If I had a Law Firm...

Akron Man Finds Housing in Mall

The Rolling Acres is nearly abandoned, and one adventurous man, Brandon Shawhan, decided that the Mall would be the perfect place to live. If I had a big law firm, I would assign a few lawyers to represent Shawhan, and put capitalism on trial. There was most likely public subsidy that went into the building of the mall. Mr. Shawhan, for whatever reason, cannot find enough money to pay for housing in our society. He did whatever he could do to survive including borrowing space that was no longer in use. The basis of my case would be the question: does our society have an obligation to house every citizen? If we are all equal and our government has an obligation to protect us then do they have an obligation to provide a place inside to protect us from the elements? If government can sweep in and place us in an asylum for "observation" against our will, then why do we not have an obligation to provide a space inside for every citizen? It certainly would be attractive to the jury that he took up residence at the Diamond's Mens Store, and he was a man who wanted to look sharp.

Akron does not have an adequate supply of shelter, and regularly turns people away. They do not have a publicly funded shelter for men that does not push religion on the client. Akron was named by NEOCH as the Biggest Roadblock of the Year in 2006, because they do not take care of their homeless population. I am not saying Akron has an obligation to force people into shelter, but if the shelter is not even available then they should not be able to prosecute people for finding heated publicly funded spaces out of the weather. This would be a great trial that would generate a lot of media attention.

Brian

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

Finally, Clarification of ID Rules

Brunner Clarifies Voting Requirements

The Coalition sued Blackwell last year to assure that homeless people had a right to vote in the November election. Subodh Chandra and his legal team did a great job in getting clarification of the rules for the last election, but the case still goes on. We are hoping that the legislature will clarify the rules and strike down the ID requirements, but until then the Secretary of State issued a directive. We waited 10 months for Blackwell to explain the rules and he never got around to it. These new rules are basically the same as the settlement that we agreed to last year with the State of Ohio. Here is the link to the Secretary of State's statement clarifying the rules. The ID requirements were a stupid rule passed by a terrified Republican party to keep down Democratic turnout. So, while this stupid requirement for showing ID in order to vote is still the law of the land in Ohio, Brunner's directive is the best that we can do under the current law.

All of this touches on battles that are going on in Washington DC over the firing of the U.S. Attorneys. We keep hearing that the Bush Administration and specifically Karl Rove wanted all these U.S. Attorneys fighting "voter fraud" around the country. They keep talking about these mystery multiple voters, and massive registration fraud. State Rep. Kevin Coughlin had the same file of possible voting violations during the hearings held last year before the HB 3 ID rules were passed, and these were the same files that were being pushed on the U.S. Attorneys. These are all minor cases in which a person registers Michael Jordan or Mickey Mouse, but in nearly every case these made up voters do not show up to vote. There is not this huge wide spread conspiracy. There are isolated problems usually from voter confusion, and the U.S. Attorney's were right to resist moving on these issues. It is too bad the State of Ohio legislators did not resist the pressure to pass legislation over a problem that did not actually exist.

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

Marketing Breakdown

New Orleans to Host Conference about Suicide

Now, I would be the first to admit that marketing is not my forte, but even I recognize this as a potential train wreck. The American Association of Suicidology is hosting their conference in two weeks in New Orleans! I am all for supporting New Orleans, and we have written a great deal about how disgraceful the recovery effort, but this is one conference they might have passed on. The Conference is focused on 40 years of preventing suicide--"moving forward with education and training". That is all well and good, but New Orleans? Didn't they think that pundits might get word of this and poke fun at the city. If we keep giving pundits more opportunities to poke fun at a City doesn't that make it more likely that the City will try the hemlock? Suicide professionals from around the country coming to the City most in need of someone to talk the City down from the ledge? Some will say that it is fitting that a community that was just designated as the most dangerous in the Country needs more than any other some help from suicide prevention professionals. Was Mayor Ray Nagin feeling low and this was a way to disguise his seeking counseling by inviting hundreds of suicide counselors to his city? No matter how you look at it hosting a conference for suicide prevention professionals in the devastated city of New Orleans is ripe for humor.

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

Upcoming Events in Community

Mark Your Calendars

Bill Faith of COHHIO on Monday
The Cuyahoga Affordable Housing Alliance meeting on Monday April 2, 2007 at 1:30 p.m will feature Bill Faith of the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing Ohio. Bill is the state director and chief lobbyist for housing and homeless issues. He will talk about issues related to state and federal budget issues. He will also talk about the possibilities of funding a federal housing trust fund and increasing the revenue going to the state housing trust. The meeting takes place in the U.S. Bank building at East 14th and Euclid Ave. in the lower level. All are welcome to attend and there will be time for questions.

COHHIO Conference April 23 and 24
If you would like to know more about housing and homeless issues in Ohio, COHHIO sponsors an annual conference and lobby day. The conference is Monday April 23 and April 24 in Columbus. To register or for more details go to the COHHIO website at www.cohhio.org. On Wednesday April 25, housing advocates will descend on the state capital to push for the state to get back to serving poor people. The state has not had a housing agenda for years and has turned its back on poverty issues. The April 25 lobby day attempts to remind state legislators that three cities in Ohio are high on the list of the poorest cities in America.

ABLE Also Going Down to Columbus
The Advocates for Budget Legislation Equality has organized in Northeast Ohio to push for fairness in education, human services, health care and housing issues with the State budget. They are taking a bus down to Columbus to lobby for equity in the budget on April 26, 2007. If you would like to go down with the bus please call Tim at May Dugan at 631-5800.

NEOCH Annual Fund Raiser
Mark your calendars for May 4, 2007 and join us for the NEOCH Annual fund raiser. We will have special keynote speaker Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and the announcement of the award winner of the Ione Biggs Social Justice advocate of the year. The fund raiser is at Massimo da Milano at 6 p.m. Tickets can be purchased from the NEOCH website or through the NEOCH office. The invitations will be mailed next week and you can sign up online beginning on Monday. If you have questions about any of these activities feel free to call NEOCH at 216/432-0540.

Also next week we will post the important legislative issues that the Coalition is following in the federal, state and local legislative and executive branches of government.

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

Shelter Showdown Set

East Side Catholic Strikes Back Against County

After the County Office of Homeless Services Advisory Board voted in January to withhold future funding until East Side Catholic family shelter found a fiscal agent to manage their money, the shelter staff and board have finally responded. They have obviously calculated that they are too valuable to the community and the County will back down. They might be right, but my experience says that the County usually wins it just takes a great deal of time and aggravation.

For those who do not remember and do not want to go back to the link, East Side Catholic received repeated warnings about problems with the shelter. The County has had issues for two years now with the shelter and the administration of the shelter. It seems that the director left and the board dissolved. There were problems with an audit, and the programming that the women were receiving in the shelter. Anyway, there were serious problems and all the Board including the Coalition for the Homeless supported the actions taken by the County.

East Side Catholic sent a harsh letter to Ruth Gillett of the County Office of Homeless Services rejecting the oversight and demanding a meeting with the Federal Department overseeing shelter funds and Cuyahoga County. "East Side Catholic refuses to forfeit its FY 2006 grant award...East Side Catholic will not waive its rights to make application for FY 2007. " The Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development gives a great deal of discretion to the local government entity to manage each of the projects. There are thousands of project sponsors in the United States and HUD depends on the local jurisdiction to provide oversight of each shelter. The FY 2007 applications are already done and currently under review. East Side Catholic already missed the local application deadline and is certainly going to be skipped.

I especially like this line from their letter, "East Side Catholic continues to have grave problems receiving complete and clear information from OHS. " Ain't it the truth. Ruth is notorious for providing incomplete and vague information. That is how she has survived in government for so long. No matter if this is true or not, the County will win. They beat Care Alliance and in the end owned the Care Alliance buildings. They eliminated University Settlement from federal funding. The County will eventually prevail. It seems that the staff and Board of East Side Catholic feel that the County is weak and can be bullied. That is a facade that the OHS staff put out, but it is not the case. There will be a long drawn out battle, which may lead to the entire program failing and hundreds of homeless families struggling to find a place to live. This is emblematic of how things work in the homeless system--no coordination, much competition, very little cooperation, lots of fights, and very little progress is ever made toward the goal of ending homelessness. The worst part of this is the negative impact this will have on a population that is already struggling in our community: homeless families.

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

Thank You Secretary of State Brunner

Homeless Coalition Supports Firing of the Elections Board Members

The NEOCH staff and board have participated in observing the last two elections to make sure that homeless people were allowed to vote. We have done a great deal of work at all levels from registration to assisting people in voting. We absolutely support Secretary of State, Jennifer Brunner's decision to ask for the resignation of all the Cuyahoga County Board members of the Election's Board. They have repeatedly fallen down on the job, and failed to provide assurances to a fair and open voting process. They have allowed poor decisions by the administration of elections to stand. They themselves have made poor decisions as a board and allowed political implications to get in the way of confidence in voting. I cannot tell you how many times over the last five years the question of, "Will my vote even be counted?" comes up when we are doing voter registration drives. This was a question we rarely heard in mid 1990s, but now it is commonplace.
Here are a few reasons we feel that the Board should resign:

1. They should have cleaned house with all new leadership after all the problems in 2004.
2. They made a bad decision in picking the Diebold electronic voting system and not providing enough training for the workers in the 2006 election.
3. They did not stand up for Cuyahoga voters when Blackwell was sending out directives to keep voters away from the polls in 2006.
4. They did not take seriously the problems with the Board not following procedures when the two election workers were indicted last year.
5. They did not do enough to enforce the NEOCH vs. Blackwell lawsuit settlement in November 2006. Many precinct committee staff did not understand the settlement, and were never told about the settlement, so turned away voters without ID. Even staff sent from the main office were unaware of the settlement.
6. The Board members never provided any guidance on the role of the election observers in the 2006 election. This caused a conflict at the precinct that I monitored, and the Cleveland police had to be called to settle the dispute.
7. They provided no guidance on the privacy of the voter while they cast their vote. There is no directive from the Board about photographing voters as they are casting their vote, and the ability to cast a ballot without a cameraman filming. Many homeless people do not want to be photographed while they do anything including voting.

Overall, the Board members do not act in the best interest of voters and do not supervise the election in an effort to arrive at a fair outcomes. They have allowed partisan political considerations to taint their responsibility to the administering the signature act of our democracy. We applaud the Secretary of State for asking for the full Board's resignation, and we hope that the next Board will operate in a more open and honest manner, free of the problems of lines, cutting corners and delays in release of the results.

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

Guerrilla War on the Streets of America??

Images of Police in Virginia... A Threat to Democracy

The Coalition for the Homeless passed a resolution four years ago in opposition to the war. The NEOCH board at the time felt that without proper justification for the war, we could not justify spending $200 billion on a war with so many glaring domestic needs. Boy, did we underestimate the cost of the war in 2003. Over the weekend, we saw some alarming images from the Pentagon anti-war protests. All the images of police showed masked, heavily armed and body armored, storm trooper type men all with the words "State Police" and no other identifying marks. This frightening image should be illegal in the United States. The police surrounded the Pentagon with shields and gas masks and overwhelming force against a bunch of loud but non-violent demonstrators. Those that enforce the laws of the United States during an act of peaceful assembly against the government should have their faces visible and should be clearly identifiable with their names or badge numbers in big bold letters.

NEOCH has staged many demonstrations in the past, and we always had a far too many police officers babysitting us, but never any in riot gear. The issue is that anonymous police can easily venture into excessive force with peace of mind of any possibility of consequences. How do you complain about an officer hitting you with a night stick if there are 400 officers who all look the same in front of you? This is a sure sign of the growth of the police state when we see anonymous riot police defending government buildings during a protest.

There is no reason for the police to not be clearly identified except to protect themselves from individual accountability. It is not the case that police officers are targeted like in Mexico or Columbia by death squads. There is at most the possibility of minor vandalism from demonstrators, but Riot police are a threat to our democracy and the ability for "we the people" to exercise our rights to assemble, speak, and petition the government. We have seen plenty of video from Tacoma, Washington and San Francisco and many other places where police use excessive force on demonstrators and then chuckle about it afterwards. We need to take back control over the heavily armed police and make them subject to civilian oversight. Most of the time it is the police that cause the escalation in violence and not the demonstrators.

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

NEOCH Annual Awards

Annual Meeting Held on the Ides of March

The Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless issued its Annual Report last night at Franklin Circle church. It will be available on our website in the near future. We elected our new Board for 2007-8, and gave details on our plans for 2007. The treasurer gave his report on the state of the NEOCH finances, and Teri' Horne did a summary of the activities undertaken over the last year. Finally, the Board elected a new executive committee for the Coalition. The most anticipated part of the Annual Meeting was the awards ceremony. There is no red carpet or band to play the winners off the stage, but it is nice to recognize people who have gone above and beyond the call of duty. In addition, NEOCH gave out one notice of condemnation to the City of Akron.

Joan Burda--Five Years of Service
We celebrated Joan's five years of service to NEOCH as the Director of Cleveland Homeless Legal Assistance Program. She has doubled the number of clinics operated by the CHLAP lawyers and is now working on establishing a pro se legal clinic on the near West Side. This facility would allow low income people to come in and print out their legal documents and file themselves court proceedings. She has served thousands of homeless people over the last five years, and the Board appreciates her dedication to the job.

Jim Schlecht--NEOCH Advocate of the Year
Jim is the outreach worker for Care Alliance, and has worked with homeless people for decades. He is also a noted peace activist and champion of those abused by capitalism. The Board proclamation cited his tireless service to protect fragile populations from the elements. They thanked him for his compassion and steadfast work for social justice in forwarding solutions. NEOCH recognizes Jim Schlecht's work to oversee the 2006 Housing Stand Down, and his work to develop a 24 hour drop-in center in presenting the Advocate of the Year award.

Bernadette Janes--NEOCH Volunteer of the Year
Bernadette volunteered with the Cosgrove Center and for the Coalition as a writer. She was recognized by the Board for her distinguished career assisting organizations throughout the community. The Board cited her countless hours working with the Homeless Grapevine in documenting the struggles that homeless people face everyday.

City of Akron--Roadblock to Progress 2006
The NEOCH Board condemned the City of Akron for their efforts to make it illegal to be poor within the city limits by passing the worst law against pan handling in the United States. For providing criminal backgrounds to the long list of barriers a person living in Akron must overcome if they fall on hard times, and for not forwarding solutions to homelessness were a few of the reasons cited by the Board in proclaiming the City of Akron as the Biggest Roadblock to Progress in 2006.

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

Plain Dealer Covers Homeless People

Homelessness in the Daily Paper

We have all read a great deal about homelessness over this last week. On Friday, The Plain Dealer had a very nice story about the Homeless Congress and the efforts to create some standards within the shelter system. How could homeless people want clean linens or a good meal? It took nearly three months to get consensus on the shelter standards that all those who came to the meeting could agree. It has been a very interesting process, and now the real work begins. We need to have the City Council pass this legislation as soon as possible with few changes. We need to bring some discipline to the shelters and establish a place to go to complain. Our next meeting is in two weeks, and then we move onto real solutions.

Today, there was an article about the identification program in The Plain Dealer that we helped to start a few years back. This is another one of the positive outcomes from the VISTA national service program at NEOCH that carries on long past those VISTAs having gone onto "real" jobs that pay "real" money. In the post-9/11 world it is very difficult to get a birth certificate from many states, and the costs have gone up all over the country. This program funded by the Cleveland Foundation and Fairview Lutheran Foundation sometimes is the key to someone getting a job or housing. There are some people who become homeless and only need a minor hand up and they are on their way to stability. Identification is the first step for every homeless person on their way back to an apartment.

Peace and Justice Forum...
NEOCH participated in the Catholic School's social justice forum at St. Ignatius on Friday 3/9/07 along with nearly every homeless service provider in the community. I was fortunate to be able to present along with Michelle and Greg, two formerly homeless people, to a group of students from all over Greater Cleveland. It is always hard to tell if the young people got it or not. Will one of these scholars be inspired to solve the problem of homelessness in Cleveland or even in America? It is hard to say, but it was a nice event.

To Quote or Not to Quote...
A journalist asked a question in the comments section that I thought I would address here. Anything in this blog can be used for publication as long as the proper attribution is made. We want this information to be in the community, debated and discussed.

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

Family Forum Reflection

Women Gather to Plead for More Attention

The Family Homeless Forum was not as well attended as we had hoped, but it was a wonderful forum with a four women doing a great presentation about their experiences. We prepared a good overview of family homelessness locally that will be on the website shortly. We intend to send the report to every elected official, foundation, and major religious institution in the area. Family homelessness is on the rise with 9,000 individuals from families who experience homelessness every year. Nearly one third of the total number of children in the Ohio school system who were homeless came from the Cleveland Public Schools last year. And the situation for families is only getting worse.

Federal policy has turned away from family homelessness, and this has caused great instability within the family shelters. Two of the 12 family shelters in the community are on the rocks and in danger of closing, and the waiting list for families getting into subsidized housing is 3-5 years. Michelle talked about how she had to wait for help because she did not have a drug problem and was not disabled. We heard from one woman about the lack of facilities for both Moms and Dads to stay together in the same shelter. One woman talked about having to make the decision to go back to an abuser, because she could not find any housing after a felony conviction. Sabrina talked about the horrible experiences within the shelters, and the fact that she had no where to turn for help.

The experience of homelessness is rough enough without prolonging that stay with silly and incorrect policies. In the past, we did everything, as a society, in our power to make sure that kids were protected from the most extreme forms of poverty. It seems that there are so many families suffering that we have just given up. We need local leadership to step forward, roll up their sleeves and begin to build more housing to keep families together.

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

Updates from the Coalition

The Latest Dispatch from the Homeless Coalition

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

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

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

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

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

Gentrification=Attacks on Poor People

Neighborhood Wars

Gentrification is insidious in that it slowly overtakes a neighborhood. It is feared by poor people, and spreads fear throughout the neighborhood. People start believing that all their problems within the neighborhood are caused by poor people. They start to believe that if they do not kick out the poor people their housing values will decrease and they will lose their nest egg or become homeless themselves. In Tremont, Ohio City and now starting in Detroit Shoreway there is this drive to "develop" the neighborhood. It is usually led by the neighborhood development corporation and by a small group who are single minded in their focus to improve property values. These are worthy goals, but it all falls down when the health of all income levels are not taken into account. There are many CDC directors who try to work with both low income and higher income households and the attempt to balance the needs of each. There are some who try to integrate the neighborhood and champion diversity. But a few who just let the developers go wild, and are hostile to poor people.

Some CDCs restrict access by non-profits who serve poor people out of a fear of attracting homeless and the downtrodden. They condemn and bulldoze property that is unsightly. They demand action by the City to make it illegal to be poor (panhandling, anti-"camping," and anti-feeding ordinances). They constantly chew the ear of the elected local official until the Councilperson finally breaks and forgets about their poorer constituents and follows the vision of the rich developers (potential campaign donors) to move away from affordable housing.

The results are:

• All the shelters get pushed to the "bad" parts of town away from bus lines, social services, and government offices.
• The innovative ideas like pay to stay places (non-profit flophouses) or sweat equity affordable housing co-ops or one stop service centers do not get tried.
• Land is left vacant or used as community garden/park space to avoid the development of affordable housing.
• It is harder to locate a place to live that is affordable to a person making service sector wages.
• When people fall out of their housing through eviction they fall all the way to shelter or the streets. There are no longer safety nets to catch people.
• Housing gets more expensive city wide because certain markets are shut off to people.

This is gentrification and the results of gentrification. The Center for Community Change does some work on gentrification. Also, the National Low Income Housing Coalition has some articles on NIMBY issues.

Brian

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

Homeless Dollars only Half the Story

HUD Announces $22 million to "End Homelessness," while Creating More Homeless People

The Bush Administration announced last week just under $22 million in funding for homeless programs in Cuyahoga County, championing an increase in funds nationally, but what is the rest of the story? Federal dollars have increased to homeless programs in order to renew, at the same cost, all the existing programs. For example, in Cuyahoga County of the $22 million given out on February 20, $18.5 million or 88% is to renew existing programs with no cost of living increases to these programs. That renewal burden has increased each year around the country, and has forced the Department of Housing and Urban Development to increase the dollars just to keep the existing services open and operational.

While HUD has had to keep homeless programs open with a larger dollar commitment, they have been conducting a full frontal assault on existing housing programs. Each year the HUD budget has proposed massive cuts to affordable housing, which only creates more homeless people showing up at the shelter doors. HUD has had no problems funding band aid solutions with shelters and expensive but limited housing programs, at the same time they have tried to eliminate their commitment to making housing affordable.

HUD’s Recent History of Reductions in Affordable Housing:

§ In the past two years, HUD has cut $3.3 Billion in funds to affordable housing.

§ They have devastated Public Housing programs including a 26% cut this last year. There has not been one new public housing unit developed for the past 10 years. Nationally, communities have actually lost 100,000 units of public housing in the last 10 years.

§ HUD has not developed one new non-elderly subsidized housing unit in Northeast Ohio for years.

§ The 2008 Budget requests cuts to the HUD Section 811 housing program for disabled people, and the HUD Section 202 housing program for the elderly.

§ The 2008 Budget request defers $20 Billion in public housing modernization until some unknown time in the future, and proposes another $415 million cut in public housing capital dollars.

I am asking all media when reporting the story of the small increase in funds going to homelessness mention the huge cuts to housing programs by HUD. While HUD champions their commitment to ending homelessness in 10 years, which happens to be two years after they leave office, they cut many of the mainstream programs that homeless people depend on to move into housing. One year of funding homeless programs in the United States is $1.4 billion dollars for the millions of homeless people in America, which compares to over $300 billion spent to fund the War in Iraq and a current $100 billion supplemental funding bill pending in Congress to support the war.

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

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.