. Here are some of the things that I heard over this weekend. Overall, homelessness is up across the United States with only a few exceptions, and non-profit organizations are struggling to stay alive in this horrible economy.

Minnesota: They are taking a portion of the state’s money for supportive services, so these funds will just supplant state or local funds. Foreclosures are still up. Advocates are trying as much as possible to make sure that the new prevention dollars get to the poorest people and the money is not taken to replace local or state dollars because of the huge budget problems.

Montana: Still seeing an increase in foreclosures. There is extreme poverty on the Indian Reservations in Montana that does not even compare to the homeless issues in other parts of America.

Arkansas: Statewide Homeless Coalition is on life support. HMIS has been helpful in the rural communities—20,000 families were entered in the system and 38,000 children in the system. Trust Fund passed, but no money was put in the trust fund. $10.5 million in prevention resources are available for Arkansas. Immigration violations of homeless people, basically the undocumented are being used as slave labor.

DC: With regard to federal stimulus dollars the Mayor has decided to grab what he can to replace local funding for existing programs. Community has gutted the housing program budget and so will be assigned a case manager, but not getting a house. Pushing for homeless hate crimes into an Omnibus Crime bill, and looks like it will be passed in June.

Texas: Governor turned down $550 million for extended unemployment. Looking to expand legal services to homeless people with prevention dollars. State housing trust fund may receive a boost. Hate crimes bill introduced, but unlikely it will pass. Introduced a statewide voice mail bill—there is good support. May pass a voter ID law in Texas. Using stimulus dollars to educate, certify homeless people, and get them into a job while supplementing their wages.

Detroit: Foreclosures way up. Criminal justice focus of Mayor and Governor, and they are working on helping people leave jail and find stability with a job/housing.

New York City: 36,000 in shelter system including children. 4 out of 5 people in the shelters are from families. 970,000 families a year in one year. 13,000 new families entering the shelters. Eliminate priority for homeless people in the Section 8 program replaced with a time limited program 2 year. Government trying to swap out local dollars ($74 million) to fund prevention programs with the new stimulus dollars so there will be no increase or additional benefit. State budget battles, but luckily did not see major homeless cuts. Seems to be a crackdown on street homeless people maybe because of upcoming mayoral vote.

Ft. Lauderdale: Ranked 50^th compared to the rest of the nation in education in Florida. Highly regressive tax system exists in Florida. Big budget problems and yet part time legislators have no solution. Local homeless coalition does a memorial day, living wage work, Stand Down, voice mail, and strong focus on re-entry programs. Working on passing an alternative to incarceration resolution in the state.

Miami: Activists are trying to make sure that the stimulus dollars get to the people. Use existing structure, but Miami Coalition will monitor. Florida third in foreclosures in the United States. Trying to change the bankruptcy law to protect the primary home of individuals. Trying to overturn the residency restrictions especially to help those who have turned to living under bridges for voting and other purposes.

Nashville TN: New staff at the homeless power project, and they are trying to work on the stimulus money--$2 million in prevention and $4 million in public housing money will be available to the City. Concerned that these funds will not result in jobs, and so long term homeless will not be changed. Homeless commissions just keep studying the problems, but not producing results at the local and state level. Nashville has a number of tent cities and there is a lot of media attention of one of those tent cities. They are working on trying to get low-income people into the green jobs initiatives.

Sacramento: Tent City has received a ton of attention (300-400 people were living on private property). Some were victims of the economy, but most were long term homeless. The government has extended the winter shelter until June. Some advocates are trying to educate public about the reasons people are living in the shelters: current system does not serve the population. Couples, those with pets, and too much stuff with them were the big reasons why people were not going inside congregate living arrangements. Put 40 people into housing and opened a safeground for people to keep their stuff. No one has been arrested to this point yet. Real spotlight should be on the lame 10 year plan in Sacramento. Need to rethink long-term homeless strategy, and take into account long-term services to families. Some of the local advocates feel that the Sacramento government’s response has been horrible, and staged a protest on Friday. Prevention and Rapid Re-housing funds coalition put together to respond to the prevention funding. Need to coordinate all the public money coming in to serve homeless people. Hate crimes bill reintroduced in state legislature in California.

Denver/Colorado: Grand opening of 100 new green apartments—50 for affordable housing and 50 for long term homeless people. Working on another project using federal stimulus dollars/foreclosure dollars for Denver. State Interagency Council is trying to coordinate stimulus dollars for the state of Colorado. Not seeing an increase in foreclosures, and stimulus dollars are being used to build new projects. Mayor of Denver has been a good advocate, and the Sheriff is doing a rental assistance program for those re-entering society with a mental illness.

Brian

Posts reflect the opinion of those who sign the entry.

Grading the Administration 6

Weekly Poverty Grades for the Obama Administration: A

It is Sunday and so time to grade the Administration and their fight against poverty. Maybe I am still numb because of the loss of David Westcott or just feeling generous, but I am giving the administration an A this week. This is the first time that the Administration has reached the A territory.

The budget is the most important statement of priorities made by an Administration. It sets down in writing the direction for the country and the areas in which the administration is willing to put funding. It is the road map for government and sets the tone for future discussions. There is the bully pulpit, but the budget is about action.

This 2010 budget has a lot to be praised with regard to housing and poverty issues.

• An increase in the HUD budget including an increase in the housing voucher program.
• An increase in the Department of Veterans Affairs going specifically to health care.
• Obama actually allocates money to the Federal Housing Trust Fund for the first time.
• Modernizes the rules for disability benefits (which we hope will shorten the waiting period).
• Increases the number of Social Security workers to process claims.
• Improves the student loan system in order to allow more people to attend college.
• The budget dramatically increases the number of National Service members who will be deployed in communities to address homelessness and poverty.

These are all good trends. The other thing that is encouraging was the President's video message from Saturday in which he said that he was ready to fight for these priorities. We have seen much rhetoric in the past, but few Presidents in the last 30 years willing to fight to reduce poverty. I also liked that the Director of Management and Budget has a blog, and attempts to correct spin that could derail Administration priorities. Peter Orszag tries to dispel some of the concern of larger non-profit organizations worried about a decrease in donations, because of the change in charitable donations outlined in the budget.

Now they have to go out and make this all happen. I do not understand the middle class task force that the Vice President is leading. But overall it was a good week for fighting poverty. We are now in solid B territory as a cumulative grade for the administration. Next week we will review the areas that the Administration needs to concentrate to stay in the A range.

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

Good Story in the PD Today

Homeless Report Featured in the PD/WKYC

The Plain Dealer did an article about the money for federal stimulus bill and the possible uses for the prevention dollars today. WKYC also did a story on their website about our report on Tuesday. Both stories used our report on the State of Homelessness in Cleveland in their news coverage. Regarding the stimulus prevention dollars, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. I hope that the City can put this money to good use. If you ever have the occasion to read the comments in the PD, don't do it. The people who submit comments are some of the most dense people in our city. I have never understood the anger and hatred toward homeless people. I can see that people want lazy and those who have made bad mistakes to pay, but why doom those people to the shelters, hospitals, and jails? Taxpayers pay for all these services, and so we are just sucking money out of our own wallets by pushing people into homelessness. There is no bigger drain on taxpayer money than homelessness. Put people in housing with a little bit of subsidy and the County saves thousands of dollars. With the foreclosure crisis, the bank bailouts, and the wall street issues, people are out for blood. They want to put some people in the stockades for causing all this grief in our financial markets. But homeless people seem to be the victims and not the cause of these problems in America.

Just one update for today...
The state agency distributing the foreclosure assistance money informed us today that we they will not fund our pilot project to move homeless people into foreclosed buildings. They said that they received $75 million in requests for dollars and they only had $4 million to distribute. We will keep trying, but this is a tough proposal to fund.

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

Grading the Administration 5

Weekly Poverty Grades for the Obama Administration: B-

Another slight improvement over last week with regard to the struggle to reduce poverty. The Obama administration released their long awaited plan to end the foreclosure crisis. I would have preferred a national mandatory moratorium (and that may still be coming), but if Mark Siefert at ESOP says that it is a good start then I am on Board. I really liked Jim Rokakis' statement on WCPN that it is too late for Cleveland, but this is a step forward. I think that it is long overdue to allow bankruptcy judges to alter the mortgage terms in bankruptcy. This will help many people. In addition, HUD released the 2008 shelter dollars, which I did not expect for a month or so. This is about the same time that Bush released the 2007 funds last year. Despite the federal budget under a continuing resolution and the new HUD director only approved two weeks ago, they released the housing and shelter dollars from last year. This is helpful to the organizations like CTO who had their grant expire January 31, 2009. They now have to work out a contract with the federal government and should be able to start receiving reimbursements for their Bridging the Gap program in June or July.

There is still a ton of work to do, but hopefully we can finally stem the tide of foreclosures. In the 1990s we only had around 3,000 foreclosures in Cuyahoga County. We now have over 14,000 every year. This is insane and has left a deep scar on the community. The question for us can we recover from this wound largely inflicted by a lack of government oversight and greedy and criminal mortgage brokers or was this a terminal wound?

The Obama administration could have issued more sticks and fewer carrots and I would have given them an "A." As Mark said to the Plain Dealer it more than we thought that we could get. In reflecting on the Stimulus bill from the previous week, I have to hope that with such huge sums of money that my grandkids will be paying for, these funds will be used in the same way as the Marshall Plan, or the creation of the highway system, and the federal dollars in the 1960s to win the space race. I am glad to hear the administration is focusing on the creation of new jobs this week while comparing this to the last major allocation of federal dollars for war in Iraq that had little benefits for American or Iraqii citizens.

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

Continuum of Care Dollars Released

Behind the Headlines

Homeless people do read the paper. They visit the library and read the national news online as well as perusing the local Plain Dealer regularly. This is the time of year when the federal government releases its annual "Continuum of Care" funding, and I get a lot of questions from homeless people about all this money given to Cleveland for homelessness. Perhaps you saw the headline over the last day, "Obama Administration releases [some many millions or billions] to deal with homelessness." This dates back to the Clinton administration when they combined all the homeless money given to states and localities into one release of dollars to maximize news coverage. Clinton did it right by releasing the money right around a big, tug-on-the-heart-strings-holiday of either Christmas or Thanksgiving. It was difficult for the Bush administration to manage the release of the HUD grant around a good holiday, because the federal budget was not regularly passed by the October 1 deadline. Bush was often relegated to second tier-tug-at-your-heart holidays like MLK Day or President's Day for his homeless press release. Obama released the funds yesterday with a $1.6 billion headline provided to local and state jurisdictions.

We certainly appreciate the help with Cleveland/Cuyahoga County getting all that they asked for in $22 million, but what does that mean? In almost the entire United States, the money just renews existing programs. So, the headline should be "Obama renews shelter/housing grants so no one will be forced to close." It is not a huge new pool of money even though the headline makes it sound like that. In Cleveland, we had room for a few new housing vouchers and one new project, but otherwise all the money went to renew the budgets of the existing shelters/housing vouchers. The shelters do not get a cost of living increase or money to serve new populations (like foreclosure victims). They get the same amount of money that they asked for when they were originally funded. While utility prices, food prices, health benefits, and salaries have all gone up over the years, the shelters must figure out how to make up the shortfall because the federal government does not pay for any cost of living increases.

So, a big thank you has to go out to Ruth Gillett from the County Office of Homeless Services locally who fills out all the paperwork and checks all the boxes to make sure that we get our fair share. It is a huge job that takes months, and was complicated this year because everything had to be submitted electronically. As you may be aware, the federal government takes many years to figure out how to move away from paper, so it was a rough ride this year. She has to gather all this information from every facility and gather information about their clients and put it in one application that printed out is about 3 foot tall stack of paper. She has always secured the money set aside for Cleveland/Cuyahoga County with only a few minor problems. Other cities (Akron, Ohio, Columbus, Canton and Dayton) have all had major problems in the last five years costing their homeless populations millions of dollars.

One unfortunate note for those who embrace the rivalry with our downstate competitors in best city in Ohio starting with the letter "C". Both Columbus and Cincinnati as well as Dayton and the Ohio small cities collaboration received one of the 23 demonstration grants released yesterday by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. It is amazing that out of 23 grants nationwide Ohio scored 4 of them. HUD funded groups to set up pilot programs to rapidly re-house people in order to avoid homelessness. I tried to find what the other cities applied for, but I could only find the Columbus plan. They are setting up some intensive case management using the Salvation Army combined with rental assistance money. The question is why didn't the Cleveland project make it? Why couldn't we compete with Dayton or Cincy for the one million dollar "rapid-rehousing" demonstration programs?

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

Economic Stimulus and Homelessness

Some Benefit for Homeless People

Summary of the Housing Provisions in Recovery Conference Agreement from the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
Congress Agrees to Stimulus Compromise; Votes on Friday
Some details of the House and Senate conference agreement on the economic stimulus bill were released this afternoon. Appropriations for HUD programs in the conference agreement are as follows: $4 billion for the Public Housing Capital Fund (House and Senate had both passed $5 billion in their versions). $2.25 billion for 12-month renewals of the project-based Section 8 rental assistance program, with $250 million of this going toward energy retrofitting and green housing (had been $2.5 billion in the House bill, $2.25 billion in the Senate package). $2 billion for the Neighborhood Stabilization Program to redevelop foreclosed and abandoned homes ($4.19 billion in the House, $0 in the Senate). $1.5 billion for homeless prevention through the Emergency Shelter Grant program (the same as in the House and Senate-passed versions). [This is about the size of current Continuum of Care--so this could mean a doubling of existing funds or $12-$18 million for Cuyahoga County.] $2.25 billion to fund HOME, with $2 billion of this to fill gaps in approved Low Income Housing Tax Credit projects and jump start these stalled projects ($1.5 billion was in the House bill just for HOME, without the LIHTC provision; $2.25 billion was in the Senate bill, with $2 billion for LIHTC gap fix). $1 billion for the Community Development Block Grant program (House had $1 billion; Senate had no CDBG funds). $100 million for lead paint reduction (same in both the House and Senate bills). $10 million in Native American Block Grants (had been $500 million in the House; $510 million in the Senate). Low Income Housing Tax Credits: Details of the tax provisions have not been released but it is our understanding that, in addition to the $2 billion for LIHTC gap financing mentioned above, the conference agreement will include the House's proposal to allow housing credit allocating agencies to receive up to 40% of their 2009 credits as cash and use this to fill financing gaps from approved but stalled projects. It is NLIHC's understanding that the Senate bill's acceleration provision is not in the conference agreement. Homeownership Tax Credit It is NLIHC's understanding that the Senate's $35 billion homeownership tax credit has been significantly scaled back in the conference report. It appears that the conference agreement would amend the current $7,500 first-time homebuyer tax credit to repeal the current tax credit's requirement that it be repaid to the federal government. The benefits of the current tax credit, available to people who have not owned a home during the last three years, phase out for higher income households. Other Programs The Emergency Food and Shelter Program within the Federal Emergency Management Agency will receive $100 million in the conference agreement. The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program receives nothing (the House had funded it, the Senate did not). The Social Services Block Grant program will receive nothing (the Senate had funded it, the House did not). The Census Bureau will receive $1 billion. What is Not in The Conference Agreement: The final compromise does not include revenue for the National Housing Trust Fund, nor does it allocate funding for 400,000 new Housing Choice Vouchers. The funding for housing programs fell tremendously short of what advocates had sought.

Thanks to staff at the National Low Income Housing Coalition for keeping those in the field updated about this difficult to follow bill. If you are not a member of the NLIHC and you care about federal housing and homeless policy, we recommend taking a few minutes to sign up as a member of this critical national housing advocacy leader.

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

Updates from the Coalition

The Latest Dispatch from the Homeless Coalition

Annual Meeting of the Coalition
We normally have a stuffy formal annual meeting, but this year the Board of the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless has decided the annual fundraiser from the Annual Meeting. So the 2006 Annual Meeting will be March 15, 2007 at Franklin Circle Church at 6 p.m. NEOCH will give out awards to the Advocate of the Year and Volunteer of the Year. We look at 2006 and ahead to 2007. Finally, NEOCH will elect a new board and present the 2006 Annual Report. We would love to have you join us for the Annual Meeting. It is free and we hope homeless people will be able to join the meeting. We are going to award a Roadblock of the Year to the person or organization that prevented the solving of homelessness in Northeast Ohio.

Media Wave Causes Stir
The Plain Dealer story two weeks ago with the headline about $22 million coming to Cleveland for homelessness always creates waves. It makes our meetings with homeless people difficult, because homeless people read the paper. They see a whole bunch of money coming to Cleveland and wonder why they eat pasta every night or why they cannot get housing. So, we get blamed for wasting funds or being incompetent for not solving homelessness with "all that money." We also get calls asking how they can set up a shelter so that they can get in on this federal gravy train. After I tried to convince the woman that called this week that this was not money for shelters and that public officials are not going to fund shelters anymore, she said, "I am not going to be deterred by anything you say, because God has told me to do this and I saw the article about the $22 million." There is no way to argue with God or money. Columbus only got $6 million, and they claim nearly the same number of homeless people, and so their providers are ticked off.

By dividing $22 million among the 20,000 people who are homeless every year, the funds only cover $1,100 per person who is homeless in Cleveland. 90% of the $22 million are just to keep the doors of the transitional shelters and the permanent housing programs open. Many of these funds are for very specific populations while the economically homeless have to find their own ways.

Aviation High School Has a Deadline
The main shelter in Cleveland, 2100 Lakeside, operates on the principle that anyone who comes to the door must be offered a bed. This has forced the shelter to operate an overflow facility at Aviation High School. This was a temporary solution that is now three years old. The federal government is not really happy with this solution with ex-cons, sexually based offenders, and an unknown group of people basically sleeping on the grounds of an airport. They have laid down the law--the overflow must close by November and there will be no further argument. This would seem to be plenty of time, but the County and City cannot agree and no one is talking to homeless people. This is going to go down to the wire, and the results are not going to be pretty.

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