Homeless Congress Talk to Councilman Zone

Homeless Congress Talks About Shelters, Vacant Buildings and Overflow

We had a small crowd for the Homeless Congress meeting last week because of the ballgame going on at the same time. Approximately, two hundred or more homeless people work the game through clean up crews or the parking lot attendants at nearly every home Indians game. Despite the new name of the ballpark, indentured servants wait in the wings to clean up the beer and trash as the cheers fade away in the not-so-progressive field. We had about 15 homeless individuals, a couple of agencies, staff from Dennis Kucinich’s office, a representative from the County Office of Homeless Services advisory (the Homeless Book Club), and Councilman Matt Zone.

Councilman Zone was invited to the meeting (along with his 20 colleagues) to hear the concerns of homeless people over the conditions in the shelters and urge passage of the shelter standards bill in Cleveland. He heard an earful:

• One woman said that she was told by the shelter staff to put her baby in the foster care system while she looks for housing. She did and now that she found housing, she was told that her babies were up adoption. Bad advice.
• The men at Lakeside shelter are upset that when they visit family, go to the hospital or have to do a third shift job and they come back to find someone has taken their bed. This sounds reasonable to the world because we are not running a hotel here, but to the men the new person is unknown and coming into the community straight from the street. He could be drunk; he could be stealing items; he could be bring bedbugs. There is concern that the only way that 2100 Lakeside works with 400 guys is to divide the facility into six smaller shelters and force people to work and make milestones to move into the better communities. Sticking a guy who may have a prison mentality right into one of the higher communities even for a night, is a recipe for disaster. They want a reversal of this policy by creating sufficient overflow to address make this not necessary.
• There were concerns about shelters throwing away a person’s identification.
• There was concern about the training of staff who work at shelters and screening them for drugs and relapse issues among the staff.
• One of the shelters has a massive bedbugs outbreak, and the men were concerned about the ability to sleep in a facility with bedbugs.
• One other shelter primarily serves fragile populations of disabled and elderly men and does not have a defibrillator for heart attacks or the proper emergency equipment.
• Finally, the women expressed concern about the hot water tank repeatedly breaking in the Community Women’s Shelter.

Councilman Zone listened to all the concerns and agreed to take the concerns back to Councilman Cimperman and the city administration to activate this committee and begin discussing the Shelter Standards in Cleveland.

Other issues that we discussed included a proposal by the Congress to look at the abandoned property in Cleveland, and look into how those buildings may be turned over to homeless people in a modern urban homesteading initiative. We are going to invite community development folks to the next meeting to talk about the issues.

The County staff could not attend so they sent current North Point director Ed Gamerchek as a representative of the poorly named Office of Homeless Services “Advisory” Board. I say, poorly named because they really do not advise anyone. He received the Homeless Congress concerns about time limits along with the similar concerns expressed by the Coalition. He came to assure the group that no time limits were being talked about, but there was a concern about the amount of time spent in the shelters by some individuals. It should be noted that this is an extremely small number (single digit percentage of the total) who spend more than one year in the men’s shelter. There was also concern that some people were rejecting available spaces in transitional shelters thus there are vacancies in the transitional facilities and overcrowded conditions in the emergency shelters. The men said that the problem was that the County needs to step up and demand the transitional shelters make it easier to get in, and there must be a safety net so that if you fail out of the transitional facilities you do not have to start over at the beginning of the emergency shelter without a locker or fixed bed. It takes a lot of time and patience to move through the system, but there are set backs in a person’s recovery and the guys do not want to have to go all the way back to the unsafe and disruptive entry system.

We thank Councilman Zone for coming and listening, and we hope that he and other Council members will continue to join us. Thanks to Ed for attending, and the other community members for their help. We should recognize Laurie Rokakis and Congressman Kucinich for bringing two gift baskets to the meeting in March that we raffled off during the meeting.

Brian

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

Worst HUD Secretary in History Steps Down

Good Riddance!!!

The Wall Street Journal is reporting this morning that Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson is stepping down today. This is welcome news for America's homeless and those living in subsidized housing. He came in with such promise as a former Public Housing Director and then proceeded to dismantle public housing in the United States. Jackson just did not understand this job, and became the worst HUD secretary in the 40 some year history of the post. Here are some lowlights of his career:

• His biggest failure is New Orleans rebuilding. He eliminated public housing in New Orleans and has yet to build back any subsidized property. The one bright spot is that when people say we need smaller government and there is no reason to have a strong government we can point to New Orleans as the outcome of this policy. Government can rebuild a community like we did after the San Francisco earthquake unless we have neutered the government to the point that it is no longer able to function.
  
• He rewarded his friends and tried to punish those who disagreed. He bragged about withdrawing a contract from a contractor who had complained about Bush. He also held the Philadelphia Housing Authority hostage until they rewarded a piece of property to his friend.
  
• He attempted to starve public housing agencies to death.
  
• He left us with nearly $3 billion in underfunding in the Section 8 Project Based Housing program leaving hundreds of thousands of building owners scrambling to figure out how to pay their mortgages. This is a problem that the next administration will have to address.
  
• He was asleep at the wheel with regard to the foreclosure crisis. HUD owned property from foreclosed housing are mounting in most communities, and the HUD Secretary was baffled by the problem.
  
• Because of the foreclosure crisis and housing instability, tax credit projects in the United States are teetering. These projects make housing slightly more affordable to lower income people then the market. It is less attractive for investors to put money into these properties with the housing market in decline. Again, we heard the crickets chirping from the HUD building in DC when we asked about these problems in our local community.
  
• He pushed this silly and offensive "chronic" homeless initiative on the rest of the country while at the same time reducing affordable housing to families. Jackson pushed for cutting the homeless funding pie among more groups without increasing the size of the pie. In a time of increased homelessness this only lengthened the stay in shelters by those populations not in style anymore like families and non-disabled adults.
  
• He has refused to take a position on any pending bill in Congress as announced at the Cleveland City Club discussion from a couple of weeks ago.

There are so many problems with Mr. Jackson we could dedicate an entire blog to the woes of HUD. Poor people expect harsh treatment by Republican administrations. It is always worse when someone of such promise who comes out of the Public Housing sector stabs his former constituency in the back. Jackson had all the right background, but failed miserably and we declare our worst HUD Secretary ever.

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

Things You Need to Know

When You Fall...You Fall to the Bottom

Every few days, we get a call at the office from people who are new to homelessness, and they cannot believe that they have to go to a shelter. They are losing their home or their apartment, and are calling around a long list of numbers hoping for some help. There are some who had no idea that their landlord was being foreclosed on, and were told that they had to find some other place to live. The middle class has shrunk over the last 25 years, and there are many more people who are in danger of being homeless. Here are a few things that you need to know in order to prepare for the "Brave New World" without a safety net:

• There is no emergency housing in our community. There is rental housing and there are shelters. There is nothing in between. There are no more flop houses or places to pay for a week or a day at a time. There are motels, but those are not appropriate to live since they have no kitchens.
  
• There is no place to store your items. When you become homeless and you first go to shelter there are no places to keep your belongings. You must compact your entire life into one bag.
  
• Theft is a huge problem within the shelters. Take care of your valuables.
  
• No one from the County will tell you this to your face, but they have opened up files at Children and Family Services because a family became homeless. Stay strong, and go through all the hoops. Don't let the system take your children because you don't do the paperwork or show up for their hearings.
  
• If you are not the primary caregiver to a child and you are no longer married, immediately go in and request a change in your status. It takes months to get the payments on child support lowered, so you need to start that paperwork immediately. The debt accumulated while waiting for a child support correction usually can never be reduced or eliminated. It can last forever.
  
• It is highly unlikely that Mom and Dad can go to the same shelter. Unless the stars align perfectly this is not likely to happen. Stay strong and meet your spouse during the day. If you are not married or cannot prove you're married you will not get into a shelter together.
  
• When you first become homeless you go to the two entry shelters around 3 p.m. There is no need to call, they are not supposed to turn people away. If you are a woman go to 2219 Payne Ave. If you are a man go to 2100 Lakeside Shelter on Lakeside Ave.
  
• Call every morning to see if there are vacancies at the other shelters or you get stuck in the two entry shelters. There is usually no choice on the shelter that you start out in, and the rest of the shelters do not keep waiting lists. No one is going to advocate for you or open doors for you. You have to be a little pushy to get through the system. Ask questions, talk to people, and remember that you will make it through this if you stay strong.
  
• Word on the streets is often more reliable than the information you may get from the providers. Other homeless people know a great deal of information, and you should talk to them. They often know more than the case workers and social workers who are barely keeping up from one emergency to the next.
  
• Except for the entry shelter for women, nearly every other shelter will ask you to leave to go find housing or a job during the day.
  
• Make sure that you get a voice mail box early so that you are connected to the rest of the world. This will help move through the system quicker.
  
• Bus tickets are gold, and cigarettes are silver. They are also a form of currency in the homeless community.
  
• The libraries are great places to go during the day, and usually the librarians are incredibly helpful. There are plenty of resources on the computer that can help. The best are the 211 website www.211cleveland.org and the housing website www.housingcleveland.org. Both have all the resources you need at your fingertips to get out of your situation.
  
• It may be the time to take a break from the rat race and improve your skills during this time of homelessness. This may not be what the shelters suggest, but you should think about what would be best for you for the future. A period of homelessness is the best time to evaluate your life and your career and whether you have enough education.
  
• There are 19,000 people in the same situation as you during a year. So, while it is frustrating, there is no easy way out. There are long waits for subsidized housing, good jobs are hard to come by, and finding a professional to talk to is even difficult.
• Stay connected with your family and friends. Some of the things that you see during homelessness are amazing and can make you crazy. It is important to have people who you can talk to who are outside of the system.
  

Good luck. You can make it out of this situation. Too many people give up, and prolong their stay in the shelters. You can do it if you stay focused.

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

Awards and Agency Update

NEOCH Annual Meeting

Pictured here is Tera Horne (right) presenting Bryan Mauk the NEOCH advocate of the year award (middle) and the Volunteer of the Year Ronald Falconi (standing) their awards.

The NEOCH Annual Meeting was Thursday, and we released our annual report. It will be available on our website soon. We looked back on the rough year of 2007. We talked about the transfer of two of our programs. The NEOCH Board elected a new Executive Committee. We have two new EC members, Tiffany Burse and Cynthia Ford. Our new Board President is Jennifer Simpson.

I gave a look at the 2008 plans and the upcoming Strategic Plan that the organization is currently undertaking. We talked about some of the major community advocacy efforts of the the Coalition. And the best part of the Annual Meeting is the awarding of a token of our recognition for community members who went above and beyond to help homeless people.

Bryan Mauk--NEOCH 2007 Advocate of the Year
Bryan worked both in high school and at John Carroll University to create a program where faculty and students venture off campus to Downtown Cleveland to interact with those resistant to shelters, called the Labre Project. He is a true leader who, with his continued nurturing of the Labre Project, he sets an example for others. Bryan recently helped open an overnight drop in center at St. Augustine in the Tremont neighborhood, which provides a warm place for homeless people who sleep outside to go for a hot cup of coffee and a friendly environment. NEOCH salutes Bryan Mauk for his service to the homeless community.

Ronald Falconi and Robert Heintel--2007 Volunteers of the Year
Ronald and Robert are both members of the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association. Together they oversee the legal clinic at West Side Catholic Shelter and Drop in. They are known for their thoughtful and respectful treatment of clients who seek their advice at the Catholic Center. Without their help, it would be difficult to maintain this intake site for the Homeless Legal Assistance Program. Both attorneys reflect the highest standards of the legal profession. They are dedicated to providing legal help who those cannot afford an attorney. NEOCH salutes Robert and Ronald for their service to the homeless community.

Wish you were there.
Brian
Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.

The Worst Meeting Ever

No Time For Questions

It seems like the whole country is acting like George W. Bush where up is down and war is peace. I went to the Homeless Book Club meeting, otherwise known as the Office of Homeless Services Advisory, and the director presented an overview of the shelter situation since Aviation High School closed. By the way, this group does not advise anyone. "The surge is working," this last year and the 1999 quote: "Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is," said George W. Bush. Ruth Gillett told us all that we are better off now without Aviation. She was comparing overflow shelter with permanent supportive housing and transitional shelter beds created. Beds that do not turn over for six months or six years cannot be compared to beds that are a short term answer to those without housing.

"I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we're really talking about peace," said George Bush in June of 2002. Gillett said that three new people come into 2100 Lakeside shelter every night, but did not realize that this meant we are witnessing an impending train wreck. I mean if we replace beds that had half the people leave every month with beds in which people do not leave for six months, we have serious problems coming down the line. It was a huge mistake to talk about overflow when talking about opening North Point transitional shelter. They have nothing to do with each other and the County is so focused on North Point that 2100 Lakeside is suffering.

"No President has ever done more for human rights than I have," said George W. Bush. I felt like I was sitting in the meeting with one goal: say something enough times people will actually start to believe it. Gillett said things were all right because in the last 10 days the 60 beds of overflow were sufficient, dismissing the fact that the City Mission was only committed through the end of the month, which would limit us to 30 beds of overflow. She did not address the reality that on one night 25 people waited in a chair for a bed. Gillett did not address the reality that we have always had a slight drop in the shelter census on the first 10 days of the month. Now I understand why no one in the White House Press Room challenges the President. There were so many things wrong with this presentation, it was impossible to pick out where to start. There is never enough time to address all the problems in the homeless community at the Homeless book club meetings.

"Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job," said George W. Bush after the Katrina disaster in New Orleans. The most amazing part of this meeting was Gillett's solution to this problem was to put a Gatekeeper at the Lakeside shelter to divert people from coming into the shelter. This policy, which I am calling the "There is a couch in this community with your name on it" will put people through a long screening process to figure out if there is a better or more appropriate place in Cleveland for the men who show up. It is a good thought, but we still need to address the train wreck coming because we do not have overflow anymore.

We just need a place for those banned from the rest of the shelters to go. We need a place for the sexually based offenders to get out of the cold. We need a place for those recently released from prison to go, because there are no couches in the community for them. We need somewhere that second or third shift workers can sleep. We need a place for those who cannot stand rules to get a cup of coffee. We need a place for the drunk to sober up. Some of these people are not the most desirable or employable, but they are still our brothers and they still need a place to live.

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

More Updates from the Coalition

Homeless Coalition Upcoming Events

1. Ione Biggs Award Nominations Due Monday: You still have time to submit a nomination for the Ione Biggs Award using our website. Go to http://www.neoch.org/nav/contactus.htm and complete the application and send it to NEOCH. The application is a two page summary of the accomplishments of your nominee and their work on social justice in 2007.
   
2. NEOCH Annual Meeting March 20: All members are welcome to attend the NEOCH Annual Meeting on Thursday March 20 at 5:30 p.m. at the NEOCH offices at 3631 Perkins Ave. Third Floor Conference Room. We will look back at 2007, give out a few awards and look at 2008 including our upcoming planning process.
3. Training at May Dugan Center on March 25: The new self help legal center opened and there are now computers available for people who need legal assistance, but cannot find a lawyer to help. In addition, HousingCleveland.org has been up and running for 2.5 years now. If you want to know more information about either of these programs, there is an in-service training on Tuesday March 25, 2005 at 2 p.m. at the May Dugan Center . May Dugan is at 4115 Bridge Ave. in Ohio City . You need to park on the streets, because there is no parking available in the lot. This training is directed at social service providers, case workers and anyone interested in knowing more about these two resources. For more information call 216/432-0540 or 939-1850.
4. Human Services Institute March 28, 2008. The Center for Community Solutions sponsors a gathering for human services workers in the community at the Cleveland Convention Center on March 28, 2008 all day. You can register at www.communitysolutions.com. NEOCH staff will be conducting a workshop on ideas for finding jobs for the difficult to employ. We hope that you can join us with the keynote speakers of Erin Gruwell of Freedom Writers Foundation and Richard Rodriguez, an author and journalist for this event.
5. Volunteer Orientation March 29, 2008. Did you make a New Years resolution to volunteer to end homelessness? We have an easy way to fulfill that resolution. NEOCH is hosting a volunteer orientation on March 29 at 1 p.m. at our main office 3631 Perkins Ave. third floor conference room. We have legal needs, voice mail assistance, general office, event planning, fund raising, street newspaper help, and advocacy help. You can volunteer once a week or once a month. Whatever your skills or your availability we can find a place for you to help us end homelessness. Please RSVP to Larry Davis at 216/432-0540 ext. 103.
6. Homeless Congress on Thursday April 3: The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Homeless Congress is Thursday April 3, 2008 at 1 p.m. at the Bishop Cosgrove Center ( 1736 Superior Ave. ). This is when representatives of the various shelters meet to discuss issues. The public is welcome to attend.
7. Save the Date May 2, 2008--Partnering to End Homeless Fund Raiser: Please put in your calendar the date for the NEOCH Fund Raiser is May 2, 2008 at 6:30 p.m. This year the event will be at GESU family center near John Carroll in University Hts. Invitations and Save the Date Cards are on the way.

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

Baby Living in a Abandoned Apartment

The Bible Story Looks Different in America

The Coalition coordinates all outreach workers in the community, and so we ask community groups to call NEOCH about homeless people instead of calling law enforcement. The idea is that law enforcement have enough work, and social workers should address problems surrounding homelessness. We get about one call every week at the office, but we do not usually deal with problems of homeless babies. There is a protocol for taking babies into County custody if they are living in a car or in an abandoned property. This happens on a regular basis in Cleveland and we never hear about these cases. The child is quickly taken into custody if the homeless mom makes herself known in the community or if her power or heat is turned off. The reality is that Children and Family Services act first and ask questions later.

This week we heard from a suburban official about a Mom-lets call her Mary- her boyfriend- let's call him Joseph- and a five month old baby who were living in an abandoned building. It seems that officials from a Cleveland suburb were preparing to tear down an abandoned apartment, and doing a walk through when they stumbled upon this couple and their baby. An outreach worker went out immediately to try to connect the family with a shelter. Unfortunately, the Mom was already arrested for child endangering and her baby was in the custody of Cuyahoga County. We have no idea what happened to Joseph. The woman from the suburban development office who called us was not the only one who had encountered this family, and they did what most do: call the County to take the baby into the foster care system.

After the initial shock of trying to get this family in a better place as soon as possible, I started thinking about how different the Bible would be if it were set in Cleveland, Ohio in 2008. The basis for Christianity was based on a story with all the indoor beds full, and so the founder of a religion was born outside among the animals. In Cleveland, the Biblical Mary would have lost her child to Cuyahoga County, and would have had a one year time limit to get her act together or the child born among the animals would be adopted by another family. It seems unlikely that the Biblical Mary would have been able to remain an important part of her child's development or be a part of his young adulthood while he was challenging authority figures or even to be a witness to his execution in modern day America because she had endangered this child with the birth in the barn.

Our own modern day Mary tried the shelters, but could not believe that she had to leave every morning with her baby and could not live with the father of her child. She was arrested and charged with child endangering. She now is fighting the clock, a criminal record, and a case with the County to get her child back. I am not saying that children who cannot speak up for themselves should not be protected. I just have to wonder how these policies have changed our society? How many families have been destroyed because Moms cannot find a place to live? How many children will never reach their full potential because of their 18 year struggle to find a place in our society? How many families make bad decisions because the shelters cannot bend their rules? How many world events have been altered because we are quick to split up families?
Brian
Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.

Ribbon Cutting a Success

(Left to Right) Joan Burda--Cleveland Homeless Legal Assistance Program Director, Rob Anderle--Justice For All Committee member with the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association, Marcia Egbert--Program Officer of the Gund Foundation and Meg Wilson--NEOCH Board President cut the ribbon on the new Self Help Legal Clinic.

Self Help Legal Center Opens

On a cold day in February 2008, the Homeless Legal Assistance Program officially opened their Self Help Center. I kept meaning to post this picture and a brief description. Sorry for the delay. Anyway, this facility will allow very low income and homeless people to go into the center and print out their own proceedings for the Court. They can print out a poverty affidavit, or a simple divorce filing, or a defense against an eviction if they cannot find help from an attorney. The Center will start out open on Monday afternoon or Wednesday mornings until we find more volunteers to staff the site. This has been a dream of Burda for years, and is finally taking shape. The St. Luke's Foundation and Gund Foundation have long supported this program. Every year, we serve between 500 and 700 people who cannot find anyone else to help them with their legal problems. We are one of the only programs going into the shelters to help people directly with their legal obstacles to housing.

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

Columbus Has a Great Plan

Columbus Mayor Appoints Cabinet Official to Work on Homelessness

Mayor Michael Coleman has appointed a cabinet level position to attempt to solve homelessness. This is a great idea, and we should think about this for Cleveland. The Mayor in Columbus at the urging of City Council appointed Erika Clark Jones to a cabinet level position to do advocacy and coordinate services.

"I consider this position to be a strong voice for the seemingly voiceless," she said. In addition to homelessness, the new office will focus on three main issues: the problems of the uninsured, affordable housing and work-force investment according to the Columbus Dispatch article.

As a former resident of Columbus, I hate to admit when Columbus does something better than Cleveland. In fact, we were told a few years ago that Columbus had solved homelessness, and HUD champions them as the center of progressive thinking on homelessness. No matter the propaganda and spin, this is a great idea.

We have had a joint City and County office for 15 years in Cleveland, but it has not done much. Yes, they bring in huge dollars for the County compared to the rest of the state, but bottom line is that homelessness is worse than it was 15 years ago. The City/County OHS does not do a very good job coordinating services, all of the services are still concentrated in the City of Cleveland, and no one coordinates lobbying activities. I am going to ask the Mayor of Cleveland to look to Columbus for a better way to address homelessness. Every urban community needs a cabinet level office to address homelessness, because it is most severe expression of every other problem in our society. Re-entry, illiteracy, housing, job re-training, entitlements, civil rights and the health care crisis are all serious problems for homeless people and are the cause of homelessness. The issues associated with homelessness cause prolonged stays in the shelters, are very expensive for the public, and cause instability in society. Tax payers are amazed that if they fall on hard times and cannot afford the rent or mortgage, they fall hard all the way to the shelters. They need a voice at the Mayor's cabinet to raise these issues, and restore the social safety net in our society.

In other Columbus Ohio news, the Columbus Coalition for the Homeless has hired full time staff and just published a street newspaper called Street Speech. While I am not a big fan of street newspapers that begin with the word Street (6 out of the 10 papers pictured on the front of the new paper are named "Street..."), but it is an impressive first issue. Street Speech is colorful, and has some interesting commentary inside. The paper has a review of the "Thrift Store," poetry, and a profile of the vendor of the month. Congratulations Columbus Coalition for a big step forward in providing a voice to homeless people.

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

They Look Down on Us

Europeans Can't Believe the State of America

I watched today's 60 Minutes about the Remote Area Health care charity that provides assistance in the United States. It is a disgrace to see that we claim first world status, but we cannot provide basic health care to the population. For those who did not see it, please check out the link. Basically, these groups who would set up volunteer health care camps in the Amazon started setting them up in the United States because of the demand. The reporters visited one in Knoxville where the group was staging a Stand Down type program for the uninsured or under-insured, and thousands showed up asking for help. The charity had to turn away 400 people because they ran out of time and supplies. We are all so worried about the rationing of health care if we had socialized medicine. If the current system does not ration care then I don't know what that looks like. The whole health care system needs scrapped and we need to start over with a new health care system.

Because of this foreclosure story, I have been talking to journalists from Europe. Yesterday, I talked to Italian Public Television and a few weeks ago to a Scandinavian television journalist team. They were in Cleveland to follow up on the foreclosure story, and were shocked by the state of homelessness in America. They could not believe that families were homeless and living in cars and shelters. They did not understand how families had to split up in order to get shelter. The Italian TV people were amazed by the state of temporary labor. It seems that they could not understand how people could work full time and remain homeless. They did not understand the exploitation on the job or that chronic health conditions could lead to homelessness. They look down on us. For those who do not get to talk to people from other countries, like me, this is quite a come down. We are constantly told that this is the best country ever by the media and our movies and that no country can compete with the United States. Then we fall hard when we talk to European visitors. We have become the jungle country that Europeans visit to point, stare at, and take pictures before going home. How did this happen?

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

Incarceration Nation

United States: Out of Control Prison Population

The greatest threat to our democracy is the increasing incarceration rates in the United States. A report released by the Pew Center last week shows that 1 in 100 Americans are now behind bars. A few facts from the study:

• 1.6 million adults are now in prison with another 700,000 in local jails.
  
• The imprisoned population has tripled in the last 30 years.
• One in 15 African American males are behind bars
• The U.S. imprisons more people than any other country in the world (both by percentage and sheer number).
• The United States imprisons more people than China (1.5 million), a much more populous (and autocratic) country.
• States now spend $44 billion on corrections (a 127% increase since 1987).

Who cares? Everyone needs to care for the economics, justice, and long term impact on our society. The incarceration economy is bankrupting our society. We cannot afford to take over other countries, educate our public, keep them housed and incarcerate 1 in 100. A bankrupt democracy is a government in its last days. A bankrupt society is easily manipulated by a demagogue. There is no justice with such a sizable population lacking freedom. Some states remove access to democracy for life from those convicted of a felony. Why are there so many behind bars compared to other societies? Why is a free society incarcerating so many, even compared to totalitarian dictatorships? Why are we treating addiction as a criminal offense?

This does have to do with homelessness in Cleveland. Our shelters are swamped with people (both men and women) returning from prison. I was thinking about this after listening to Fresh Air on Tuesday on WCPN featuring a meth addict and his dad. David Sheff and his son Nic each wrote books about their experiences. I understand "tough love" and all that, but it does not seem to work. Addictive personalities must hit bottom and lose everything in order to get help. Why can't we find a better away to address this problem in our society? Are the sky rocketing incarceration rates related to the lack of universal health care? If health care was paid by the government would they be willing to pay for treatment upon demand over jail? Would treatment be readily available to the addicted? Would we be able to shut down the private prisons that make millions off our incarceration nation if we had a better health care system?

What is the tipping point? How long can we sustain this level of incarceration? How long until those imprisoned rise up? 1 in 100 of "we the people" have their freedom stripped and are jailed. They work for pennies a day, and are subject to violence and repeated violations while in prison. We strip people of their liberty and then we cannot even keep them safe while we jail them. How long can we have our African American population tolerate one in fifteen of those between the age of 20 and 34 behind bars? How long do we condemn this group to a life of menial jobs, unstable housing, and sporadic health care? How long do we put mentally ill people behind bars instead of offering counseling to young people who exhibit dangerous behavior? How long can we make these men and women pay for their crimes, before they decide that the government is the enemy? How smart is it to confine a group together to foment anger and dissension against the government for a good part of their life? There are consequences for constructing an incarcerated nation, and they effect all of us.

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

Packing People in the Shelter

Lakeside Shelter is Overflowing

The FAA and Department of Homeland Security closed Aviation High School as the Overflow Shelter for homeless men in Cleveland on February 1, 2008. With the snow and the cold this week, how have homeless people faired since this decision was implemented? 2100 Lakeside shelter is bursting at the seams, and on Thursday February 21, 2008, 25 guys waited throughout the night for a bed to open. The plan put in place by the City and County as we prepared for the closing of Aviation High Overflow Shelter did not work. The sooner that they admit that their plans failed, the sooner homeless men will be able to sleep peacefully in a bed. It is bad enough carrying all your stuff around, sleeping in a shelter, and being homeless without having to sit up all night waiting for a bed in the land of plenty in the richest country on the planet.

A little history is in order here. 2100 Lakeside legally houses 385 people a night. As we have learned "if you build it they will come." The shelter was full the day it opened, and every time they put more beds into the facility the population increased. In 2003, while the shelter was under the direction of the Salvation Army, there were some nights that 600 people showed up seeking a bed. St. Ignatius and some of the other shelters offered hallway space to accommodate the overflow on a temporary basis. In 2004, Aviation High School opened as the overflow site housing between 135-220 people per night. The Crawford Aviation Museum talked about buying the building in 2005, but it remained a shelter.

In late 2005, the City was contacted from the federal authorities began putting pressure on the City to close the shelter out of terrorism concerns. The shelter bordered Burke Lakefront Airport, and there was concern for the safety of the airport with 150 unscreened people sleeping a few yards from the airport grounds. The City resisted federal concerns, and pushed back a series of deadlines for relocation. Why would a terrorist become homeless and sneak onto Burke Lakefront to steal the WKYC helicopter or the KeyBank Learjet? The final deadline imposed by the Federal government was January 31, 2008. After that date the City could not use the abandoned high school. The City and County had over one year to put in place a replacement plan for Aviation.

The County Office of Homeless Services took the lead, and did a lot of innovative things to replace the overflow. They forced the rest of the men's shelters to take people into their programs first from the Lakeside Shelter. They opened a series of permanent supportive housing, and provided additional housing vouchers. They opened North Point Transitional shelter in an old motel, which can house 160 people. North Point is a great idea that we should be proud of in our community, but it is not overflow. We opened beds at Oriana House, and tried to quickly move people out of Lakeside. All worthwhile efforts, but they do not address the problem of overflow. As I have always said, "if you build it they will come." If you improve the system (North Point) more people who were living on the margins of homelessness will show up.

So, the day after Aviation closed on Saturday Feb. 2, despite 160 people having moved over to North Point, Lakeside shelter was overflowing. The staff at the shelter had asked the City for 100 beds of overflow. The County granted them 30 spaces at the Volunteers of America, and told them to deal with it. Luckily, the City Mission stepped in and offered an additional 30 spaces. Even with 60 overflow spaces the shelter has had 10 days of people waiting for a bed to open in the hallway and cafeteria. As stated above there were 85 people over the legal limit on Thursday. Sixty were provided a cot or mat at Volunteers of America and the City Mission, as the two overflow sites. Twenty five people had to wait for people to get up in the middle of the night to go to work in order to get a bed. The plan is not working. City and County officials should have listened to the professionals working at the shelter or even the Homeless Congress and have provided 100 overflow beds. A County Commissioner or the Mayor needs to step in here and open a warehouse that we can put 100 cots at night as the overflow. We have plenty of vacant buildings. Put them to use! Sunday night is going to be rough for homeless men in Cleveland seeking shelter.

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

NEOCH Board Against Time Limited Shelters

Coalition Board Supports Homeless Congress

The NEOCH Board of Trustees at our February 21, 2008 meeting endorsed the policy statement passed by the Homeless Congress with regard to time limited shelters. That statement as passed by the Congress is:

There is a movement within the City and County to limit the time that a homeless person can stay at the publicly funded shelters in Cleveland. At this point, the two entry shelters, 2100 Lakeside Men’s Shelter and the Community Women’s Shelter, do not have a time limit on the length of stay. Every other shelter in the community has a time limit for length of stay. The Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless does not support the expansion of the time limits to include the two entry shelters. This policy statement came from the Homeless Congress who adopted this position at their January 2008 meeting. The Congress takes positions on issues in the community only if every member gathered at the monthly meeting agrees. NEOCH agreed at the February 2008 meeting to endorse the position of the Congress with regard to their opposition to time limits on the length of stay at the shelters. Congress and the Coalition Board members believe that until those who fund the shelters figure out how to pay for housing for people with a sexually based offense, a criminal background, chronic behavioral health conditions, and/or a substantial personal debt then it does not make sense to limit the time a person can stay in the shelters. Congress and NEOCH Board members are concerned that there are so many people who have huge barriers to stable housing that a time limit will only increase the number of people sleeping outside. We recommended that government officials work on increasing the supply of housing available for those re-entering from a corrections facility, those with huge debt problems, and those with an addiction instead of spending time on policies that will harm the homeless community.

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

Jackson Request for Federal Help

Mayor Wants a National Urban Initiative

I really like the request that the Mayor made to the Presidential candidates in exchange for his endorsement. This is exactly what every elected official should demand. For too long the feds have turned away from American cities. We need a major infusion of dollars to reclaim the 20 years of neglect. I saw Sicko and 60 Minutes tonight about how much better they have it in Europe. They have accepted that paying more in taxes so that everyone has a better standard of living. With a better standard of living, crime goes down. People are safer, and have more time for family and living in Europe. When are we going to change?

NEOCH is pushing for a National Housing Policy like we had back in the 1960s and 1970s. We are going to push the new President to adopt a National Housing Policy in the first 100 days of 2009. We need the federal government to care that millions in the United States cannot afford a place to live. We need the funds that only the Federal government can provide to solve homelessness. Is it greed? Is it guns over butter? Is it selfishness? This path can only lead to continued unrest and eventual collapse.

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

Homeless Foreclosure Story Goes National

Associated Press Story Today on Foreclosures

The Associated Press published a story today about the foreclosure crisis in Cleveland. A story by Tom Sheeran went out across the wires in the United States and was published in Chicago, DC, Detroit, and pretty much every city in the United States. It appeared on the Christian Broadcasting Network here and SF paper here and Detroit here. It immediately shot our website traffic from about 122 a day to 800 today. We had as many people visiting our website in the first 17 days of February as we had in all of January.

I talked to a friend in Texas who could not understand this problem we face in Ohio. The foreclosure crisis is much different in the other parts of the country. Most of the foreclosures in Austin were in suburban, usually higher end neighborhoods, and far away from the homeless population. He said that the police would be quick to respond to a squatter in the areas where foreclosures are cropping up in Austin. It is so different in Cleveland. Almost every neighborhood has witnessed the devastation of foreclosed properties. The temptation of all these abandoned properties is too much. Any walk down the any street in Cleveland has obvious empty houses. There is no way that law enforcement or community groups can monitor all these properties. Foreclosures are really bad in Cleveland.

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

Hate Crimes Against Homeless People

New York Times Takes Up Hate Crimes

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

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

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

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

Correction and Ione Biggs

Teach In and Biggs Award

The next Teach In is actually set for Thursday February 28, 2008 at 5:30 p.m. This is a 3 hour tour of homelessness in Cleveland and a chance to hear from people who have moved out of homelessness in Cleveland. The focus will be on those who are resistant to shelter. There is full description of the Stand Down at http://www.neoch.org/teachin.htm on our website. We had mistakenly listed it as next week.

Also, the Coalition is announcing today submissions for the Ione Biggs Social Justice Award. The Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless would like to recognize the amazing work of Ione Biggs and keep her legacy alive in Greater Cleveland. We have partnered with representatives from Women Speak Out for Peace and Justice, the Empowerment Center of Greater Cleveland, the Cleveland Tenants Organization, Women’s Re-Entry Network, and the Church of the Covenant to select a representative to receive the Ione Biggs Award for outstanding contribution to advancing social justice in 2007 and to encourage others to follow in her footsteps. We intend to announce the winner of the award at the NEOCH Annual event “Help us End Homelessness” on May 2, 2008. This application is due to NEOCH by March 17, 2008. You may also submit your entry online through the NEOCH website.

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

Much to Do in the Next Month

Upcoming Events for the Coalition

The next Teach In is set for Wednesday February 20, 2008 at 5:30 p.m. This is a 3 hour tour of homelessness in Cleveland and a chance to hear from people who have moved out of homelessness in Cleveland. The focus will be on those who are resistant to shelter. There is full description of the Stand Down at http://www.neoch.org/teachin.htm on our website.

The Self Help Legal Clinic ribbon cutting is February 26, 2008 at 1 p.m. The Cleveland Homeless Legal Assistance Program invites the public to the grand opening of the Pro Se Legal Assistance at the May Dugan Center. This clinic will allow those who are having a hard time finding a lawyer to take their case to go to the clinic and print out their legal proceeding and file the case on their own behalf. This pro se clinic can help with simple legal proceedings like a response to evictions, expungements, and divorce with no children. May Dugan Center is located at 4115 Bridge Ave. on the near west side of Cleveland. CHLAP offers a weekly legal clinic at the May Dugan Center every week, along with their clinics in the shelters they serve nearly 600 people a year.

An update on the Heading Home/County Trust Fund March 10, 2008 at 3:30 pm. The City/County organized a strategic plan for addressing the housing crisis in Greater Cleveland. The Coalition and the Cleveland Tenants Organization will host a public meeting to discuss the Heading Home implementation plan and the plans for finding funding for the development of affordable housing. We need your support and your assistance in implementing this important initiative. We will provide opportunities for involvement in the effort to start constructing new affordable housing units again. The meeting is March 10 at 3:30 p.m. at the Coalition offices in the third floor conference room. All are invited.

NEOCH is hosting the 3^rd Annual Homeless Poetry Competition. As part of our Annual fundraiser, NEOCH hosts a competition to hear from local poets who have experienced homelessness. Anyone who has been homeless between March 2007 to March 2008 is welcome to submit a poem. Details are available through the Coalition at 216/432-0540. The winners will be announced at the NEOCH Annual fundraiser on May 2, 2008. Get your poems into the Coalition offices in the next month.

NEOCH is looking for local Photographers: We are also looking for photographers or those who want to learn how to be a photographer. We have an internship available for 7 photographers who will be trained on the art of photography and will receive a stipend, bus pass and a camera as part of the two month internship. Any homeless person with a physical or mental disability is welcome to apply through one of the local homeless shelters. The art will be displayed at two locations, and will be available at the Annual fundraiser. The images will be published in the Grapevine and will have the opportunity to sell the work and keep the profits. For more information call Teri’ at the Coalition.

Save the Date on the NEOCH Annual Fundraiser. Speaking of the fund raiser, mark your calendar for May 2, 2008 as the date for the NEOCH annual fund raising event. We will have details and ticket prices available in the next month.

NEOCH Annual Meeting is March 20 at 5:30 p.m. The Coalition will have a low key Annual Meeting to review the previous year and look forward with regard to the Coalition. The Annual Meeting will take place at the Coalition offices and will offer a light meal. Homeless individuals, members, key stakeholders in the community are invited to attend. You can meet the 2008-2009 Board of Trustees and find out ways to help the Coalition regroup after a tough year.

Training for Housing Cleveland website: In case you did not know, Cuyahoga County is the only place in Ohio with a fantastic all encompassing website of affordable housing available to rent. HousingCleveland.org has 1,500 available units and has over 200 unique users everyday searching for housing. We will have a training for how to use the website on February 25, 2008 at 2:30 p.m. at NEOCH. The training is directed at tenants, potential tenants as well as community development organizations or neighborhood centers. All are welcome to attend. To RSVP please call Mike at the Cleveland Tenants Organization at 216/432-0617 or the Coalition.

Staff

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

Bad Times in Cleveland

What if We Had a Recession and No One Noticed?

The Coalition, along with First Call for Help and the Cleveland Tenants Organization, presented to the Cuyahoga Affordable Housing Alliance on Monday. Three of the four horsemen of doom and gloom reported to local housing advocates on the state of poverty. (Dana from Hunger Network--the fourth horseman of doom was not part of the event, because that would be too depressing for one meeting.) As Steve Wertheim from First Call for Help said, this is the worst he has seen things in Cleveland in his 30 years of work. Mike Piepsny from Cleveland Tenants Organization talked about the evictions in the community and the large number of people who pay nearly 50% of their monthly income on rent in the community. I distributed and talked about the State of Homelessness report full of depression and stunning statistics.

After sitting through the meeting and hearing all the negative trends in the community, I had to wonder how much worse could it get? I kept wondering that we might miss this whole recession because we have fallen as far as we can fall. Our housing has collapsed; we lost a majority of our manufacturing jobs; and we have a higher than average number of uninsured. Do we have a blank canvas on which to build? One bad sign from this weekend...the main shelter needed overflow even with North Point Transitional opening with 160 new beds.

Aviation High School, which houses between 100 and 160 people a night, closed on Friday. It was the beginning of the month when many people have money to pay for a place to stay with friends, and traditionally the smallest number of people sleeping in the shelters for the month. It was not especially cold and North Point opened, offering space for 160 people. Everything pointed to at least a little breathing room for the shelter at 2100 Lakeside. But even with all these things working for the shelter, they still had to have people sleep on the mats and had to bus people over to the Volunteers of America and City Mission. This is going to be a rough few months if we need overflow on the first weekend without Aviation. I thought we would make it until the last week of February, but the lesson we have never learned in this community is that if you build it they will come. Every improvement to the shelter system has resulted in more people seeking help. We all hope that this does not push the County to end guaranteed access to shelter.

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

Stand Down 2008

Homeless Attend Health Fair at Cleveland Convention Center

On Friday February 1, 2008 at the Cleveland Convention Center over 600 homeless people attended one of the largest Health and Human Services fairs in our history. We should have final numbers in two weeks, but it was packed Friday. The Convention Center is a great place for the event, and we thank them for all their help. There were 60 providers including 20 health care providers on site. Haircuts and massage specialists. Great food from Catholic Charities, and nearly every shelter were a vital part of this year's event. In the picture, you can see Leonard Spence registering people to vote. We registered 21 people to vote. (Yes, homeless people do vote!) NEOCH also signed up 23 people with new voice mail telephone numbers.

It was a great event this year, and there will be plenty more photos in the next Grapevine. Gospel artist Jeff Major attended and then did a concert at the Word Church. Radio One did a large amount of free advertising of the event, and we had help from the County, City of Cleveland, Salvation Army, Veterans Administration, Cosgrove Center, Trinity Cathedral, Lakeside Shelter, and InterAct Cleveland. There are two more smaller events coming over the next two weeks. InterAct is still looking for a few volunteers for the Stand Down on President's Day. Special thanks to Pam, Megan, and Sr. Donna from InterAct, Nicole from Cosgrove, Kathy and Karil from the Department of Public Health, Rosemary from County Office of Homeless Services, Josh and Larry from NEOCH, Toni from the VA, and Dorothy from Divine Outreach Ministry for all their work in planning this event.

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

Council Challenged to Sleep in Shelter

Homeless Congress Asks Council for Help

The Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless on behalf of the Homeless Congress is challenging the City of Cleveland Council members to either spend a night in a homeless shelter or introduce a shelter standards bill. The Homeless Congress is a representative body of homeless people which meets every month, and feel that improving the protections within the shelters is a priority. This group of homeless people spent four months to prepare a potential piece of legislation for City Council to pass, but no Council member has taken up the challenge to even introduce this bill. At the January meeting of the Homeless Congress, the members voted to request Council members attend the next meeting to set a date for the introduction of the bill or schedule a time to sleep in the shelters.

NEOCH has asked Council members to pass a law to set a minimum standard for the shelters in exchange for their public funding. The challenge was issued after NEOCH and Congress members repeatedly requested movement on the bill to council members about the proposal and received little response.

Currently, there are no existing standards in law, instead there is a list of recommendations by the state of Ohio and there is no penalty for compliance. Between 2006 and 2007, the Homeless Congress drafted a proposal of Shelter Standards in an effort to ensure all publicly funded shelters are required to provide a basic level of care. The big issue that has repeatedly come up from homeless people is that there is no public agency that will receive complaints about the conditions or treatment that homeless people receive within the shelters.

The next Homeless Congress meeting is February 7 at 1 p.m. at the Bishop Cosgrove Center. Anyone is welcome to attend and Council members are invited to the Homeless Congress meetings. The center is located at 1736 Superior Avenue in Cleveland. Please enter through the back into the cafeteria and go upstairs to the gymnasium.

For more information please contact Brian Davis at (216) 432-0540.
Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.

Cleveland: State of Homelessness 2007

Coalition Issues Report on the State of Homelessness in Cleveland

Last week as part of the press conference to introduce the Stand Down, NEOCH issued our State of Homelessness in Cleveland. It is available on our website as a pdf here under State of Homelessness 2007. It compiles all the statistics on foreclosures, evictions, shelter usage, money spent on homelessness to give a unsettling picture of the increase in homelessness in 2007. NEOCH staff gathered stats from the social service community as well as a few government agencies. Some of the most alarming statistics include:

• The Cleveland Public Schools saw a 32% increase in the number of kids in the last six months of 2007 compared to the same time in 2006.
• First Call for Help saw a 30% increase in calls regarding housing and a 39% increase in requests for food.
  
• 75% of the shelter population in Cleveland is African American.
• A person must make $10.93 per hour working 40 hours a week in order to afford the fair market rent in Greater Cleveland.
  
• The men's shelter averaged 129 people over their legal capacity in 2007, which forced Cuyahoga County to offer overflow shelter 365 days a year.
  
• 35% of the homeless population reported an income of over $501 per month while staying in the shelters.

We do not have the total number of homeless estimates in Cleveland until the Census releases their poverty estimate, but all indications are that it was a rough 2007 for people experiencing homelessness.

The report lists the positive trends in the community including a great deal of work done by the County to find new spaces for homeless men to live or sleep because of the anticipated loss of Aviation High School. We also applaud the County for remaining committed to guaranteed access to shelter. We have not had to hang up the sign "There is No Bed at the Inn" sign locally. Those who want a bed show up at the shelter and they will not be turned away (thus the need for overflow). There are also a couple of pages dedicated to "dangerous trends" in the community that we all need to watch. Finally, we give a laundry list of 35 things that could be done locally to reduce the homeless population. We are very proud of the report, and we hope that you will check it out.

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

History is 20/20

Where were You When the Foreclosure Crisis was Starting?

I saw this morning one of the federal Administration officials was asked why they took so long to look for regulations to control the fraud within the housing market and specifically the sub-prime market? The Treasury Secretary said something like "Chris, you know that history is 20/20. I will leave what happened in the past to historians..." We raised this same issue when the state finally passed a foreclosure bill then gutted it with little or no penalty for consumer fraud in 2006. We said that the horses were all out of the barn by 2006 and that the hundreds of thousands were already harmed by the inflated appraisals, excessive fees, and fake documents while the state was busy studying the issue. I believe that this is the reason that citizens are hostile to government: they demand someone to step forward and take responsibility for massive mistakes. I know people are thinking, "We cannot trust these guys with our money if they never admit when they fail."

History is not just for the historians, Mr. Paulson, because the crisis is not over. Our federal officials failed us by allowing the robber barons to take over the housing industry. Our state officials did nothing for six years allowing 5,900 people to be foreclosed on in 2000 and see that rise steadily to 14,000 in 2006 just in Cuyahoga County before the week Ohio law was passed. Our local community tried to do something and was shut down by the court system. Why can't someone step up to the plate and say we fell down on the job, but we are committed to making this right? We realize we made a mistake and we will do everything we can to make things right. I guess that I am sucker and still trust the government. I believe that bureaucrats and elected officials can stop the bleeding, help those who have already lost their housing and put those who help to rape Slavic Village, Mt. Pleasant, East Cleveland, and Broadway of all the equity left in those neighborhoods into jail for a very long time. I have a soft spot for the underdog.

60 Minutes did a feature tonight on the "House of Cards" and the foreclosure crisis. If Steve Croft were submitting this for a grade, I would give him a 79% or a C+. He put too much emphasis on the individuals who did not stick to their fraudulent agreements, but Kroft did a good job of characterizing the scandal as just beginning to unfold.

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

New Shelter Opens

The Grand Experiment Begins

North Point Transitional Shelter opened this week. This is a huge change in the shelter landscape and is a much different model. This facility is reserved for men who have some ability to earn income and therefore leave in 6 months. The shelter will not screen out those who are still battling alcohol or drug addictions. This is a noble experiment and treats the addiction as a health problem not a lifestyle choice to be "punished." The rough part will be the time limit for residents. Those with an addiction have markers on their path toward recovery and six months and one year are for some reason big milestones. Working on finding a job, putting your life back together, and dealing with a time limit may be an insurmountable obstacle. We shall see how this works.

There are big questions ahead for Greater Cleveland. Will we soon end the guaranteed access to shelter in our community? How soon will we need to open up another overflow? How long can the County/City afford this new transitional shelter? Will the men be willing to go into the facility? Will the women in the community demand a similar facility? Some of the guys that I have talked to are worried that they will go over and will not be able to find a job and will have to slink back to 2100 Lakeside and basically start over. The other tough part of making the move is that they are afraid that the temptation will be too much. The men have made some progress toward sobriety and are currently living in one of the sober communities at Lakeside. These communities do not allow addicted people to stay there. If a person falls off the wagon, they must go back to the entry community.

We shall see if all this works outs. They have hired some competent staff, and the County gave them plenty of resources to make this work. We need this kind of facility in the community. I hope that it works.

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

Correction

Regret the Error

I got a call from the Plain Dealer reporter about the posting on East Side Catholic back in December. Stan Donaldson did not like the fact that I did not call him to ask about the article he wrote, and was concerned that I wrote, "Stan D. never asked Ruth Gillett why she could not have kept the shelter open or forced a change in leadership." Donaldson is correct that this sentence is difficult to verify and is factually incorrect. I am sorry for the error.

What I intended to say was that the Plain Dealer did not print the heart of the story and what matters to all of us working on homeless issues. The heart of the story is what does Cleveland do to replace or bring these beds back into service? Family homelessness is out of control and we need every bed, unit, opportunity for families we have in the community. I do not fault reporter Stan Donaldson, because my experience is that getting a solid answer from the County about homelessness is nearly impossible.

One thing that I learned about East Side Catholic that was never printed was that the agency was $1.5 million in debt. I do not know who loaned these guys over $1 million. There was just no way that this organization could continue, but did we have to lose the beds? There are rumors of another organization stepping in to take over the beds, but those details have not been finalized. The families who have had to split up over the last month because every bed is full would have appreciated a deal worked out before East Side Catholic closed.

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

Arena Football: Cleveland Squatters??

Dismiss the Gladiators/Bring on the Squatters

In light of the foreclosure crisis and the poor state of the Cleveland economy, I am starting a campaign to rename the new professional Arena Football team the Cleveland Squatters. Rarely, do sports team names take on a social justice flavor. This would tell the world what is going on in Cleveland. For all those who skip the news section of the paper and head straight to the Sports section, they would remain uninformed, but would at least capture a sliver of the problems facing Cleveland over the last five years. Besides, what does a Gladiator have to do with Cleveland? The Gladiators is just a generic name that has no connection to this city. The Squatters is a bold name that could provide interesting and fun special event nights. How about... you sleep in your seat for a week and you earn yourself season tickets for that seat? The Boarded up house could be their logo. "Enter through the window night" at the arena--no doors would open everyone would have to enter through the window. The Columbus Destroyers would cower in fear having to face the Cleveland Squatters.

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

This is Not A Joke

back of the card

front of the card

So, What Do You Think?

This postcard actually came to us during the holidays from the Domestic Violence Center. Now, we are a bold organization and are not afraid to get in the face of the power establishment in the community, but I would never send this out. It is one thing to call attention to your issues, but to step on the Christian high holy season seems overly confrontational. People don't want to be brought down to reality during the holiday season. They want to focus on family, friends, presents, snow, Santa, etc--not family violence issues. Then that little "Peace on Earth" next to the picture is an additional jab at the holiday.

I have to applaud the DVC for their strong stand, and their forcing reality into Christmas. I wonder if they received any complaints. I wonder what others think? This is not a fake card from a cast member of Saturday Night Live. This is real, and pretty stark representation to get during the holidays. We put all the Christmas/Holiday cards up on the door of the office at NEOCH. We decided not to post this one.

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

Foreclosures Stories

Homelessness and Foreclosures

Sorry for not posting recently. We have all been working on a big foundation meeting we had this last week. There were a series of stories in the Plain Dealer about squatters and the foreclosure crisis. Then there was an editorial lecturing us to play nice with the city. We have played nice with the City since Napoleon stepped aside in 2001. Finally, reporter O'Malley attended our meeting with the Police to discuss the growing problem, and wrote about that meeting.

The story behind the story was nothing news worthy for readers of this blog. We wrote about this problem back in November here. We presented a whole list of reasons for the drop in numbers of people sleeping outside. One of the reasons on the list was the large number of abandoned buildings and foreclosed houses that exist in Cuyahoga County. The foreclosure crisis has devastated this community to such an extent that it is now a huge issue in the media. We only briefly touched on the inability for law enforcement or neighborhood groups to monitor all of the foreclosed buildings. National media are finally paying attention and Cleveland is ground zero for the problem of foreclosures. It has drawn a great deal of print and television face time, unfortunately long after the flood gates were destroyed. We sure could have used some of this attention years ago when there were signs on every street corner screaming to "buy ugly homes" or "Get into a house for no money down!"

Many people that I talked to were impressed by Lt. Stacho comments as forward thinking and proper. It was a great quote, and someone needed to say it in the article. But just for clarity, we did not raise this story to tattle on our own clients. We put it in a press release to explain another issue in the community. We did not approach the media about this issue, because the reality is that people have been sleeping in abandoned buildings for decades. After all, there are 4,000 people on the streets every night and only 2,000 beds in the community. Some stay in cars, some are outside, but a sizable number are in abandoned buildings. The point of our release was there are so many options now that these properties are becoming even more attractive to those who lose their housing. I have talked to five other media outlets about this story.

Squatters are a huge issue that go far beyond law enforcement or the outreach workers. The development corporations, government, recycling centers, United Way, Foundations, and all poverty organizations need to figure out a response. We are dragging down entire streets, entire neighborhoods, and in the case of East Cleveland entire cities.

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

We Have A Great Deal of Work

Fannie Mae Foundation Measures Perceptions of Homelessness in America

In November, Fannie Mae released a report entitled "Homelessness in America: Americans' Perceptions, Attitudes, and Knowledge" conducted by the Gallup Corporation. There were a lot of interesting findings, but it points to the need for more education about homelessness in America. We still have to overcome a number of myths about homeless people. The study was conducted in 8 American cities, and found that the majority of Americans believe that we could do more to address homelessness in the United States.

The good news from the perception studies were that 58% of the population believes that homelessness has increased while only 7% believe it has decreased. The bad news is that homelessness received only a handful of votes as one of the most important issues facing the United States. This means that the chance of a presidential candidate mentioning homelessness is slim. The National Coalition is challenging each candidate to spend at least one night on the street in 2008 to raise awareness of the problem, but based on the survey this is unlikely to rise to the top of a question in one of the debates. November is Hunger and Homeless Awareness week, and Fannie Mae is active in raising dollars with a walk in DC thus the reason for the report.

The survey properly identified the federal government as most responsible for addressing homelessness with 35% of those answering the question identifying the federal government. The State government was second with 25% and City or Local government and Community Groups were tied for third with 20% of the people thinking that these entities should take a lead role in solving homelessness. Only 51% believe that communities are safer when people do not have to live on the streets. The vast majority (85%) of the American public believe drugs or alcohol abuse is the major reason that causes homelessness and 26% of the population believe that that drugs/alcohol is the primary cause of homelessness. The most surprising and dangerous perception in the study was that only 4% of the American public believes that the lack of affordable housing is the primary cause of homelessness. This is one percent more than believe that laziness as the primary cause for homelessness. There are millions of people who spend most of their days high or drunk or both and have no problem staying in housing. This leads me to believe that we need to do more education starting at a younger age on the causes of homelessness.

You should check out the study yourself, but here are some other quick notes on the study:

• 44% report that they have taken in a friend or relative who was facing homelessness. THIS IS A HUGE NUMBER!!
• Medical expenses is now the leading worry for Americans that might lead them to become homeless themselves. 43% for medical expenses with 38% job loss.
• 28% of the general public reported that they have worried that they may not have a place to live.
• 9% reported that they did not have enough money to afford food over the last 12 months with 5% reporting that they did not have enough money over the last 12 months to provide housing for their family.
• 91% of the public believes that we can never totally eliminate homelessness.
• 80% report a willingness to volunteer at an organization that helps homeless people.
• A slight majority (54%) would be willing to pay additional taxes to fund programs that help homeless people.

It was also interesting to see the differences in the perceptions in various cities. NEOCH will use this perception study as a place to start for our public education campaign.

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

Holidays Are Rough

2007 Vigil and Today Show Toy Drive

The 21st Homeless Memorial Day was a sombre occasion with special guest County Commissioner Peter Jones. Mayor Frank Jackson also stopped in to honor those who had passed. I was asked at least 8 times that I should invite the Mayor to talk. For the record, I asked him twice and he was not interested in talking. He is not the ribbon cutting Mayor that we have all come to expect. Representative Foley attended the memorial and announced the introduction of the homeless hate crimes bill in Ohio. The legislation was introduced and already received a bill number HR 419. To date only Rep. Mike Skindell, Rep. Jennifer Brady and Mike Foley have signed on as co-sponsors from the Cleveland area. We will work on this in the new year. We read the names of 39 people who passed away and then six additional people were added by members of the audience. We will add those names to our list on our website.

The volunteers from Franklin Circle Church were great, and provided an excellent meal for our friends and our members. We had representatives of 2100 Lakeside, Care Alliance, Catholic Worker, County Office of Homeless Services, the Veterans Administration, and the Coalition in attendance to honor those who had passed. This year we asked a number of other organizations to co-sponsor the event, because we wanted to also honor a person who had probably saved more lives than anyone else in our community: homeless nurse Patricia Tomcho. Peter L. Jones presented a County resolution recognizing all her 25 years of service to the community. The Coalition and the other partners presented her a Lifetime achievement award to thank her for all her years of service. Tomcho is retiring next year, and without her our reading of the names of those who passed would be a lot longer every year.

The vigil is always a beautiful service, but certainly depressing to realize that our society is letting all these people slip quietly into the night. To raise our spirits, NEOCH gets to be part of the NBC Today Show annual toy drive. Toy manufacturers from around the country send out toys to various cities to be distributed to homeless children. NEOCH is the central distributor of these toys in Cleveland. We usually take the whole lot over to the family shelters in the boxes and then the staff distributes them. This year, I decided to have the family box and wrap the presents and then take them over on Christmas eve to distribute. So we spent Christmas eve wrapping new presents for a few hundred and then taking them over to the shelters for distribution. It is a nice way to balance out the first day of winter when we remember those who died by giving some comfort to the future County Commissioners and doctors who happen to find themselves living in a homeless shelter this year.

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