Some In City Council Can't Stop from Pandering

Sexually Based Offenders Debated in City Council

On Wednesday, Cleveland City Council held a hearing about the issue of sexual based offenders living in Cleveland. I think that the guy at the door unwittingly had it right when he asked, "Where are you going today?" I responded, "City Council," and he said, "So, are you for the predators or against them?" It seems that some of the Council members took this to heart and had to pander to the deepest fears in all of us. Ward 11 (Collinwood) Councilman Michael Polensek did his best impression of a Senate Supreme Court nomination hearing by giving a speech that just went on and on and on. What is the point of having a hearing with all these "experts" if you never ask any questions and keep throwing in tangents that have nothing to do with the issue?

Councilman Zach Reed and Pat Britt of Wards 3 (Mt. Pleasant) and Ward 6 (University Circle) area respectively did a good job of asking appropriate questions and listening to the testimony of the large number of panelists. Here are some of the things that we learned:

• The 1,000 feet rule implemented by the state (No sexually based offender can live within 1,000 feet of a school, daycare center or childcare facility) is not based on any science and is entirely arbitrary. After all, a rapist of women does not care that they cannot live within a 1,000 feet of a childcare facility. A pedophile of young male relatives does not care that they cannot live next to a girl's school.
• 80% of the sexually based offenders knew their victims (babysitter, relative, acquaintance, etc.) yet all the rules are based on stranger attacks.
• Treatment for sex offenders does lower recidivism.
• Stable housing is the greatest need for those returning from incarceration. Stable housing and proper supervision is the best prevention of recidivism.
• Homeless Shelters are not a very good place for sexually based offenders, but two of the three largest concentrations of sexually based offenders in Cleveland are shelters.
• There is a real lack of money from the state to serve this population and to protect the citizens. Polensek characterized this as an unfunded mandate.
• There are some 600 people living too close to a childcare facility in Cuyahoga County.
• They have changed the way that they measure the 1,000 feet. It is now property line to property line.
• There is no criminal penalty for violating the 1,000 feet. It is a civil procedure that a neighbor or law enforcement can take to force the individual to move.
  

I have never understood why it seems like elected officials have these hearing, but seem to ignore the so-called "experts" who testify. If the 1,000 rule was in place to appeal to the law and order voters, but has no basis in fact, then why doesn't City Council speak up? These rules harm our community, but making it seem that something is being done, but in reality the rules make our community less safe. How about lawsuits against the state? These rules force sexually based offenders to move and constantly looking over their shoulders. They spend time unsupervised and untreated in the shelters and angry, and we are less safe.

There is a special place for Ward 21 (West Park) Councilman Michael Dolan who pandered to the cameras and voters. After coming in late and missing most of the testimony, he stepped up on his way to another meeting to say that he wished these guys could be shipped to the desert while under the watchful eye of the state. I could be wrong, but I believe that we tried this in "Escape from New York," and Snake Plissken was able to escape. Don't go out and rent it just believe me, he was very angry when he finally got off the island. Dolan also wanted the legal department to send letters to all 600 living too close to a childcare facility. Basically, giving the men's shelter warning to expect another 500 people. WHERE WILL THESE GUYS GO, MR. DOLAN???? Would you rather have them sleeping on the streets? The "Councilman" swept in, dropped a few soundbytes that were totally unreasonable, and left. A disgraceful show that did not forward the discussion at all.

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

Panhandling Debate Begins

Will the Panhandling Ordinance be Renewed?

In October, the City of Cleveland Panhandling Ordinance is set to sunset. We certainly hope that the new Mayor lets this issue quietly die as a failed experiment. If nothing else the law should be revised so that it does not restrict free speech. The current law makes it illegal to even ask for money within certain areas of Cleveland. No one who values free speech could ever claim that this law does not restrict speech. I saw a quote on another blog that boggled my mind...

"I give money all the time to passive panhandlers and Homeless Grapevine vendors (even if I already purchased a copy of Grapevine). I stand by this First Amendment right, which does not include the terribly profane and threatening behavior that I have witnessed."

What is passive panhandling? Is that asking for money in mime? The First Amendment is clear that government shall make no law that restricts speech. It does not say unless the speech is near a bus stop, a doorway, or near a valet station. The legislation was illegal and if tested in court would certainly be found unconstitutional.

The people who testified for the legislation were offensive in that they equated panhandling with homeless people. Then they said we don't care if this tramples the First Amendment as long as it takes care of the aggressive panhandlers. We are destroying so many rights in the last few years that the Bill of Rights is only a shadow of the document that held this country together for 220 years.

By the Way....
There is a great blog that started recently http://ocnwtruth.blogspot.com. It is a masterful work of spin. The subtitle is "Fact vs. Fiction." In the best Fox News/O'Reilly No Spin Zone language, it proports to give only the facts, but the site is almost entirely devoid of actual hard facts recognized by journalists. It is a long detailed opinion piece about how great Ohio City is, and how much the OCNW has done for poor people. It is a rare opportunity to look through the eyes of a group of people who are completely missing the forest fire around them while advertising the virtues of smoking. If nothing else very entertaining. Check it out.

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

Shelter Storm Revue Tour Review

Artists Tour of Shelter Successful

Last Friday was the premier performance of the Shelter Storm Revue Tour. The foundation of 2100 Lakeside shook in time to the rocking out that occurred between the hours of seven and ten in the evening. There is no human language in existence that can capture the jubilation, I witnessed that night.

The show began a few minutes early because the snowballing anticipation took control and sparked an electric explosion of sound from Progeny. Within seconds, the crowd was on their feet clapping and swaying and singing along with the 12-piece outfit.

I would like to take a moment to point out here that I had previously said in an interview about the show that ideally, it would be wonderful if people were jumping up and down and dancing on the tables. However, I didn't expect such a reaction and was going into it expecting a low-key intimate performance. In reality, no one was dancing on the tables. However, that was only because there was enough room on the floor for dancing.

Then came the harmonica player whose name I did not catch. He was a resident who asked if he could play with Progeny, and they allowed him time to show off his chops. If I ever hear a better harmonica player in my life, I will have died and gone to Chicago blues heaven. I cannot express my amazement at his talent without using a profanity, so I will just express it with symbols that can be translated as profane language: Holy #$@@*!

After Progeny came Lost Poet Black Hawk, a resident who kindly asked if he could take the stage to bear his soul before his fellow people. He strung sentences together with words and alliterative beauty not unlike how one weaves a tapestry with thread and needle. The single poem he read was the perfect bridge between Progeny and the following act, Gary Nelson.

Mr. Nelson is far and above one of my favorite local Cleveland musicians. He failed to disappoint with his Celtic flavored tunes that struck the crowd dumb as they tightened in close for a good listen. Gary brought many smiles and nods as he regaled the gathered troupe with ballads of greed and struggle. His sound was broken only once to allow Lost Poet Black Hawk one more knock-down poem.

Next was Meagen Huelsenbeck, preaching like Paul between poems that brought her Gospel fire to light. Her time before the 2100ers was short, but it drew forth many amens and grunts of agreement from the spectators ensorcelled by her evangelizing.

Closing the show for the night was myself. I like to think I was amazing, but I am hardly an unbiased observer. I was told I was on fire and those that heard me seemed to thoroughly enjoy it. Regardless, I call the show an outstanding success. The audience could not believe what they were hearing and I could not believe what I was seeing. If this an accurate representation of the norm, I cannot wait for our next show Tuesday, April 4th at the VOA shelter.

Josh

P.S. Artist who would like to participate in an upcoming show can call Josh Kanary at 216/432-0540 and leave a message at extention 404.

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

Homelessness and Ohio City

What is Wrong in Ohio City?

In the last month, the Plain Dealer has reported a growing amount of anger on the near West Side of Cleveland with letters and stories. The Coalition for the Homeless has had over the last four years witnessed growing hostility toward poor people in Tremont and Ohio City. From the attempts to move the women's shelter to the West Side of Cleveland and to find a good compromise to the problems at the Jay Hotel, there is a rising level of tensions. The problem is that both Tremont and Ohio City residents feel they are overburdened with poor people despite the reality that 9% of the County jobs have disappeared over the last six years of RECESSION, and so poor people are everywhere.

The Coalition has been especially critical of the Ohio City Near West Development Corporation, because it is the opinion of many at the Coalition that they have done very little to heal the anger or bridge the gulf between poor people and the wealthier homeowners and merchants. Many in positions of leadership with OCNW keep forwarding the myth that they are unreasonably overburdened with social services to respond to the needs of poor people. They assisted with the closure of the Jay Hotel, and now are working on getting rid of all the "drug dealers and criminals" from Riverview. They dropped the line about a preference for affordable housing from their mission statement, and have made it difficult to locate a site for the replacement units at Riverview.

It just seems like many in Ohio City and OCNW are saying to the rest of us: "We don't care where those people with problems live as long it is not in 'our neighborhood.' " Many of those with drug and alcohol problems or a criminal past have now taken up residence on our city streets, under bridges and are now attempting to find a warm places including those in Ohio City.

OCNW has provided no leadership in finding solutions and seems to allow the loudest, angriest,
and those gripped with fear to rule the day. My concern is that they lost their social justice and community organizing roots. I have heard from many of the activists who live on the near West Side similar concerns about OCNW. Many in positions of leadership confuse charity with justice, but they are very different concepts. Helping out with a meal or hosting a Christmas party once a year does not change the culture or the community. Applying for tax credits for "lower" income people to live or rooting out "bad people" is certainly not justice. It does not end discrimination or provide a safe or decent environment to grow, and it certainly does not make a change in society to increase the opportunity for those less well off.

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

HUD is Chronically Offensive

Please Don't Call Me Chronic Anything

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has a new strategy for "ending homelessness." It is based on flawed research by Dennis Culhane and is being pushed down the throat of all of us out in the field who are working on solutions. Anyway, they are giving extra points and championing programs that serve the "chronically homeless." I can't think of a more offensive and dehumanizing term to use for a population. The focus is on single adults to the exclusion on families with the thinking that if society can address the long term homeless then all these resources will be free to serve the rest of the population. This does not make any sense in Cleveland and some of the other communities especially in rural towns.

The word chronic means:

1. Of long duration; continuing: chronic money problems.
2. Lasting for a long period of time or marked by frequent recurrence, as certain diseases: chronic colitis.
3. Subject to a habit or pattern of behavior for a long time.

HUD is saying that people with multiple episodes or those who are homeless for a long period of time are considered "chronic." So, the first definition does not work because it is not a continuous state. Homelessness is not a disease (thank goodness--since our health care problems are far bigger than our housing crisis). "I hope my homelessness does not flair up, because I just shook it off last week." Or the most appropriate definition coming from a Washington bureaucrat: homelessness is habit that poor people are addicted to. "I am living in an apartment with security and privacy, but I just can't get enough of the overcrowded shelters because no one has stolen my shoes today. I gotta have it now."

Would HUD staff appreciate being called "chronic bureaucrats?" Or how about House and Senate leaders being labeled "chronic politicians?" Chronic anything is offensive when referring to a person. Homelessness is not a habit to break or a disease. Homeless people don't even like being called homeless because of all the negative stereotypes associated with it, but then add the adjective chronic and they become nameless and faceless. It is easier to forget about a chronically homeless money drains on our society. It is easier to close shelters and services if we can point to the fact that the residents are chronically addicted to using the facilities. It serves our interest to assign blame as a society, and to lump all homeless people into a category of those who will forever be dependent on government. The 58 year old woman who spends half her fixed income on medication who is living in our shelters wants to be resting at her own apartment but had to make the decision to either pay rent or eat. She chose to eat and pay for her medicine, and she certainly does not want to be labeled "chronically homeless."
Brian

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

National Debt and Homelessness

Where is All that Money Going?

I am having a real hard time understanding the increase in the National Debt this week. I think that this is similar to the credit card company increasing my credit limit from $10,000 to $122,000 overnight even though I have no way of paying this amount of money back. But it is not like this at all is it? There is no credit card company in the debt limit, but the Congress is spending and approving their own debt limit themselves. So, where is all this money going? The Washington Post has a commentary about spending frenzy the day the debt ceiling went up.

We were told that the conservatives are good stewards of our government, because they would reign in "out of control" spending. So the budget is out of control and yet we are not solving any problems. I do not feel any safer with the massive spending on "Homeland Security." We have taken over another country for who knows what reason. Energy pricing is more unstable than ever before. Our food supply is not safer. Medicine is still very expensive, and our schools are still struggling with budget shortfalls. We are not any more secure from the outbreak of disease or deadly flu. We are not making great discoveries or stopping the warming of our planet. So, where is all this money that my kids are going to have to payoff going? It is not solving homelessness or poverty. Can someone please tell me where is all this money going, and what happened to all the "fiscal conservatives?"

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

Mayor Visits Shelter

Three Hour Tour of the Shelters by Mayor Jackson

In the last 12 years of my work at NEOCH, no mayor has taken time to do a walk through of the shelters. We had one county commissioner who claimed to have slept at the shelter and another who went to the shelter to criticize the residents, but no Mayors. Even though every shelter but one is in the City of Cleveland and most homeless people migrate to Cleveland in order to get services, the Mayors of Cleveland has largely focused on photo ops. This was done without a press release and without a lot of fanfare for the Mayor's tour of the shelters on Thursday March 9. Channel 3 found out as did the Plain Dealer by checking the Mayor's schedule for the day. There was a nice story by Tom Beres about the tour on Channel 3. Proving once again that Channel 3 might be the only real news television station left.

The tour started at 10 a.m. at 2100 Lakeside Shelter with a meeting of the men who are the elected leaders of the shelter. The Mayor talked about his vision and his agenda around housing and homelessness. He listened to the men and heard some of their concerns in a 45 minute meeting. The Mayor had Jason Woods, governmental affairs, Martin Flask, Public Safety Director, and Michael House, Press Secretary along to answer questions and listen to the concerns. The issues that the Mayor discussed at his meeting were:

• The men at the shelter can make a difference in their own lives and the life of the City.
  
• The Mayor of the City of Cleveland is not the enemy, and will help whenever possible.
  
• We need to focus on: money and attack the misconceptions of the general public about homelessness in order to fix up some of the abandoned property.
• He wanted to assure that we do not re-concentrate poverty as had been done in the past with any fix up program.
  
• We need to assure that neighbors are involved in the development of any programs or any affordable housing.
  
• We need to work on partnerships between the City and County.
• We need to work on the $23 or $24 million that come to Cleveland every year and assure that we have better outcomes with that money.
• We need a plan for how we better serve the population and business leaders can be effective in assisting with implementation of a plan.
  
• We need to transform the shelter into a place that creates jobs. Jackson talked about making the shelters into economic engines that can help people find employment or can foster the development of microenterprise projects. Have the shelters go after contracts for goods and services in the community in order provide employment opportunities.
  
• He asked the shelter residents for input on how to transition out of homelessness. What steps need to be taken?
• Again, talked about better utilization of funds.
  
• Talked about the Summer Clean up program and the process for awarding that contract. (196 of the men had signed a letter asking the City to award the contract to the Community Hiring Hall.)
  
• In response to a question about people with a prison background getting into housing, he said that many are very judgmental in the community. The only way to change this negative stereotype is for the shelter residents to start doing high profile volunteer tasks in the community. Jackson suggested working with various departments (Aging and Safety). Jackson said that the City will help in this effort, but the men will have to work on this.
  
• The Mayor stressed the need for the homeless population to define themselves and not let panhandlers or the people who do wrong within the community to be the people that are most visible and are assumed to represent the homeless community.
  
• One man at the shelter asked about a negative incident with the police that the Safety Director agreed to follow up on it.
  
• One person asked about government regulations and the policy of felons getting into housing. Jackson said that he would work with the Coalition on changing any policy that had any local flexibility. Will work on the problems.

Jackson has visited the facility before and is always impressed by the huge laundry facility of the shelter. They wash and dry 550 sheets and various clothing items every day.

After the meeting and tour of the men's shelter, which is the largest shelter in the state of Ohio we went over the Community Women's Shelter (100 women and a few children sleep there every night). It took a long time to get through the shelters, because the men and women wanted to talk to the Mayor. In addition, LMM and Mental Health Services had taken over the shelter in the last year and half and wanted to talk to the Mayor about some issues.

The Mental Health Services staff at the Women's Shelter did a good overview of the program and had a few of the residents lead the tour. Good idea for a Mayor/Councilperson who is big into empowerment to have the residents lead the tour. Then it was lunch with the Catholic Charities staff at the Bishop Cosgrove Center and a few individuals who use the facility. Very good chicken, rice, and vegetables with grape juice and a dessert on the side. We learned about the funding constraints of the Drop in Center, and the large number of people provided a meal and warm place every day. At this point, we were running behind and so we were not going to get to see the Volunteers of America Shelter. The Mayor loves talking to citizens. He doesn't just shake hands, but spends a little time listening to people ask about jobs, housing, re-entry or big plans for the city. Yes, even homeless people have big plans for the City. They are usually ignored because they bring little money to the table.

Finished up over at West Side Catholic. We got to see the renovated facility and the Ignatius high school students volunteering. The older Clevelanders who help to prepare the meal were in the kitchen, and we visited the fantastic clothing room in the back of West Side Catholic. We finished up in the Cadillac of shelters with the West Side Catholic family shelter. The cleanest of the shelters and newly renovated facility that feels like a real home not an institution. We finished up on time, and then did a short interview with Channel 3. The Mayor assured me that this is not the end of the story that we need to further develop some of the ideas that came up. He told me that staff would follow up with me and gave me names of people to contact. The men at 2100 Lakeside set a meeting for Monday to de-brief and make plans for activities they could work on in the community.
Brian

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

Artists to Perform at the Shelters

2100 Lakeside Shelter will Host First Shelter Storm Revue Tour

The Shelter Storm Revue Tour is ready to set sail on its first Cleveland-bound voyage. On Friday, the 24th of March, at 7:30 PM, the anchor shall be dropped outside the windy shores of the 2100 Lakeside Men's Shelter. Among the hearty crew to first make landfall, one spies Meagen Hueslenbeck with her poet pen on fire, Gary Nelson with his solid gold fiddle dragging in the sands behind him, the voices of Progeny ringing the bells of angels, and one Josh Kanary - guitar and harmonica sleeping soundly in his faded carpetbag.

It is not too late to join the concert. Please contact Josh Kanary at 216.432.0540 if you wish to offer some talent to the 2100 Lakeside show, or to our upcoming April 4th show at the VOA shelter. We welcome all forms of performance art and invite you to share it with the people who need to hear what you have to say.

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

Other Areas of Interest

A Few Quick Notes>>>>>

January Website Notes
January was the biggest month for the NEOCH website in our history. Thanks to everyone that is visiting the NEOCH website. Please let us know what is missing, confusing, or needs improvement.

First She was Naked; Now Homeless; What Next?
The Homeless Grapevine Blog has a response to the Sharon Reed as a Homeless Person. It was the worst form of media abuse, but what do you expect from this despicable station?

Frank Jackson will Tour the Shelters this Week
Mayor Jackson of Cleveland will be visiting the shelter in the next week to see what is going on in the world of homelessness. We will report on this tour in the next week.

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

A Few Interesting Notes

Roldo Transcript on Meet The Bloggers

Just to prove that Cleveland is in fact "Cool:" We have Roldo and New York Does Not.

The Roldo Transcript is now at Meet the Bloggers. Here is an interesting exchange:

Roldo Bartimole: I think there is a change. I think that you didn't see the homelessness in the 60s that you see now. Part of that is having tossed people out of institutions where they are getting help for their mental problems. A lot of people in the street are afflicted with some kind of mental disease.

McKala Everett: In the 60s?

Roldo Bartimole: In the 60s, they were institutionalized. I am not sure that that was the answer, if they weren'’t getting proper care and rehabilitation, but the answer wasn'’t throwing them out on the street. There is a lot more hunger, because I think there are a lot of things that, as somebody was saying before, they see people who have large televisions and other things. You almost have to have a car to have a job these days. That I think is somewhat different. A lot of the things that should happen have not happened. One of the other things that has happened as far as homelessness is concerned is a lot of places that were single-room occupancy were destroyed. When I first came to Cleveland, I was here alone (my family was still back in Connecticut), and I went into a single-room place near the Plain Dealer. There were hundreds of them between Euclid and Superior, and they were all knocked down by CSU, and there has never been real replacement for that. So the other part that someone else mentioned earlier was the single family. There are so many more single families than there were in the 60s. And I think the other part is the inability to deal with especially poverty in the African-American community. WeÂ’ve sort of decided as a community that we are not going to deal with that problem anymore. The end of welfare programs, where at least you had some support, some financial support from the government. I think thatÂ’s hurt too.

We have a new list of Strategies to End Homelessness on our website, which talks about the need for Single Room Occupancy housing or flop houses that Roldo talks about. This is a huge priority for homeless people in Cleveland.

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

February/March Must be Report Season

Hungry Americans...Who Cares?

One report that I forgot to mention was the Second Harvest report on hunger. Now, these Second Harvest do-gooders have a lot of nerve releasing this report. Our concern for Hunger in America went out of style with bell bottoms, disco balls, Richard Nixon, and anti-war rallies. We have big issues like the War on Terrorism to be worried about at this time. We don't need information like 36% of the people served by the Second Harvest Network are under 18 years old. We have to be worried if we are going to get blown up by a falling airliner or an exploding shipping container near our house. We certainly don't have the ability to keep the problem of hunger in our minds when we are facing so many other problems in America. The problem of hunger is too complicated to describe in a 2 minute story, while people getting blown up is an easy story to get the message across in 2 minutes.

We are facing a growing Civil War in Iraq, and the 24 to 27 million different people served by the Second Harvest network are not yet at the point of starting a civil war. So who cares? We have to be afraid of terrorist using telephones or libraries in our neighborhood, we certainly don't have time for worrying about being one of the individuals who will have to utilize the Second Harvest National Network of approximately 44,000 agencies, which are made up of approximately 29,600 food pantries, 5,600 soup kitchens and 4,100 emergency shelters. We shouldn't be concerned that only 12% of the people are in fact homeless using the food progrms or that 36% of the people using the Second Harvest Food Network are employed, when we will probably die because of the effect of global warming.

These Second Harvest radicals are whistling in the wind if they think this rise in requests for food matters to the rest of us when Bill O'Reilly is telling us to be afraid of the liberal media elite. Here in Cleveland, one of the previous poorest cities in America, we could care less that 68% of the people using the Second Harvest Network were living below the federal poverty level in the last month, when the Bird Flu is about to plop down on our heads. So it was a waste of paper to survey the 52,000 recipients to complete this survey unless they had asked a question like, "Are you aware of any secret underground terrorist cells in your neighborhood?" So go read it if you want, but it is boring since no one gets blown up and there is no real enemy for us to hate.

Brian

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

If Ohio is a B, the Rest of the Country Must Suck...

NAMI Releases Report on State of the Country

It must be a slow news day, because a report got a lot of news coverage on public radio. This report from National Alliance on Mental Illness says that Ohio gets a "B" on the academic scale in its treatment of mentally ill people. The country gets a "D" overall. Things must really suck in the rest of the country if Ohio is getting a grade of "B." Let's look at the reality of what is going on locally for mentally ill people.

• The report talks about the lack of mental health parity in health care coverage, which is a huge issue in this state.
• If you do not have money and have a mental illness good luck in getting help. Unless you are a threat to yourself or others there is very little available to you.
• Even if you are a threat to yourself, you may get 24 hours of help and then a long, long, long, long wait for the state to decide that you are disabled.
  
• There is no presumptive eligibility for assistance to prevent homelessness.
  
• No where in the United States, including Ohio, do severely disabled people on disability assistance receive enough money to pay the market rate for housing.
  
• There is no facility in Cuyahoga County that women with a mental illness who become homeless can go to receive help and overnight shelter with staff trained solely to work on mental health issues.
  
• There is so much bureaucracy to get such a small amount of help. The agencies are forced to spend so much time and energy on paperwork that people with a mental illness suffer.
  
• If you should also have an alcohol or drug problem, a blizzard of paperwork will rain down on you, and you will get very little help.
  
• The closing of the asylums continue when budgets get tight, and budgets always seem to be in flux. There seems to be a constant tension between services and housing in the mental health community.
  

Anyway, things are bad, and if the rest of the country is worse... it is almost enough to push a person over the edge. Speaking of NAMI, I am not a big fan. They seem to represent parents of mentally ill people and social service providers. It never seems like they represent mentally ill people in their advocacy. "The Nation's Voice on Mental Illness" is their motto, but who is the nation's voice for the mentally ill?

Brian

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

New Study on Corporate Welfare

New Report Shows Non-Profits Pay Low Wages

There is a new study released by the state welfare department that gives a good overview of the companies that are using state programs in place of paying decent salaries. This was well reported in the Plain Dealer and on many blogs. The top 40 employers included service employers, restaurants, temporary labor companies, and non profits. Most of the reporting has included the fact that Wal Mart and McDonalds top the lists. Wal Mart is #1 in the State of Ohio in employees on Medicaid, #4 in individuals receiving cash assistance, and #2 with employees receiving Food Stamps. This is good information, but hardly shocking. It is also not shocking that Minute Man, Manpower, and Kelly Services, Custom Staffing are also on the lists.

What I found amazing was the number of non-profit organizations on the list
Medicaid
16. Goodwill 2,216 people
21. YMCA 1,648
25. Cleveland Clinic 1,486
29. Interim HealthCare 1,250
30. University Hospital of Cleve. 1,191
38. Salvation Army 648

Food Stamps
14. Goodwill 1,536 people receiving assistance
26. YMCA 932
29. Cleveland Clinic 844
35. UH of Cleveland 620
38. Salvation Army 574

This list should be the non-profit Wall of Shame list. How do they help people if their own employees cannot survive on the wages and benefits that they pay. How humiliating is it that three health care providers do not provide health to their own employees? The big issue with Goodwill is that it is intended as a training program for disabled individuals, but these individuals never get out of training wages. Perpetual training is not a real service to society. We have complained about Salvation Army for years and their notoriously low wages. I have known men who worked at the shelter and had to stay their periodically because they did not earn enough money. Check out this nice report that Ohio Policy Matters helped get released.

Also, check out Roldo's Squeaky Wheel blog. There are a number of interesting posts about poverty that were recently added.

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

State of the City is Hopeful

Jackson Outlines a Positive State of the City

Keep in mind that the Homeless Coalition has had to sue the City of Cleveland six times over the last 15 years, but I was very impressed with the Mayor's State of the City Speech. I liked the humility to say "Politicians say this stuff all the time, and I want to be measured on results" coming from a Mayor. I like the focus on education and regionalism. I hope that the suburbs realize how many homeless people come from outside of Cleveland to Downtown looking for help, and how little Greater Cleveland contributes to solving homelessness. I hope that regionalism will result in no poaching of jobs and no dumping of evicted tenants into other communities. I like the idea of the Mayor convening these groups with innovative ideas to discuss problem areas and then actually acting on those changes.

I really felt that for years no one was watching the store for average Clevelanders. No one cared that health care was hard to access. No one who could do anything would listen to the cry for help with rising utilities. No one, and I mean no one in the Administration or the County, would listen to the complaints of homeless people. No one cared that job programs did not serve the population very well--dedicate your life to this training and we will help you, but we cannot give you any money. No one in the administration would ever listen to the needs of the neighborhoods. They seemed to be going after the home run every swing and we never ever got on base. I am the consummate pessimist, but at this time I am looking forward to the next four years.

I liked the focus on quality of life and educational excellence. The Mayor said that everyone from the business executive down to the individual sleeping on Superior cares about the school system, and he was correct. Our survival as a city are based on the success of our schools. I want to see results as does the population that I serve. We want City Hall to care about the problems of accessing a shelter, accessing decent housing, and accessing a living wage job. I do want to live in a Great City again. I want to have homeless people trust the police force will take seriously crimes against victims who have no home. I am so glad that I did not hear about any more playgrounds for rich people. I liked that Mayor Jackson wanted to hold the state accountable for helping our city. I hope that he will also take on the federal government, which has gone to war against the American City.

We shall see if Jackson can heal the East vs. West issues, the Downtown vs. Neighborhood issues, the Black vs. White, and Poor vs. Those in Fear of Being Poor. I am ready to help.

Brian

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

Date Movie Makes Light of Attacks on Homeless People

Please Do Not Go See Date Movie

After the much publicized beating death of a homeless person in Florida, it is unbelievable that a new Hollywood movie would make light of beating up homeless people. I just do not understand the humor in this scene. This was taken from Screen It.com from the just released move "Date Movie."

"Yelling 'Bum fight,' Julia (Alyson Hannigan) rushes over to a bum on the street, punches and then repeatedly kicks and hits him (all played as a spoof of lighthearted romantic comedy montages). Grant (Adam Campbell) then joins her, kicking the guy in the crotch before the two rob him."

Please do not spend money on this movie. It is disgusting and inappropriate at this time. Thank you 20th Century Fox and thank you to the Scary Movie writers/directors for showing why America is the only country in the world with real freedom of speech-- and why we are the only country with stupid people willing to abuse that power so that others will want to end that freedom.

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

The Ups and Downs of a Program

BTG Flies High and Comes Back Down to Earth

The Bridging the Gap program had a transforming year. They began the year with a large number of staff with the addition of the AmeriCorps National Service program, and everything was going swimmingly. This was great to have the added help, but this federal program was a nightmare from the administrative side. It was impossible to get reimbursement, and they demanded an entirely new accounting system to serve strictly their program. There was so much time spent on admin. that we almost forgot the mission of ending homelessness for individuals and families. We had plenty of support help, and this allowed us to house around 100 individuals or families despite the obstacles.

The biggest accomplishment of 2005 was the creation of HousingCleveland.org. The affordable housing database provides a free service to the thousands of people in need of help with housing that we do not have the personnel to deal with. Nearly a thousand people a day use the website thanks to the collaboration put together by First Call for Help/211 and BTG along with a great group of social service programs. Legal Aid, the Cleveland Tenants Organization, CMHA, May Dugan Center, and Maximum Independent Living are but a few of the organizations participating in setting up this important local resource. Leigh Ann Ahmad, our former program director, found Socialserve.com, a national non-profit, that set up the database for a very reasonable price.

The program was forced to move into the NEOCH offices late in the year, because their building was closing down. Free rent can't last forever. They also lost their program director (not that way, she moved), and we turned down the opportunity to continue to operate the National Service program. This was a rough decision, but it was best for the organization. The group reorganized and rebounded. They have set goals for the new year and are working on putting together staff and volunteers to house as many people as possible.

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

Looking at Blogs on Homelessness

Homelessness on the Web
There is a lot of interesting blogs directed at homelessness around the net. Here are a few samples.

The biggest star in the homeless community was Kevin Barbieux who actually had started a newspaper in Nashville then a blog before blogs were cool. Somehow, I missed it but Kevin moved early in 2006 to Las Vegas. There is a good article comparing the two cities: http://thehomelessguy.blogspot.com/2006/01/new-view.html

There is an interesting blog from Los Angeles, which the government is now referring to as the homeless capital of the United States. I do not agree with many of the stuff presented by this guy but at least it is updated regularly. It gives a good overview of what is going on in LA. The guy comes at it from the perspective of a provider and not an advocate, plus he is pushing a book he wrote.http://www.epath.org/blog/index.htm LA Homeless Blog.

An older board member of the National Coalition for the Homeless and a guy deeply committed to God, social justice and country also has a blog. Chuck Currie is a UCC Seminarian and does a blog. He was originally from Seattle and brought an important perspective to the NCH Board that we sure miss. He has an interesting piece on separate schools for homeless children.
http://chuckcurrie.blogs.com/chuck_currie/2006/02/no_separate_sch.html

Finally, there is an interesting series in the Minnesota alternative paper. It is a series of interviews with the men and women who stand by the freeway on-ramps. Take it with a grain of salt, but it brings some humanity to people who are often viewed with the same regard as those signs that warn only motorized vehicles on the freeway. It can be found at: http://citypages.com/databank/27/1313/article14078.asp

Good reading. Brian

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

Recent Updates

A Few Quick Notes

Thanks to the Center for Community Solutions for hiring George Zeller--the best researcher on jobs in Ohio. He has dedicated his life to documenting poverty, and was never afraid to speak truth to authority with statistics. We don't give Cuyahoga County much credit for addressing poverty, but we have to thank the County Commissioners for making this possible. So it raises two questions...Will George be able to criticize the County since they are paying his tab? If CEOGC is the anti-poverty organization in Cuyahoga County and they have no researchers anymore are they operating in the dark?

Mark May 5, 2006 on your calendars. Friday May 5 at 6 p.m. at Massimo da Milano is the fifth annual meeting/fund raiser for NEOCH. Tickets will be released in the next month, and more details will follow.

The Teach In is set for February 27 at 6 p.m. This event will focus on outreach efforts in the city, and alternatives to going downtown and feeding homeless people. We will visit 2100 Lakeside Shelter and many of the agencies that provide outreach will talk about their experiences. Please RSVP by calling NEOCH or sign up on our website.

We are now in the middle of the Homeless Stand Down. InterAct Cleveland is taking the lead in this years Stand Down--an all day service fair for homeless people. On Friday February 10 it took place at the Cosgrove Center. Today, on Saturday February 11, Pilgrim Church in Tremont hosted an event to distribute clothing. Next week, they are opening up Old Stone Church and Trinity Church as warming centers during the holiday weekend.

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

Technology and Homeless People

How Important is Voice Mail?
As I sit here at the NEOCH offices on a lazy Friday afternoon, I have found that our connection to the internet is down. It has made me realize, as it makes anyone realize, how reliant we are on the web. This much is obvious. But, what I think isn't obvious is how technology we take for granted helps to widen the gap between the haves and the have-nots.

Before I go any further, I want to make it clear that I am in no way selling the ideal that technology is inherently evil. Technology exists as an inert pile of matter that, without reason or independent thought, lacks all capability for good or evil. So as to not ramble on, I will leave this topic behind.

I work on the Cleveland Community Voice Mail project here at NEOCH, which provides free voice mail to the impoverished of Cuyahoga County. Someone without a phone lacks an important tool required for attaining a job and qualifying for vital social services. All mission statements and well-worn PR declarations aside, if one cannot put a phone number down on a job application, the boss cannot get a hold of them. Employers are fickle people and will look for any reason to throw out apps in an attempt to cut down on the oversized stack. No phone number means no chance.

However, there was a time when a phone number wasn't necessary because phones were not that common. Back then, a homeless person was not at as much of a disadvantage as one is today. With the advancement of technology, so, too, comes the necessity for this technology. As society becomes more and more reliant on more and more stuff, those who cannot afford to have a lot of stuff will find themselves at a heavier handicap. This is all especially true with cars, credit cards, Bachelor degrees, cell phones, and the topic of my theme, the internet.

I want to say, "Think about that the next time you tell someone to 'Get a job!' " But, being a post on the NEOCH blog, I can't help but feel I am preaching to the choir (you are the choir). This is nothing revolutionary, but an observation of our rapidly digitizing nation and its effect on isolating populations within our communities. Having constant access to the internet is something we assume everyone has, and anything less is a minor annoyance between calls to the cable company.

I guess what I'm trying to point out is how scary the future is for the homeless if nothing is done about the matter soon. While the rest of the nation races up a ladder, snatching at the elusive golden snitch, the homeless are trapped on the same rung they were sitting on in 1776. This has less to do with the manner of the homeless and more to do with the state of the society they live in. It makes me sad, and this seemed to be a good forum in which to share that sadness. What can we do but try to ensure that the necessary tools are readily available? A ditch can't be dug without a shovel. A home can't be built without a hammer.

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

Predatory Lending Law Moving

You Did Nothing and Thousands Lost Their Homes...

The Ohio Senate is moving a predatory lending law rapidly through the legislature after the State of Ohio earned the dubious distinction of leading the nation in bankruptcies and second in foreclosures. This after a 2001 report that bankers successfully got shelved that had recommended only modest changes. Advocates were sidelined with having to submit a minority report, but even the small steps were rejected by the Senate leadership. This is the reason so few people bother voting in the United States--no one will be held responsible for bad decision-making. Someone should have to pay for the inaction of four years ago.

These guys in Columbus did nothing because the banking industry said that they could monitor themselves. How big of a moron do you have to be to believe that sharks would protect the small innocent fish? How many thousands lost their homes over the last four years, because of stupidity down in Columbus? If we could return to the days of public humiliation or drawing and quartering leaders that mess up, I believe that we would have near universal participation in the electoral process.

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