The Meanest Guy in the State

Cincinnati Hates Homeless People

We don't get a lot of news from that geographically misplaced city of Cincinnati (should be located below the Mason Dixon), but here is a story that ran last week about a homeless sexually based offender trying to stay warm. Cincinnati politicians get elected by promising to get rid of poor people and the debates are between two candidates who attempt to be more hateful than the other guy. Here is an example:

Offender Sues for the Right to Shelter

A 57-year-old sex offender told a judge Friday that he might freeze to death because a state law bars him from a Cincinnati homeless shelter located near a school.

Larry Winslow, who has been homeless for five years, sued in U.S. District Court to block enforcement of the law so he can seek refuge at the Drop Inn Center in Over-the-Rhine.

The law he is challenging forbids convicted sex offenders from living in homes, apartments or shelters within 1,000 feet of schools or day-care centers.

"Mr. Winslow is struggling just to survive in the cold this winter," Winslow's attorney, David Singleton, wrote in the lawsuit. "He fears that he will die in the cold weather if he cannot get shelter."

The lawsuit says Winslow recently was diagnosed with walking pneumonia.

The suit is the latest challenge to Ohio's restrictions on sex offenders and where they may live.

Several suits have been filed in Cincinnati and around the state, but so far judges have deemed the law valid.

Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters, who is named in Winslow's lawsuit, said the law is constitutional. "I feel bad for him," he said of Winslow. "I know it's cold outside, but we have to enforce the law.

"There is no constitutional right to warmth."

Last year, Deters' office notified the Drop Inn Center that the shelter no longer could allow sex offenders to live there because the building is located within 1,000 feet of a school.

Winslow's lawyers could not be reached Friday, but the lawsuit says he was convicted of sexual battery in 1994 and 1996 in cases involving adult female prostitutes.

The suit states that he spends most nights on the streets and occasionally seeks refuge at the downtown Greyhound bus station. Usually, though, he is told to leave or face arrest, the lawsuit says.

"There is no rational basis to prohibit sex offenders from sleeping, at night, at a homeless shelter that happens to be within 1,000 feet of a school," the lawsuit says. "No child protection interest is served."

The suit asks Judge Sandra Beckwith to declare the law unconstitutional and to issue an order that would allow Winslow to immediately seek shelter at the Drop Inn Center.

Joe Deters was hounded by scandal out of state office then elected by the good people of Cincinnati to be the lead advocate for interpreting laws that he had trouble following while in the State Executive Branch. He said, "There is no constitutional right to warmth," which in the civilized world would be the end of your political career, but in Cincinnati is a campaign slogan for re-election. In other words, "I feel bad for him, but we are not responsible when he dies on the streets." That is a rough city to be homeless, and certainly one of the meanest cities in the United States toward poor people.

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

Creating Future Homeless

Walter Reed Hospital: A Nightmare for Returning Wounded

There is a fantastic story in the Wash. Post about the conditions at America's premiere Army Hospital. A Presidential backdrop for hundreds of photo opportunities while shaking wounded soldiers hands, comforting the sick, or passing out metals turns out to be a dump. There are horror stories about bureaucratic nightmare within Walter Reed Army Hospital that the soldiers have to go through to get services, Army officers are lost on a daily basis, and the requirement to cross the grounds in the cold on a daily basis for "formation" just seems cruel. It is a wonderful investigative piece that calls into question our commitment to the troops fighting in Iraq. These are the future homeless of America who are disenfranchised by the "system" and turn away from society. Right now, in Cleveland about one-third of the men's population of homeless people served in the military. We do not have many from the current war in Cleveland, but we do have vets from the first Iraq conflict and some older men from Vietnam.

Imagine enduring second and third tours of duty in the most dangerous country in the world, and then coming back to a dump of a hospital with mice, roaches and black mold. It is a slap in the face and if it were me I would see it as a visible sign that the country does not care. It certainly can mess with your head. Some of these individuals will certainly disappear and show up at local shelters. They are wounded by an insurgent fighting over a 1,000 year old dispute in a war fought for very unclear reasons, and after four years there is very little to show four our efforts, then the soldier returns to the states they must deal with deplorable conditions. If this is how they are treated right when the get back, how will a one-legged soldier be treated in ten or fifteen years? Veterans from the current war in Iraq are showing up at shelters in California and DC. I certainly hope that this negative coverage of this hospital will force the end to photo ops and red tape in order to assure quality care to those returning from the conflict in the Middle East.

Just for context, most homeless veterans in Cleveland spend some time at the Brecksville facility, which is a wonderful facility. It is clean and spacious. It has plenty of green space that gives the place a slower pace. It is a place to recover and regroup. It is no doubt one of the best places for homeless people in the region. I have heard a lot of negatives about the Wade Park hospital. The problems usually revolve around red tape and bad personnel not so much the facility. I certainly hope that the closing of the Brecksville facility will not move the Wade Park hospital to model itself after Walter Reed in Maryland.

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

Another Comment on Counting Homeless People

New York City Debates Counting Homeless People

On this cold snowy day, I made it to work. I made the mistake of taking Mayfield Road hill on Monday night home. Big Mistake!! It took one hour and twenty minutes to get from CSU to Cleveland Hts at 8 p.m.. Then this morning I took Cedar Hill, which actually did not have one drop of snow. It was the best plowed street in the City. I was amazed. Anyway...I made it. Someone called the office and asked why the media was not talking about homeless people on this snowy day. The simple answer is that I do not control the media, but I can tell you what goes on during these cold days for homeless people.

First, we are one of the only cities left in the United States that will accept anyone who comes to the door. We have two shelters that do not turn anyone away. Then in extreme weather conditions the shelters are supposed to not close. Normally, shelters ask their clients to leave during the day (to look for non-existent jobs or find housing that they cannot afford). Reminds me of the ancient Greek myth where Prometheus has his liver eaten everyday, but as an immortal it grows back and he starts all over again the next day. But I digress.

Anyway, the shelters keep people inside on extreme weather days. Also, during any natural disaster homeless people blend better into the mainstream. Everyone is struggling on days like today. Everyday is a struggle for homeless people, so they actually fair better on these days. The City will open the Community Centers and homeless people will use those as respite from the cold if they choose not to use the shelters. I have heard of some cities who try to exclude homeless people from disaster relief centers, but that does not happen in Cleveland. It can get overwhelming for the shelters that take anyone who comes to their door, and so there is quite a bit of communication between the shelters to exchange homeless people with a goal of keeping everyone safe and warm.

On another note... We have written about the futility of counting homeless people. One of the papers in New York City did a feature on this issue, and I thought one of the comments submitted by Picture the Homeless was interesting.

"Dear PTH Friends, Members, and Allies,

Ever since the NYC Department of Homeless Services first started its count of street homeless people, Picture the Homeless members have voiced significant concerns about *why* the city does the count, and how it plays into the stigmatization of the homeless and the focus on individuals and their "issues" instead of the systemic problems that create homelessness. This week's edition of City Limits contains a terrific response to the HOPE 2007 count from PTH elder statesman Jean Rice, incorporating the perspectives of several Picture the Homeless folks.

The text can be read here: (This is one link with no break)

http://www.citylimits.org/content/articles/
viewarticle.cfm?article_id=3267

A homeless "count" relies upon people "looking homeless" so they can be visually identified. Many people who are homeless go to great lengths to NOT appear homeless (whatever that is). Also, there is a fluidity to street homelessness that cannot be captured in one night, because during that one night of the count many people who are street homeless might be working, locked up (for BEING street homeless), or temporarily staying with friends and family. As a corollary, while the
average daily shelter population in 2005 [in New York City] was 33,687, in that same year 97,039 unique individuals accessed shelter. If the Administration put the same energy into counting abandoned buildings or irresponsible landlords citywide, and then implementing comprehensive policy solutions, they might not need to use law enforcement to make the street homeless population go down."--Picture the Homeless, New York City.

I could not say it any better. For comparison, the count in Cleveland found 2,000 people which is actually less then the number of shelter beds. Most experts believe that double that number is closer to reality on most days. The City estimates that there are 10,000 abandoned/vacant structures in Cleveland.

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

The Toughest Job in the City

How Do Shelter Workers Keep Their Sanity??

We give the shelters a hard time, because we are a watchdog organization. We have to follow up on complaints from homeless people because no one else does, and nearly all have something to do with shelters. From problems with theft, curfews, and conflicts with staff are the complaints that come to us every week. Homeless people come to us for help and that makes many shelter providers uncomfortable. But over the last two weeks, providers have gone above and beyond. The stress of having over capacity for extended hours and for over two weeks is now getting critical. They all deserve a huge pat on the back, and a raise for performing in such tough conditions.

Now, with another five inches of snow predicted, we prolong the state of emergency. The shelter staff must figure out a way to keep the peace in very overcrowded conditions. They need to keep as many as 550 people from going stir crazy, and keeping all these people safe. There is a great deal of pressure to be responsible for so many with food, clean sheets, clean clothing, and a quiet place to sleep. They should all get awards for all they are doing behind the scenes. Unfortunately they never will, because they are only successful if nothing happens. Well, NEOCH staff and board congratulate everyone who is sticking it out working in the shelters during the winters in Cleveland. It takes a special person to be able to see all this human suffering every day and get up every morning to keep people safe.

Speaking of Hard Working Shelter Staff...
Lyle Draper of the Volunteers of America shelter is leaving next week for Re-Entry programming with VOA down in Mansfield. Lyle has been the director of the men's shelter over on Walton. He has kept the facility clean and has always been willing to help when homeless people needed assistance. Thanks Lyle for all your hard work, and good luck in your new job. We will miss you, and hope that the VOA finds someone as easy to work with to run the shelter.

After reading this post, I fear that one of the comments a homeless person told me might be true: I am getting soft? One of the members of the Homeless Congress insists that I, like Jesse Jackson, have lost my "heat." He tells me at almost every meeting that I am no longer willing to do whatever it takes. There is certainly worse people to be compared to then Jesse Jackson who I voted for in 1988 for President of the United States when he had some high "heat."

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

County Trust Fund

The Case for More Affordable Housing

NEOCH and the Cleveland Tenants Organization held its first meeting on the road to implementation of a County Trust Fund. We need a place to deposit funds to be reserved for the construction or preservation of housing. We have all heard of (and may have even voted) for trust fund kids. While trust fund kids have a derogatory connotation, a County Trust fund would go along way to moving people into housing. We have a team of young leaders working from Cleveland Bridge Builders on a plan for the development of a fund. The plan is to figure out the best revenue source for a housing trust fund. These funds would be locked away and reserved exclusively to build or renovate housing. They also have a goal of developing a strategy for building consensus around a campaign to create this fund.

What could this fund do for Cuyahoga County? The hope is to generate $6-$10 million per year for the development of housing. This fund could be used to:

• Repair elevators in senior buildings to keep these buildings from having to close.
• Provide $200 a month to a low income family trying to stay in their housing.
• Renovate housing for family with young children to remove the lead paint.
• Provide the 20% local match for HUD homeless/housing funds for the construction of new supportive housing project.
• Provide a piece of the funding for a place for men to pay a weekly rent while they get back on their feet in order to avoid having to go to shelter.
• Set up a sweat equity program for single men with skills to renovate abandoned housing that are eventually turned over to those men who helped to bring the housing back.
  
• Or the hundreds of other programs that would contribute to a reduction in homelessness.

This is a needed resource since both the Federal and State government have dropped the ball on the creation of affordable housing. But a new tax or an increase in taxes is always tough for the public to accept. If we can approve a sin tax for the arts then we should be able to figure out a way to pay for such life sustaining activity as housing.

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

A Whole Bunch of Updates

Lots Going on in the Homeless Community

1. HUD Budget for 2007 Much Better
The federal budget that provides funds for most housing and homeless programs through the Department of Housing and Urban Development was left up in the air at the end of last year. The guidelines that were being debated would have devastated housing programs in Ohio including the loss of up to 70,000 housing vouchers, a 25% cut to public housing and a loss of an
additional 100,000 units of affordable housing. With the assistance of Toledo Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur, the House passed a fair HUD budget to prevent the loss of housing and thus an increase in homelessness in America. If you talk to your Senator, please ask them to pass the House version of the HUD budget for 2007 next week. For more information go to the COHHIO website or the National Low Income Housing Coalition website.

2. Bridging the Gap Fundraiser
Bridging the Gap is hosting a special event at Johnny Mangos (3120 Bridge Ave. in Ohio City) on Monday February 12. Just print out the flyer from our website at the calendar (http://www.neoch.org/calendar.htm) and present that to the staff at Johnny Mangos. 20% of your bill will go to support Bridging the Gap housing program. Every dollar helps to move a family toward stability.

3. Homeless Stand Down Coming Soon
The Homeless Stand Down will take place at the Cleveland Convention Center on February 16, 2007. We still need items for our goodie bags including travel-size toothpaste, soap, lotion, conditioner, shampoo or toothbrushes, bandaids, combs, or bus passes. Those can be dropped at NEOCH anytime before the Stand Down.

4. NEOCH Annual Meeting
The NEOCH Annual meeting is no longer blended into our annual fundraiser. Our Annual Meeting will be March 15, 2006 after the evening meal at 6 pm. at Franklin Circle Church 1688 Fulton Rd. in Ohio City. We will have our Annual Report of activities, and mark the beginning of a new Board of Trustees. Please join us as we present a few awards to those who have advanced homelessness and set our goals for 2007-8. Please RSVP to NEOCH at 216/432-0540.

5. Check out the NEOCH website
The NEOCH website has been updated in January and there are many interesting items. We hope that you will regularly use this valuable resource. We have a copy of the Heading Home--City/County strategic plan around homelessness under statistics and strategies. We have a copy of a briefing for the City of Cleveland on the problems that they will have to deal with over the next five years regarding homelessness locally. We also have a new resource for families with children on local school contacts under "Homeless Kids."

6. County Housing Trust Fund Planning Meeting
For years, advocates have sought a local pool of money to build and preserve affordable housing. Columbus recently found a revenue source so why can't Cleveland? On Thursday February 8, 2007 at 3:30 pm. the Cleveland Tenants Organization and NEOCH will host a discussion on a plan to put a local County Trust Fund in place. All are welcome to attend in the
conference room of the NEOCH/CTO building. Please RSVP if you plan to attend to NEOCH at 432-0540.

7. The State of Family Homelessness in Cleveland Forum
We have more details on the Forum on Family Homelessness at this point. The forum is set for March 7, 2007 at 3:30 p.m. at Trinity Cathedral (East 22nd and Euclid Ave.) parking in the rear to talk about the state of homelessness for families. The issues include the instability of family
shelter budgets, the problems of oversight and protection of women from the fear of their children being reported to 696-KIDS, the break up of families in order to get into shelter, and the lack of shelter space for those fleeing a domestic violence situation. Please plan to attend and again RSVP to Sarah at NEOCH at 432-0540.

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

Third District Police Closing

Mayor Faces Hundreds of Angry Residents

I have to say that I was very skeptical about the closing of the Third District Police Station. Mostly, because we spent 12 years (which cooresponds to the number of years of the White Administration) in court suing the City over police conduct toward homeless people. We never got to see the inside of a court room settling all of these suits out of court, and there is no doubt that the police were responding to directives from the City of Cleveland. But we now have a Commander that we can talk to, and police that were trained to deal with fragile populations. We have two officers who act as liaisons to the homeless providers and have tried to relate to the homeless populations. So, I along with others were weary.

But, I listened to the Mayor for over three hours and I have to say I am convinced. This plan will be good for the whole City, and this is all based on factual information. I do not think that this will be good for homeless population, but for the whole City it is the only plan that would work. I stayed to ask a question about the transition plan, but the Mayor is leaving all those details to the Chief and to the Safety Director. The big fear is that they will just cast the current officers of the Third District to the wind and so all the relationships that were developed in certain neighbhorhoods will be lost. The Mayor was not budging on setting direction for placing officers in very specific neighborhoods that they are familiar. So, we will all have to wait and see.

The Mayor has amazing endurance to answer questions including, "Are you a dictatator or Why don't all your command staff including the Safety Director live in Cleveland?" He was very honest, and straight forward answering every question. He faced a very hostile audience who almost all were tied to the Third District building and the people inside that building. There was so much fear in the room that things would get worse. They were worried their businesses would suffer, property crimes would rise, and the fragile security that most people have will be lost with this plan. The most amazing aspect of the meeting were the relatively small number of African Americans who attended the meeting. Only one African American individual asked a question. I think that the Mayor did a good job of settling some of those concerns and promised to return in a year to look at the progress.

The police are way ticked off by the proposal. The FOP and Patrolman's Association are not happy at all. They want the issue to go to the voters. The Mayor did a good job in explaining that he was not going to debate this forever, and the buck stops with him. He said repeatedly that the "Proof is in the Pudding," and that if this does not work people would vote him out of office. The Third District officers do not want to be stuffed in a building on Chester Ave with no parking in a building that they believe are falling down. They implied that in the seventh most dangerous city in the United States that this will only exasserbate those issues. They worry that if a Code 1 call comes in and every car in the district that is available has to respond how will a zone car downtown get all the way across the river to Lorain Ave. in the new expanded Second District? The Mayor said that they are now going to be able to do reports from their cars so they will not be so tied to a certain building. They are also getting rid of the jails at the various districts and moving to central booking at the justice center. This would now become a County function.

The Councilmembers are not happy, and the Mayor made a very good point that he could just say the politically popular statement and then leave and do whatever he wanted. He knew that this is not popular for this neighborhood, but it is best for the City. He was clear that since he lives in the Third District it does have an impact on his life as well. The Mayor said that there were nine months for study and input, but now is the time to move forward. He said that the Chief read all the letters and took those into account and in fact responded to those concerns.

NEOCH is going to have weigh in on the transition plan to make sure that the current issues with homeless people are not lost. There is no doubt that we will be losing one of the Commanders and so it is unlikely that Third District Commander will be interacting with the shelters and homeless people in the future. The Downtown zone will now be part of the Second District, and they already have a Commander who is relatively new. This is a loss, but hopefully he will get an assignment to bring similar improvement to another section of the City. We will have to establish a relationship with a new Lieutenant who will be assigned to a new Downtown Safety Unit of 18 officers who will be assigned to the Central Business District.

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

Homeless Exploited and Helped

Two Interesting Homeless News Items

Cleveland Heights arrested two homeless people for passing bad checks according to the Plain Dealer. It seems that a group of criminals recruited homeless people to go to Wal-Mart to pass bad checks. People are always praying on this fragile population, and trolling the front of the shelters to basically enslave people for bad purposes. From the exploitative temporary labor agents who put people to work in the most difficult jobs and pay less than minimum wage, or the drug boys who employ homeless people as runners, or the men who patrol the women's shelters looking for women to become prostitutes. I saw the owner of Minute Men temp. services over at the bank the other day driving a Cadillac Escalade SUV with those spinning wheel rims, and was disgusted that he was making a nice living off the backs of mostly African American homeless people. Who says that slavery ended in America? Did you ever wonder why all the Minute Men staff enter in the Carnegie entrance and homeless people are fenced off and forced to enter the Cedar Road side? Reminds me of the slave entrance to the Master's house in the 1820's Deep South.

The other interesting story comes from Lorain County and the bloggers at Word of Mouth. Henery Hawk and his friends went out in the cold to a group of homeless people to provide a little help. Lorain County is a rough place for homeless people with the human services absolutely overwhelmed, very little advocacy activities, and a total disregard for the problem by elected officials. They really need help out there. NEOCH would love to try to put in place a strong network of advocates in Lorain County, but the providers are so overwhelmed that they can barely keep their head above the water. So, we salute Henery, Buck, Larry, and Brian (not me) for their efforts on such a cold day.

By the way, inspired by Word of Mouth, Wendell Robinson has decided to try to do something for others everyday and write about it. Here is his new blog. Sounds like a great idea for the rest of us to follow.

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

A Day in the Life

The Highs and Lows of One Day at NEOCH

Started out the morning with a very sad case of a woman calling, because she cannot find her husband who has become homeless. They had a fire at their house, and her husband stopped taking his medication. Without his medicine he started down a path of paranoia and his severe mental illness came out. He lashed out at his wife. The husband told his family that his wife was abusing him. He left the house and she has not seen him. She was so worried and was crying looking for help.

The issue is that the shelters will not reveal if a person is at the shelter no matter who is calling or showing up. Unless the individual has a court order or has a release of information--patient/client relationship, the shelters will not give information away about any of their residents. We sent her a Street Card, and told her to hang up flyers or notes at the various shelters. We do not have a good system in Cuyahoga County for family reunification. NEOCH is trying to put together a people finder component of our website that would allow case workers and homeless people to see if there are people looking for them. This will take awhile to develop, but it is heartbreaking hearing these stories every day.

A better part of yesterday, was the Homeless Congress. We had over 32 homeless people from 9 different shelters in the community together to talk about issues. This is difficult to get a very angry population who are for the most part ignored by society to be on the same page. The membership constantly changes, and we have to do some trust building at every meeting. But they have some great suggestions and are beginning to work together. They are starting to realize that together they can make changes while separate they will forever live in shelters.

Then I got back to the office and found out that one of our former vendors was probated and on the loose. She had also gone off her medicine and had started self medicating with illegal drugs. The last time I saw her she was so different. She was a nice older woman who would remind you of Carol Burnett's character in the Mama's Family skits or that quiet older aunt who blends into the wallpaper if you saw her at a coffeeshop. After only a month or two away from her medicine, she looked nothing like her former self even her walk was different. She was angry and not taking care of her appearances or her hygiene. It was an amazing transformation, and now we have to decide on our responsibilities if she did show up at our office to her and to others.

Any non-profit has to spend a large amount of time on the mundane and the bureaucracy especially with government organizations. I have been going round and round with the State of Ohio over $400 that they claim they owe us to close out a grant. We do not agree, but spend so much staff time over such a small amount of money. Then we have the to deal with the best in 1984 style language ever thought up by agreeing to check the U.S. Department of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control Specially Designated Nationals List or as it is commonly known the terrorism watch list for those helping to finance terrorists in order to receive any state funding. This is a 261 page document in alphabetical order that is not searchable of known terrorists and their aliases. How does any organization search this list to compare it to their own donors or their clients is beyond me? We have to sign a form that says we do not knowingly give or receive money from any of these people. Freddy Garcia is on the list, Teresa Gomez is on the list, and Oscar Hernandez also finds himself on the list. Then we also have to check the State Department list that was last updated in 2004.

If this is the best way we have of protecting against terrorists then we are all in deep trouble. With aliases, I am willing to bet that half of the players in Major League Baseball share a name with the people on the Treasury Department's Terrorism list. How is any agency supposed to search a 261 page pdf document of terrorists? Those that want to do harm to us must be laughing themselves to sleep every night that they have inflicted such fear in this country that non-profits are asked to comb through an alphabetical list of thousands of names of bad people to make sure the money we receive is "pure."

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

Homeless Count Nearly Impossible

Go Behind the Numbers

Last week, the National Alliance to End Homelessness issued a report on the number of homeless people in the United States that received a great deal of media attention. First of all, the number is a dramatic under count. The media was not very accurate with the reporting of these numbers. Please check out the original report that does a good job of clarifying the statistics. The 744,000 number of homeless people in the United States is a one day figure. It is a HUD mandate for every community to count the number of homeless people in January. The National Alliance report was praised on the Department of Housing and Urban Development website. We all need to be very skeptical of any report praised by HUD--an agency which believes that it is a good idea to demand every community in the United States focus resources on single, disabled homeless people who have long periods of homelessness even if there is no one in that town that fits that description.

All the people living in abandoned properties are not counted. Cities like Cleveland (with almost 10,000 abandoned units) and Detroit, and Pittsburgh have a huge barrier to an accurate count. The last count from Cleveland barely got to the number of shelter beds in the County. As an aside virtually every shelter bed in the County is full every night of the year. The private shelters like City Mission and St. Herman's and the hundreds of others in the country do not report either. Figuring out the best times to count is also nearly impossible. How would you like if the Census showed up at 5 a.m and burst in your bedroom to count the number of residents in your house? Speaking of the Census, they have a hard time counting people who live in housing with wide spread reports of undercounts in most cities. And yet HUD thinks that they can do better at counting people than an agency constituted only to count people? HUD has the other obstacle of trying to count a migratory population that does not have a fixed place to live.

As you can tell, NEOCH does not participate in the counting of homeless people. I can see nothing useful in the exercise. I firmly believe that it is a means to cut all of our funding. I believe that HUD will eventually say that there so few homeless people counted that we do not deserve all the funding that we are getting or one city is doing a bad job of counting and that city will be punished with fewer dollars. I also have an issue that in the richest country in the history of the world we send a team out to go to where homeless people live and just count them. Even by giving out some token gift seems somehow inappropriate. Finally, in the end, no matter how rigid the standards there will always be an undercount.

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

Family Shelter Sanctioned by County

East Side Catholic Shelter Cannot Apply for Federal Dollars

In the first unanimous vote of the Office of Homeless Advisory in a very, very long time, East Side Catholic was sanctioned for continued administrative problems. NEOCH has tried to get into the shelter to talk to the residents, but we have not been successful. We have also written about the problems in the shelter for four years in the Grapevine. The County Review Team recommended this sanction after two and half years of working with the group. The proposal that passed the OHS advisory was:

1. The current East Side Catholic budget (2005 Federal Dollars) would receive extra scrutiny by the County.
2. If HUD grants money from their 2006 application, the shelter will not be allowed to accept the funds unless they go under the umbrella of another organization. So, an outside entity would have to manage their budget and administration or the County would not release the 2006 federal funding.
3. East Side Catholic would not be allowed to apply for funds in 2007 through the Federal Continuum of Care funding.

This all takes place when East Side Catholic was just awarded Ohio Emergency Shelter dollars. Those funds seem impossible for a group to not receive once they are granted funding. I have seen programs that no longer even serve homeless people still receive an Emergency Shelter grant from the State of Ohio. We certainly hope the new Governor will look at this policy.

We absolutely support this move by the County and feel that it is long overdue. The letter that the County sent should have been more severe with demand language not "recommend-type" language. Ruth Gillett who runs OHS is just too nice, except when it comes to NEOCH. The County is clear in trying to preserve the shelter and not lose the shelter beds. They also made sure that the funding is not lost from the Federal government. The outstanding issue is how this will impact East Side Catholic's other programs especially CMHA's Miracle Village and their recovery programs. How will these other programs survive with the agency under County sanction?

NEOCH is going to host a family homeless conference in March to talk about these issues with religious organizations to discuss these and other issues facing women with children in our community.

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

New Era for Building and Housing?

Ed Rybka Attends Affordable Housing Meeting

To mark the one year anniversary of his appointment to the post as Director of the City of Cleveland Department of Building and Housing, Ed Rybka attended the Cuyahoga Affordable Housing Alliance meeting. CAHA is a place that public agencies (HUD, City, CMHA and County) meet with advocates, landlords, and social service providers to report on potential threats to affordable housing in our community. This meeting is the first Monday of every month (unless there is a holiday) at the local HUD office. This week, Ed Rybka joined us to report on his term at Building and Housing. As most are aware, there was a scathing report issued about the department. Rybka was very honest and straight forward about the problems and the fact that there are no additional resources to fix the problems within the Department.

He said that there is a great deal of institutional bureaucracy that needs changed. The biggest was the old way the Department responded to problems: complaints. Everyone in Cleveland knew that by calling your Council member or the Mayor's action line you got results. This allowed major eyesores that were not a problem to neighbors to go without oversight for years. This has changed in the last year. Now, all the departments focus on a certain neighborhood together and then move on together. Every neighborhood gets a visit every 30 days. The department has prioritized the worst abandoned properties (220) and is working on that list. They still respond to health and safety reports on an emergency basis, but not a complaint over a falling downspout to the Mayor's office.

Rybka said that they now have a database of 2,000 abandoned properties, but he suspects that there could be as many as 10,000. He also has set up a partnership with the County Senior and Adult Services to get help for seniors who cannot manage their house. His inspectors rarely come across homeless squatters--go out at night and that will change. He wants to start demolishing more buildings that are hazards. Right now they do 175 to 220 a year. He still has a lot of work, but he is trying to work through some of the issues in the report on department inefficiencies.

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

Condo Hell

Moratorium on Condos Until All Housed

While searching for articles on homelessness via Google News, I stumbled upon this beauty from the Washington Post:

"Million Dollar Condos to Be Built Above Church Serving Homeless."

I congratulate the fact that building luxury condos is an attempt to create a mixed neighborhood. Instead of being secluded in the suburbs, they are built amidst poverty with no intent to keep their residents' eyes hidden from the realities of an urban area. It sounds like a good attempt at creating a melting pot neighborhood.

But this isn't Sesame Street. I highly doubt that owners of $400k 1 bedroom condos have chosen their location so they can mingle with the homeless folks sleeping at their curb. In fact, I doubt any homeless people would be allowed within 100 ft of their million-dollar developments. The problem is this: there is a place for luxury condos and we need to realize that. But that place isn't everywhere. What developers have failed to realize is that WE DON'T NEED SO MANY LUXURY CONDOS, whether it be in DC or here in Cleveland. We're poor. We have loads of people without homes. What we need is safe, decent, affordable housing. We need more public and subsidized housing. We need more mixed-income housing units. We need more housing priced below $100k that is decent (no-frills). We need safe homes for families--who make up the fastest growing population of people that are homeless.

The Homeless Congress, a politically active group of homeless people representing different shelters, has it all figured out-- we could create jobs and housing by having people renovate old, abandoned buildings into affordable homes.

Condos will not make a neighborhood. Look at both Tremont and Ohio City. Sure they've been yuppie-fied, which some people see as a good thing. But it's a strange mix of the wealthy "urban hipsters" and the original poor residents who are continuously being pushed out. Enough pushing. We need to solve the problem.

In the Washington Post article, a managing broker for a real estate firm had this to say, "You don't need the soup kitchen to make it a tough sell. It's a tough sell because it's a condo, and if there's anything we need less of now, it's condos. It's like overkill."

How about building homes that our city's residents can actually have access to?

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

Emperor or President??

No Mail To Honor Gerald Ford--Really?

I firmly believe that George Washington would roll over in his grave if he saw the spectacle of the Gerald Ford State Funeral. Those founding Presidents were so concerned that they did not want the appearance of anything regal or any sign of royalty associated with their presidency. Washington stepped down after two terms to show that in a functioning democracy there could be a smooth transition of government. He founded the Executive Branch of government on the principle of being first among equals with humility and without all the ceremony of England. He resigned his miliary credentials so as not to appear to be a dictator, and scolded his modest staff over the appearance of any sigsn of an imperial leadership. We have gone very far away from those humble beginnings.

I can understand a state funeral for a President killed in office, but Ford was not even elected. He was appointed to the position in the grand tradition of assuming the throne of a Monarchy. He pardoned a criminal before Nixon was even charged. I do not understand why Ford or any President deserves all this ceremony. Why shut down the government when the first among equals dies? The President is so distant from the rest of us that they have become royalty without the crown. We would all benefit greatly if humility was brought back to government. Can a humble person who would reject a state funeral ever be elected President of the United States again?

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

Christmas Card to the President

Everything Changed and Yet Nothing Has Changed

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Bush:

I was going to write this snarky fake card to you, because I was very angry that you were taking time off for the holidays, while we are responsible for destroying a country in the Middle East and not rebuilding a city in the Mississippi Delta. I was going to write a backhanded piece praising you both for being able to stay above it all, while everything seems to be crumbling around you. So, I started thinking about how we keep being told that everything changed on September 11, 2001, and that is the singular reason for the decisions made over the last five years. But it all does not square with reality. My world changed and the world around me changed, but my government did not change. You would be in exactly the same place as you are now with or without the 2001 terrorist attacks. Everything changed in my life, but nothing seemed to change in your life.

I firmly believe that we would still have invaded Iraq, because in the end they really had nothing to do with the attack on the United States. We could not change the weather, and so the hurricane would have still wiped out New Orleans and Brownie would still have been in the office responsible for preventing the death and chaos. The devastation of New Orleans changed me, but I don't think that it changed you. The destruction wrought on this country by Cheney and Rumsfield will reverberate down to my children's children, but the two neo-conservatives advocated extreme positions before 9/11/01. Cheney and Rummy will be producing homeless veterans long after they are gone, thus guaranteeing another generation will deal with injured war vets sleeping on Superior Ave. and nursing wounds they received in a distant land.

The problem is that I believe that you would have tried to invade our privacy much like Richard Nixon did with or without the World Trade Center attacks. Because, hell, many in your administration are long ago "fighters of freedom" from the Nixon/Ford era. Everything in my world changed, but you received a whipping boy to justify all the changes you have brought to this country. I have an extra hour to get on an airplane, you got a Congress that did not question you on anything. I never get to hear from the Islamic Center of Cleveland anymore, and you got the power to detain U.S. citizens without charge forever. I have to contend with the reality that not one subsidized housing building has been re-constructed in one of the oldest cities in North America because federal funding priorities are on one of the oldest cities on the planet.

I believe that the compassionate conservatism stuff was a way to get elected, and you would have not followed up on it with or without those suicide bombers from the Middle East. Mr. and Mrs. Bush you would have treated the media with disdain and scorn with or without the alleged "war on terror." You would have rejected real engagement with Americans opposed to your policies with or without Michael Moore. You would have swift boated honorable men who willingly served their country just to get elected and you still would have told America that if the Democrats win then our enemies win even if Osama Bin Laden had not become public enemy number one. I am now more suspicious of government and especially the Justice Department because they have the power to spy on me, hold me without charge, and even torture me without consequence, and you still go about the routine of government by pardoning one turkey a year, making a video in which your dog talks, and playing t-ball on the White House grounds.

I was never asked to sacrifice. I turned around for a minute to grieve and when I looked up the Bill of Rights was much different. It looked a lot like that redacted opinion piece in the New York Times the other day with black lines covering parts. The first year after the attacks, in fact, I got $600 back from you in a check. I don't know if I thanked you for that by the way, but I had no idea the strings that were attached to that refund. I don't know if others feel this way because the television shows are the same, the news has the same detached stories centering around celebrity, scandal and blood. My world has changed so much in the last five years it is hard to keep up with everything that has reduced my security, freedom and liberty. I know that before an Arab population attacked our country, we had big problems with the sons and daughters of slaves. Today, we have big problems with every minority group that is not lily white, and the sons and daughters of slaves are now incarcerated at unbelievable levels.

This is all unsustainable. I would not patronize you with the words of your predecessors like a "House divided..." or "The death-knell of the republic had rung..." or "We shall pay any price, bear any burden..." but it just seems like you have cast off all those noble ideas of 230 years and used them as Animal Farm style slogans. I know that you are a decisive personality and you see reflection and re-evaluation as a sign of weakness. But I also know that you love this country and have deep seated and long family loyalty to the United States. Please, I ask you in the new year to change direction to keep this country together. Family and friends of Veswald Hall, firefighter Dana Hannon and Elena Ledesma who all died in the World Trade Center had their world forever changed, and they need you to show us a new direction. You have nothing to lose, but my children have everything to lose if we don't heal some of these deep wounds opened.

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

Out of Reach Report Out-HUD Funds Not

New Report Shows Need for $11.21 per hour job to Afford Housing in Cleveland

The National Low Income Housing Coalition "Out of Reach" Report came out earlier this month. It shows us with detailed numbers why homelessness is on the rise in America. With a severe shortage of housing that is subsidized by the federal government, it is very difficult for many to keep their housing when rents keep increasing. The new report shows that an individual must make $11.21 per hour in order to afford a one bedroom apartment in Cleveland. The increase in the minimum wage will allow lower income people to take 20 hours off their work week and still be able to afford housing in Ohio. A renter looking for an apartment with two bedrooms must work 79 hours making minimum wage in 2007 in Cleveland in order to afford the fair market rent. In 2006, that same individual had to work 105 hours in order to afford rent in Cleveland. Thanks to the voters of Ohio those making minimum wage will only have to work two full times jobs instead of 2.5 jobs.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development says that an individual should only spend 30% of their income on rent in order for it to be affordable. The Fair Market Rent in Cleveland for a one-bedroom is $583 or a two bedroom apartment $702. To afford the Fair Market Rent an individual must make $23,320 a year for a one bedroom or $28,080 for a two bedroom. It is slightly less in the State of Ohio with $20,606 a year for a one bedroom and an individual must make $25,596 per year to afford rent in Ohio. This translates to $9.91 per hour for a one bedroom in Ohio or $11.21 per hour for a one bedroom in Cleveland.

The worst part of this study is the Mission Impossible we have assigned to those with a disability in Ohio. We actually have a rather low Fair Market Rent compared to some parts of the country, but it is a high hurdle to find an affordable place to live with only a disability check. These individuals must find an apartment with a rent of $181 per month in the State or pay nearly all their monthly SSI check in an apartment at the traditional market rate. This is a fragile population that needs our help instead we give them $603 a month and send them out on a journey to survive on just enough money to pay the rent. I would like to see Tom Cruise try his hand at this Impossible Mission and keep his sanity.

HUD Does Not Release Funding for Homeless Programs

Right around Christmas for the past eight or ten years, HUD has released funds for all the shelters, transitional facilities, and supportive housing programs to get the positive press of December homeless stories. They give out money to ride the wave of late November/December inevitable holiday stories (see Plain Dealer Holiday Spirit) when the media suddenly remembers that there are homeless people among us. The Feds give away $1 Billion to 1.5 Billion dollars in December every year with most of that money renewing the budgets of the existing shelters in the United States.

Congress did not pass the HUD budget, and this made it impossible to get that positive publicity of releasing their Continuum of Care funds near Christmas. I have no idea how they are going to approve the shelter/homeless programs' budgets if the government runs out of money in February. Will they wait until the new Congress passes a 2007 budget? Will they approve a small partial year budget? Will they renew only some of the programs? We all wonder what will happen with the HUD budget. Maybe the media will realize that there are homeless people all year if the budget issue is resolved in February and HUD announces the release of funds at that time, but will the shelters be able to hold on during this delay?

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

Free Times Article on Homelessness

"Far From Home" Points Fingers at Everyone Else

There is a good story in today's Free Times about homelessness. I wrote a letter to the editor commenting on the article that I hope will be published. I won't duplicate my thoughts from the letter here in this blog in hopes that my letter will be published. I did like the article written by Charu Gupta even though I come off looking like a bully. I think that it raises some great issues that need addressed--(not if I am a bully or not). I hope that this lights a fire under the County to actually begin to make progress. Two cities in the United States (Denver and St. Paul) have actually made progress in reducing homelessness despite the horrible federal environment. The federal government has made bad decisions and prioritized certain populations over others in a misguided and misinformed strategy to "end" homelessness somewhere over the rainbow.

I still believe that it would be best for all that Ruth Gillett move on into some other area of County government. I believe that we need fresh ideas and a new perspective. We need bold strategies involving some pain among local social services to transform themselves to meet current needs. We can no longer keep protecting the status quo and diligently following federal policies without objection. We need a new direction, which will actually lead to a reduction in the number of homeless people. Most of all, we need government to start listening to homeless people who are in fact the experts. We need homeless people at the table and we need to treat them as equals not a sideshow. I will have more to say on the issues raised in the Free Times article over the next couple of weeks.

By the way, the new Grapevine is out and on the streets. It is bright red and would look great under the tree. Buy it from your favorite Grapevine vendor at the West Side Market.

Brian "Not a Bully" Davis
Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.

Exceptional Washington Post Story

Redefining Dad Missed A Few Problems

The Washington Post has featured a series on being a Black Man over the last couple of months with today a very good story about Redefining Dad. There were a lot of items that were left out of the story that all Dads face today. For Dads that do not have custody of their kids it is very rough to remain a part of their child's life. The child support system is unfair to the non-custodial parent--usually the Dad.

• They get no credit for gifts or other items provided to their family. Everything must go through the state system, which is hard for a parent.
  
• They pay and pay and pay, but the custodial parent controls all visits and all contact. The courts make it very difficult for Dads to participate with their children especially if they are struggling with housing or a job.
  
• The system puts the Dad into debt and if the mother accepts public money there is no chance that the Dad can have that debt reduced by the court. In fact, the Dad can be in debt for decades after their child has reached adulthood.
  
• It takes a very long time to get a support order revised if the Dad loses their job or is their salary is cut back. During all this time that they are trying to get their support order adjusted they must pay the full amount. This can quickly lead to debt that they will never be able to pay back.
  
• If the custodial parent is struggling, the Dad must move a mountain in order to get the custodial agreement re-visited. The health and welfare of the child or the ability of the child to prosper does not seem to be the concern of the court or the child support system administrators.
  

It is so discouraging for a Dad who for the most part want to do the right thing. I see plenty of Dads who want to help and be part of the life of their kids, but it is killing them. They often give up because of the debt issues and the futility of working and never being able to find stability. Politicians will not touch this issue with a 10 foot poll for fear of being tagged as supporting "dead beat Dads." Many men do not realize how quickly their debt can spiral out of control over their outstanding child support obligations. Someone needs to address these issues if Dad is going to be "redefined."

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

Homeless Vigil on Thursday

The First Mayor to Attend Homeless Memorial Day

This Thursday December 21, 2006 at 5 p.m at Franklin Circle Church will be the first time in the last 20 years that a Mayor of Cleveland has attended the Homeless Memorial Day. The Coalition has organized the Candlelight Vigil for 20 years even before NEOCH existed as a Coalition. Never before has the Mayor attended the vigil to remember those who passed away over the previous year and were homeless. The previous Mayors were either at war with the Coalition, not interested or too busy. Jane Campbell attended when she was a state representative and Frank Jackson attended in his first year as Council President.

This year will be the first year that the Mayor of Cleveland attends. We will have an inter-religious ceremony, a few comments from Mayor Frank Jackson and then read the names of all those individuals we found who were homeless and passed away. We invite those in attendance to mention any other people they know who died over the last year. Everyone is welcome to attend the event. Franklin Circle Church is at 1688 Fulton Rd. near Lutheran Hospital.

In addition, we are told by State Representative Michael Skindell that the State is on the verge of proclaiming December 21 as Ohio Homeless Memorial Day. Skindell was the speaker last year and was so moved by the ceremony that he wanted the State of Ohio to recognize the day.

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

Public Square: A Storm on the Horizon?

A Survey of the Number Sleeping Outside

Every year during the Thanksgiving weekend, NEOCH staff walk downtown to count the number of people who choose to sleep outside. This has two purposes: the first is to make sure that there is no harassment of homeless people in keeping with the Key vs. City of Cleveland legal agreement. In 2000, NEOCH signed an agreement with the City to stop police officers, under the direction of the Mayor, from confronting homeless people and telling them that they could not sleep on the public spaces. We signed an agreement after filing a lawsuit, which prevented police from arresting or threatening arrest of homeless people for purely innocent behavior of sitting, sleeping, standing or eating on the sidewalk. So every year we walk downtown and make sure that the agreement is in place and their is no violation. Cleveland is one of the only cities with such an agreement with homeless people, and so NEOCH staff go out to test this agreement every year. The other purpose is to count the number of people who reject the shelters during the year and look at the extent of the problem. The holiday weekend is a good baseline, because it is the smallest number that will be out for the entire year. Many family members take their relatives in for Thanksgiving while others stay in the shelters to participate in the large number of meals served during the holidays.

This year, we learned a few things on a very pleasant holiday weekend. By the way, the weather has very little impact on the number of people sleeping outside anymore. The people who reject the shelters have an extensive plan for survival with blankets, plastic and even tents. This year we saw 40 people sleeping downtown up from 27 last year--more than a 60% increase. We did not see as many people on Public Square, but saw many around the Square in various places. We saw more people in out-of-the-way locations. We walked on every street from East 20th to West 3rd from the Lake back to Carnegie Ave. to Jacobs Field. Unlike last year, we did not see anyone who was not prepared for the cold. Last year, we found a guy with no gloves, no blanket and a very thin coat lying on the sidewalk in a high traffic area. We have almost reached the number of people sleeping outside that we saw before the men's shelter opened at 2100 Lakeside.

Why are people rejecting the shelters for outside? Some do not like the rules in shelter or find it too demeaning to ask for help. Some have gotten fed up with the wait or the lack of progress in the shelters and give up. That number seems to go up every year. Only a few gave up in the first few years, but now as many as 40 people are giving up on shelters for the streets. Some don't like to be near people, others don't like the problems with theft and some just don't like the smell of being around a hundred other people. In those cold nights of Cleveland with the wind blowing off the lake, there are more than 40 people who find the streets of Cleveland more attractive than the shelters. Think about that as you shovel the snow or clear off your car this holiday season.

I think that we are going to have issues with Public Square in the near future. We did get a complaint from a homeless guy about police urging people to leave the Square. We are following up on these concerns. The Downtown businesses who have now taxed themselves to keep the sidewalks clean are not going to tolerate people sleeping on those clean sidewalks. They are all paying a pretty penny for those clean up crews, and then to have people sleeping on the sidewalk messes up their entire business plan. It seems like the two interests iof homeless people and corporate are headed for conflict. I hope that this can be resolved peacefully with the City asking the corporate community to calm down and help with real solutions instead of law enforcement activities.

A history of the Thanksgiving walk by the Coalition:
2006: 40 people sleeping outside Downtown
2005: 27 people sleeping outside Downtown
2004: 19 people sleeping outside Downtown
2003: 11 people sleeping outside Downtown
2002: 9 people sleeping outside Downtown
2001: 6 people sleeping outside Downtown
2000: 3-5 people sleeping outside Downtown*
*This is the first year that 2100 Lakeside is in operation.
1999: 42 people sleeping outside Downtown
1998: 60 people sleeping outside Downtown

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

Doing the Most Good?

Is the Salvation Army Dissing All the Rest of Us?

First, there is another good discussion at Ohio2006 about the Voting ID lawsuit. Please check it out including the comments from one of the PD reporters.

Second, what is with the Salvation Army's new motto: "Doing the Most Good?" Is this some kind of slam against all the rest of the non-profit organizations? If they are doing the "most" good, then what is the Coalition for the Homeless or the Red Cross or Y-Haven doing? Is the good we do not worthy compared to their "most good?" Are they challenging all the rest of us? Does this have something to do with their faith that I just do not understand? What does it mean? It seems like those "#1 Dad" shirts that were featured in that Seinfeld episode. There is not a lot of room for others when you declare yourself "the most" of anything. If they are doing the "most good" then we can just go out of business, and step aside so we do not prevent them from doing so much good in our community.

I am not a big fan of the "Army," because they always seem like they cannot be told how to do anything based on their long history. This marketing strategy only reinforces in my mind their superiority complex. I have never found the length of time a non-profit has been in business to be a good thing. I am ashamed that there is a need for NEOCH in the richest country on the planet. The fact that we have not solved homelessness in the last 19 years is a constant source of embarrassment for me. The Salvation Army has existed for over 100 years and they have not eliminated poverty or reduced the human cost of natural disasters in all that time? They have these rigid structures and require funds from the local community go to the national office. They cannot be told that they need to change with a changing time. They did not understand the concept of an entry shelter that did not turn people away when they ran 2100 Lakeside. They were so convinced that punishment was a legitimate strategy for dealing with drugs and alcohol addicted individuals. The Salvation Army has a real hard time playing nice with others especially grassroots, non-traditional organizations.

Now they are doing the "most good." Please someone explain what this means, and why would it make me want to dontate to their famous red kettle.

Finally, the Woodchoppers Ball is this weekend at the Kent Stage. Sunday at 7 pm you can see some of the best guitarists on the planet doing the most good to benefit NEOCH. Please check it out and attend. This year Brian Henke will also produce a CD as part of the Woodchoppers Ball. Look for it during the first of the year.

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

Cleveland Crazy Over Panhandling

Panhandling Ordinance Sails Through Council

There is nothing that the Coalition deals with that is more politically charged than panhandling. People are on-fire opposed to panhandlers. There is a deep, dark, hate for panhandlers among some pedestrians. This is such a small number of the people NEOCH represents, but this group inspires the most anger. I wish that I did not have to argue about people who can ask for money, but no one else ever steps forward on behalf of panhandlers. They do not have a trade association and they do not work well with each other. To say nothing for the small number of panhandlers who create such a nuisance that they make it bad for everyone. The Grapevine blog has done a good job keeping up on the panhandling debate.

Here is an e-mail that I got to our website from Tom after the article appeared in the Plain Dealer:
"It makes certain spots in the city off-limits to free speech," said Brian Davis, head of the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless. "What is the concern because a person asks for money near a phone?"
How about the right to leave me the F$#@ alone?

Here is my reply to Tom:
"Thank you for the suggestion, but that law does not exist in our society. If it did I would not receive telephone calls from so many politicians in October. There would be no Federal Communications Commission messing with what I am "allowed" to watch on the public airwaves, and advertising would not appear on every single flat surface in our universe. So, you have to put up with hearing from poor people asking for help until you can get that privacy law passed."

I did hear from people who were surprised how large the fine was for panhandling--$250. That seems very extreme to me and a few callers to our office. It seems like you are forcing people already down to dig a deeper hole that they will not get out of anytime soon. Eventually, this law will fail as it has in nearly every other city in the United States. The backers will be back at the table with more extreme measures after this law fails or is struck down by the courts.

As we always say, the only way to make any impact on panhandling is competition and finding alternative jobs for those begging for money. We need to put some of the brightest minds to the task of finding micro-enterprise or some other innovative ideas to move people into real jobs that do not involve asking for "charitable" help. We have a number of ideas on the NEOCH website as alternatives, but right now the City is busy making laws instead of solving problems.

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

Blackwell: Worst Secretary of State Ever

Ken Blackwell Should Be Impeached

It was ironic that Subodh Chandra was up for contempt issues when Ken Blackwell held the ultimate contempt for nearly every court in Ohio. First, he never gave the local boards proper guidance on the voting ID law. He then did not inform the local Boards of Elections properly of the agreement with NEOCH/SEIU. On the Monday before the election there was a settlement over the role of the observers that he was supposed to inform every county board of elections (issued by a Cuyahoga County judge). Blackwell instead only informed the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections and that was in the last minute of business on Monday November 6. Then there was still confusion over the counting of provisional ballots (because thousands of Ohioans were improperly forced to vote with a provisional ballot) and the legal team had to work out another compromise over the counting of votes. So after all these fights, some boards still did not get the information and were not using the agreement to govern the rules to complete their count.

Having learned from 2000 and 2004 that there is no going back once the official count is announced, Chandra was probably overly zealous in informing each board of elections director in the state of the agreement he spent so many hours crafting. Who could blame him? If Blackwell had done his job in the first place there would not have been so many provisional ballots cast that needed counted. I hope that one of the courts find Blackwell in contempt. The state legislature should impeach him for not directing the local boards on HB3 and then showing disregard for court monitored agreements, and finally acting with such extreme dereliction of duty in overseeing this election. I remind you that Blackwell shook off all suggestions to appoint someone else to oversee this election despite his obvious conflict of interest as a candidate for governor. He also railed against the 2004 voter initiative that would have taken some of the conflict of interest out of the Secretary of State's office.

This is not a partisan issue either, because both Sherrod Brown (D) and Bob Taft (R) were very good Secretaries of State. They both did a very good job in trying to get every citizen to vote and reduce the barriers to voting. Bob Taft was one of the first Secretaries of State in the United States to implement rules for homeless people registering to vote. The Taft rules were models adopted by many other states and pushed by advocates. Blackwell has to be one of the worst Secretaries of State in the United States. He has disenfranchised more Ohioans than anyone since Ohio Secretary of State Harvey Smith presided over the 1919 Elections before women were granted the right to vote.

Brian
PS. Why was the Plain Dealer so harsh on Chandra? Did it have anything to do with how soft they were on Michael Vu and local election's officials?

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

Our Homeless Voting Rights Activists

Homeless Voters Wait Out Ohio Attorney General

There is no doubt that the 2006 Ohio Voter ID law was a way to keep poor people away from the polling place. We challenged this law and won a huge victory. The Secretary of State repeatedly refused to follow the law. Blackwell did not inform the Boards of Elections on the proper method for implementing the law, and this forced thousands of voters to cast a provisional ballot instead of a regular ballot. In Franklin County this has real consequences. As many as four races are still up in the air, and it will hinge on the results of the provisional ballots. Lawyers spent all last week working out how those ballots will be counted. There was a good summary by Subodh Chandra that another blog posted here.

I never got the chance to describe the three individuals who went down to Columbus from the Cleveland shelters to secure the right to vote. Pam is a graduate of Spelman College and grew up in Birmingham, Alabama during the last days of segregation. Her cousin was one of the children killed in the bombings. She told us the night we met with the lawyer that she was surprised that Ohio was doing what Bull Connors was trying to do in the South. We viewed the Southern attempts to block voters as racist, but Ohio's rules were passed under the guise of "preventing fraud." She is a very strong woman who volunteers and had a very stable life in the suburbs. She is trying to do everything to help her husband who is confined to a nursing home, which has brought her to the brink of financial ruin. Her driver's license expired and she had no address to put on a new license. What would you do? Pam fought for the right to participate in democracy?

Cornell was a veteran of the U.S. military. He just wants to be left alone at this point. He has medical issues, but has found a way to survive within the shelters. He had identification, but it was from a previous address, and that was not the address that the Board of Elections had on file. This would have confused the poll workers and there is no guarantee with Cornell would be able to vote.

Micky was also a veteran and had struggled with homelessness for an extended period of time. He volunteers at 2100 Lakeside to make sure the area remains safe. He loves walking the neighborhood to make sure that it stays clean and safe. His issue was that the only form of ID he owned was his Public Housing identification. It was unclear to everyone whether "other government document" included a public housing identification since they are a quasi-government entity.

So, all three waited all day in a jury room for a trial that did not ever start. They all were happy to have participated and were glad that they made a difference.

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

An Inspiring Memorial for buddy gray

Cincinnati Activists Honor 10 Year Anniversary of Killing of buddy gray

I was honored to attend the memorial for buddy gray down in the Over the Rhine neighborhood in Cincinnati on Wednesday November 15. Duane Drotar from 2100 Lakeside Shelter and I went down to remember this giant in the United States social justice movement. Here is the text of the description prepared for the memorial:

buddy gray (he preferred his name in lower case letters) was a war resister, carpenter, preservationist, poet, community journalist, baseball coach, and friend to many. And he was known best as a relentless and uncompromising advocate for low income housing and other services for the poor. He came from a small-town, working-class family to live in Over-the-Rhine because he believed in the cause of liberation. He had decided, when he was still a young man, that he could not tolerate the poverty and discrimination he saw in the world around him. So he entered what his brother Jack called "a journey of fearless, selfless service."

Michael Stoops from National Coalition spoke and Barb Anderson from Indiana came to the remember her friend, buddy. Georgine Getty from the Greater Cincinnati Coalition and buddy's close friend Bonnie Neumeier talked about gray's legacy. It was a wonderful service with civil rights activists from the 1960s and 1970s standing witness with college and high school students from Moeller High School and Xavier and Miami University. We got to hear from Donald Whitehead who was the previous director of National Coalition for the Homeless and the Cincy Coalition talk about buddy saying "I'm glad you are here," when he was at a low point in his life.

I was asked to say a few words. I talked about how I missed buddy and Ralph Delaney who was also killed. I talked about all that they could have done over the last decade to help in the struggle. Then I finished with Daniel Thompson's poem about Ralph and by extension buddy called "There are Saints in the City."

There were so many stories and so many programs touched by buddy. His legacy was not extinguished when he was killed by a disturbed man. The Drop Inn Center had expanded and continues to fight against gentrification. Buddy's Place opened and is a beautiful meeting place for activist. It was easy to see potential conflict between the nearly 100 condominiums being developed while homeless people struggle to find affordable housing in the Over The Rhine neighborhood. It was a wonderful event that will keep the fire burning in those that carry the light for social justice.

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

More Horror Stories from Election Day

My 2006 General Election Poll Observer Experience

During my 17 hours at the polls there was a lot going on. I arrived at Dunbar Elementary at 5:30 am however all of us (including another observer, the nine poll workers, three precinct judges and one equipment technician) stood outside until 6:20 (in the raining cold) waiting for the janitor to let us in the building. The day was off to a rocky start. At least 10 people showed up between 6:30-7:01 a.m. to vote and only 5 people waited to vote, 4 people said they would return (and they did) and one lady said there was no way she could make it back.

The poll workers and judges were appreciative of me being there to insure they were following the updated rules for voting. We had two major issues at the beginning: 1) Can a person vote if their Ohio license did not match the address in the voter roll book. Once I showed the poll workers the rule that they were allowed to vote, we didn't have that issue anymore. 2) Can a person vote provisional ballot at any precinct. We debated about this fact, but once I showed the poll workers in their manual that they could ONLY vote provisional in their precinct or at the Board of Elections, we didn't have that issue anymore.

One precinct judge turned a voter off because of her nasty tone when telling the voter that she couldn't vote, because she didn't have identification. The voter was of Latino background didn't speak English very well. I informed the voter that she could vote a provisional ballot, because her name was in the voter roll book. I also brought over a poll worker who spoke Spanish, however the woman was offended by the nasty poll worker and refused to vote.

Lastly, our polling place was under a federal court order to remain open until 9:00 p.m.. However, our last voter came to the polling place at 7:25 pm and the only action after 7:30 was a poll worker who almost went into a diabetic coma. The poll worker had not taken her second insulin shot because she hadn't eaten for hours. She thought that she would be home by 8:30 p.m.! Overall, I must commend the polling location I was placed because the poll workers and precinct judges were sympathetic and kind to the voters. They were for the most part helpful and they didn't mind my presence during the day.

A couple of suggestions I have would offer: require a back up so that more than one person has a key to open the polling place in the morning and there should be Spanish prompts on the voting machines. At the polling place I observed on the near West Side of Cleveland over half of the voters spoke Spanish and at least 1/3 of those voters needed someone to translate the ballot.

-Teri'­ Horne
Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.

The Worst Experience in Poll Monitoring

Police Called to the Precinct Featuring Homeless Voters

On the day that Pam Denton appeared on the Editorial pages of the Plain Dealer, it is ironic that poll workers were poised to give her the wrong ballot. I was a poll watcher today at Precinct Cleveland 13D and 13E, and it was the worst experience I have had in a long time. The stressed workers were great, but one worker sent from the Board of Elections, Karen, was an absolute obstruction to voting. She was so mean, angry and put off by the observer process that she banned us from talking to anyone. I could not sit still when Pam Denton, the subject of Joe Frolik article today showed up, and asked me for help. She was given the wrong provisional ballot--from the wrong precinct. This would have invalidated her ballot, and thus disenfranchising her after all the work we did to get her to vote.

Karen, the Poll Worker trainer, who was sent by the Board of Elections when the two precinct judges did not show up in the morning. If she was the model trainer it is no wonder that things went so bad today. She was mean to her own workers, angry and was unclear of the law. Anyway, she called the Board and asked that I be removed from my role as observer. Then she called the police to have me removed. No one from the Board of Elections ever called to tell Karen to chill out and work with the observers. I was placed in the Sterling Rec. Center to make sure that homeless people voted and were not disenfranchised. Karen wanted me to only talk to voters as they left--which means that they would have cast their ballot incorrectly. She did not want me to talk to poll workers even if they were doing activities that would have disenfranchised voters.

I am proud to say that despite Karen the poll worker trainer and her obstructionist behavior all of the voters that showed up at the polls did cast a ballot. Will those provisional ballots be counted is a big question. Since I was not allowed to be near the table, I could not tell if they were filled out properly. I felt bad for the workers who were bullied and pushed around by Karen. I do not understand the mentality of someone who would want to make mistakes instead of quietly trying to resolve these issues before the mistake were cast in stone or in diebold we trust in this case. I was trying to make sure that every voter cast a valid vote. Karen seemed to want to show that she was in charge and she would not accept any input. I did not get arrested or thrown out, but thanks only to the wonderful lawyers from the Election Protection who helped monitor the polling places.

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

Victory Celebration on Monday Night

Join Us on the Steps of the Board of Elections

On Monday night the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless, the team of lawyers who fought the ID rules, and representatives of the Service Employees International Union will celebrate the expanded right to vote in Ohio with a vigil outside of the Board of Elections. On Monday night at 6 p.m. join us and a few of the homeless individuals who fought for the right to vote. The Plain Dealer had a good summary of the rules regarding identification yesterday.

The bottom line is that everyone with a social security number can vote. Go to the correct polling place and cast a ballot. Do not leave until you have cast a regular or provisional ballot. If you have any questions call Ohio Votes at 1-888-886-8364 or the Board of Elections at 216/443-3298.

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

Everyone that Wants To Vote Will Count

NEOCH and SEIU vs. Blackwell and the State of Ohio Results

Three brave homeless and low income people came to Columbus one week before the November election to fight for the rights of all voters in Ohio. They woke up a 5 a.m. to drive to Columbus and wait for 11 hours while lawyers negotiated. Pam Denton, Micky Trammell and Cornell Bishop all made the trip and sat in a jury room for hours waiting for a hearing to start while the State of Ohio negotiated with our team of lawyers. We got what we came for in that everyone will have the chance to cast a ballot and those that have a social security number will have those votes counted. We will not have a repeat of the 2004 election when many of the provisional ballots were thrown out on technical grounds.

We consider this a huge victory for homeless people and those who have any issues with their identification. The State saved face over this horrible piece of legislation that they passed by keeping the ID provision in place for the regular ballots. Anyone who shows up with either no identification or a problem with their ID will cast a provisional ballot. The big difference is that you will not have to show up within 10 days to prove anything or sign some affidavit that poll workers do not understand. If you have a social security number, you will give the last four digits of that number and sign the book as you normally did and you will get a provisional ballot that will not be challenged later.

The rules for what "other government document" as an acceptable form of ID were clarified. And the absentee ballots that were cast with problems will count. This allows the absentee ballots that were cast during this last confused week to count and those with the wrong driver's license number to count.

Our main named adversary who has not supervised this election very well, Ken Blackwell, was actually willing to compromise throughout this process. The problem was former Clevelander, Jim Petro, who we waited for hours to make up his mind. The Columbus paper identified Petro as leading the negotiations. It was also mentioned in a few newspaper accounts that Jeff Jacobson, the Republican Senate leader, had taken an active interest in defending the law. While not present at the negotiations, Legislative leaders were known to be pushing Petro to defend their confusing law.

There were so many lawyers who helped with this lawsuit and should be thanked. I don't know all of them, but Subodh Chandra, Cleveland's previous Law Director, led the negotiations along with Caroline Gentry from Dayton's Porter Wright Morris and Arthur office. Mark Griffin from Cleveland helped prepare the homeless people who were going to testify. Gino Scarselli, who years ago served as a NEOCH Board member, helped prepare and drive homeless people down to Columbus. He had a long history with representing homeless people and represented the Coalition's interests well. John Gilligan from Columbus prepared the expert witnesses for the case. And the many other attorneys had boxes and boxes of testimony and declarations ready to go for a trial. They all did a ton of work on short notice, and we certainly thank them all.

Since none of us actually got to testify, I will post the stories that our three voters were going to tell the court in the next week. I have to get back to making sure people get to the polling places and our constituents are not disenfranchised. One note about why Cleveland is still better than Columbus. While we were sitting for hours, our car was in a parking garage which tragically CLOSED at 6:30 p.m.!!! My car was stuck in the garage, and we were trapped in Columbus. Luckily my parents opened up their house to the three voting rights activists who came down to testify or we would have all been wandering the rolled up streets of Columbus. Who closes a parking garage at 6:30 p.m?? We must work harder in Cleveland, because most of us are still working at 6:30 p.m. Anyway, thanks to Rosamond and Charles Davis for their hospitality to four very tired recently enfranchised voters.

Brian

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

Give Us Your Tired and Poor...

Would We Accept the Statue of Liberty Today?

On October 28, 1886, the Statue of Liberty was dedicated in New York City by President Grover Cleveland with these words on the pedestal, "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore, send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" There is no possibility that we would ever accept such a brazen symbol of Democracy 120 years after the dedication of the original Ms. Liberty. We would dismantle that Lady and send her back to France on ship carrying a banner "Mission Accomplished."

Here are some of the reasons that our current leaders could never accept a 2006 Statue of Liberty. First, we would be leery of any gift from France. Second, we do not want any more of those "illegals" and so we don't want 151 foot tall billboard advertising immigration. We are now afraid of "your huddled masses," so keep them on your own shores. Third, you can't even walk up the 120 year old Statue anymore. It is a symbol of America and therefore a potential security threat. Close off the symbols and thus you make us all safer--and don't make any new symbols for America and we are all safer. Fourth, we certainly don't want any more homeless people. We are all in our fourth or fifth year in our 10 year plan to "end" homelessness and so we don't need any more from other countries. Finally, the whole statue is too feminine and liberal elite for those in power. Lady Liberty expresses idealistic virtues that are way too advanced for a society looking for easier to understand statues like the simple cowboy in Ft. Worth or the Giant Bull on Wall Street.

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

Lawsuit to Protect the Right to Vote

NEOCH Files Suit to Assure the Elderly, Students, and Homeless People Participate in Democracy

The Homeless Coalition and the Service Employee International Union in Columbus filed suit on Monday against the current Secretary of State over the requirement for Ohio voters to show identification at the polling place. Many homeless people have problems keeping identification. Because of theft and the constant requirement to move around it is very likely that you will have to get new identification during your stay in the homeless community. Basically, homeless people must carry all of their belongings with them all the time. In talking to local homeless service providers, we find that between 20 to 30 percent of homeless population does not have identification or 800 to 1,200 homeless people on November 7 will not have identification in Cuyahoga County.

This is not a huge number compared to the half million voters, but then when we add in students, elderly, and poor people who may not have the proper ID it starts becoming big numbers. Then when you add the thousands of poll workers who will not understand the law and will disenfranchise voters who have an ID that does not match the address in the poll workers book, we start seeing large numbers who will not be able to vote. Then we find that the 88 counties are interpreting the law in much different ways, we see that Ohio will not have a uniform group of voters. So, if you happen to be poor in Youngstown there are stricter rules than in Cuyahoga County and you may not be able to vote just because you happen to live in one part of the state.

This is why NEOCH signed onto the lawsuit and are spending staff time these last two week to stop this horrible law from disenfranchising thousands of citizens. I have learned that there are many people who love going to the polls on election day. They have a history with the workers and they want to interact with others. They do not trust the mail and they feel they are part of democracy by going somewhere to vote. This will be difficult for many if our lawsuit does not prevail. We thank Subodh Chandra and the attorneys at Porter Wright in Dayton for all their work and the excellent complaint that they filed.

NEOCH testified against this horrible piece of legislation passed in early 2006. The state legislators did not listen to the experts who work on these issues everyday. They "fixed" a troubled system making it more complicated and addressing none of the problems. They did not hear how difficult it is to receive a birth certificate if you were not born in Ohio. The birth certificate is the basis of all ID. They did not listen when experts told them that illegal voters were not the problem. The problems were with training, staffing for election day and the standards for electronic voting. In fact, on the day I went down there was not one elections officer or activist testified in favor of HB 3.

We hope that this lawsuit prevails and we can have a fair and free election on November 7.

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