FAQs
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FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions:
These are questions that have come to our website more than once over the last few years. Staff of the Coalition have answered these questions. If you would like to follow up on one of these answers or ask a questions go to our “submit a question” section. (Private Questions)
1. What can I do to help?
Answer: There is so much to do both to directly serve the population with sustenance and indirect assistance to provide social justice to the population. We have a section on our website that gives a good overview of volunteering (Volunteer Page). We also have a section on areas in the community that need your help. (Volunteering - Direct Service Opportunities). These worthwhile programs are always looking for people to help. Please after providing a nurturing meal or a warm blanket, please turn your attention to the injustice of homelessness. Make some room in your life to volunteer on advocacy efforts to end homelessness. Keep informed and keep us in mind with our sheet on (Things that We Can All Do to Win the Battle Against Homelessness) the things that we can all do to address poverty. Besides the advocacy work of the Coalition, there are more mundane activities that we need help with to keep our doors open (Volunteer With NEOCH). Whatever you decide please keep in mind that the goal is to end homelessness for everyone as soon as possible.
2. Where can I donate items to be given to homeless people and not sold?
Answer: The issue is that the programs that will give clothing and other items directly to homeless people at no cost do not have the resources to pick up those donations. The only way to get donations directly to homeless people is to give it to them personally or donate directly to the shelters or the two drop in centers (Cosgrove and West Side Catholic). The Coalition has the best success with donating to the City Mission and West Side Catholic. We have worked with them for years and have every confidence in their reliability. They are very good about giving out donated items to homeless people and they have a regular weekly schedule to distribute items.
3. Do the shelters collect money based on the number of people that enter every night?
Answer: No. This is perhaps the biggest myth in the homeless community. None of the emergency shelters get paid by the person coming in the door. They each have a set budget for the year no matter how many people enter the shelter. The Emergency Shelter funds from FEMA are strictly based on the percentage of the total beds in the community. So for example, 2100 Lakeside has 61% of the shelter beds and so they get 61% of the funds. Most of the other funding is based on a historical split of the funding. The Salvation Army was requesting a per person set dollar amount for running the shelter at 2100 Lakeside, but this could not be negotiated with the County and they eventually left oversight of the shelter. The mental health agencies and some of the treatment facilities in the community are reimbursed through Medicaid, Alcohol and Drug Board, or the Mental Health Board based on a per client rate.
4. Why do we need a local advocacy organization for homeless people?
Answer: It seems that in an environment of shrinking resources and expanding numbers of homeless people that the last thing needed is an organization that does not provide one meal, one shelter bed, or one unit of housing. The problem is that shelters save lives, but do not solve homelessness. Meals are essential, but they do not solve homelessness. The only way to solve homelessness is to have one organization working on this problem full time (Solutions to Homelessness). There has to be an organization that keeps the issue in the face of the media. There has to be an organization that keeps politicians focused on the end of homelessness. A quick look at the United States shows that the cities with a strong local Coalition working independently on solving homelessness are in a better position than those without a Coalition representing the interests of homeless people. The reality is that the shelter staffed are overwhelmed and stretched to the point of breaking. They move from one crisis to the next, and do not have time to come up for a breath let alone worry about solving poverty issues in the community.
5. Isn’t the problem too big to solve because the poor will always be with us?
Answer: For the foreseeable future we may have poor people, but that
does not mean that the United States has to have homeless people. Eventually, we
will end the greed and realize that everyone benefits when the standard of
living is raised for everyone, but until then we could still solve homelessness.
We are the richest country on the planet, and we have placed men on the moon, so
homelessness should be a piece of cake. We spend a great deal of time making
homelessness into a complicated matter that only “professionals” can handle. In
the end, the bottom line is that a certain segment of our population cannot find
safe, decent, and adequate housing. This is not a huge obstacle for a country
that created the Clapper, the Ginsu knives, Mt. Rushmore, and conquered travel
by plane. We can move mountains, bring a country out of depression, and
eliminate a number of diseases from the face of the planet. Surely, we can end
homelessness in the United States.
6.
How do I get into shelter?
Answer: The best way to get into shelter is to call First Call for Help/211 at
216/436-2000 or by dialing 2-1-1. FCH/211 does a census of every shelter at
least once a day. They know which shelters have availability and which are full.
They will try to place you in the most appropriate facility in the community. If
it is not possible to call, the two entry shelters in our community always have
open doors. The Community Women’s Shelter at East 22nd and Payne Avenue can help
single women and families led by women find a place to live at night. The men’s
shelter at 2100 Lakeside is always available to men in need of a warm place to
sleep. These two facilities are the starting point to move into the rest of the
shelters.
7. Where can I find shelter?
Answer: Nearly every shelter is full every night. While the entry shelters will
offer a bed, the other shelters are usually full. Calling First Call for
Help/2-1-1 or 216/436-2000 is the key to knowing which shelter has availability.
The only way to get into the other shelters is persistence. Calling and getting
on the waiting lists is critical to moving out of the two entry shelters. The
person in need of housing is the best advocate for making this move to one of
the smaller shelters in the community. Our only advise is: “Don’t give up hope.”
It might take some time, but most people are able to find stable housing after a
period of homelessness. There is always a light at the end of the tunnel.
8. Why are people homeless?
People are homeless for many reasons. Two national trends largely
responsible for a surge in homelessness are a growing shortage of affordable
housing and a simultaneous increase in poverty. Cleveland has the highest
concentration of foreclosures in the country. Other reasons for a person
becoming homeless may include lack of affordable health care, domestic violence,
mental illness, addiction and other factors. Everyone’s story is different.
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9. What types of people become homeless?
Anyone can become homeless. There are homeless people with families,
college degrees and impressive employment histories. No one thinks that one day
they will be homeless. Very few have a desire to be homeless. While single
adult males are the most recognized homeless, there are many others that we do
not see who are homeless in our community.
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10. Who is homeless?
Families are the fastest growing segment of the homeless population
in Cleveland. Veterans make up one in four homeless people in the U.S. Homeless
children are on the rise. In 2007, the Cleveland Metropolitan School district
saw an increase of 40% in homeless children.
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11. How many people are homeless in
Cleveland and
Cuyahoga County?
There are over 20,000 people homeless every year or 4,000 to 4,300
people homeless every night in Cleveland. In 2007, it was estimated that 20,087 people were homeless in Cuyahoga County. Not all homeless people are in shelters
or on the street—many are “doubled-up” staying with friends or
relatives—making it difficult to have an accurate count. There are
others who sleep in the many abandoned buildings who also are difficult to
count.
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12. Why can’t a homeless person just
get a job? Won’t a steady job solve the problem?
Many homeless people do have jobs. At least 40% of the male homeless
population have jobs, but cannot make enough income to pay the rent. An
individual must make $11.28 per hour in order to afford a one bedroom apartment
in Cleveland according to 2008 figures. A renter looking for an apartment with
two bedrooms must work 103 hours making minimum wage in order to afford the fair
market rent. In 2008, that same individual had to work 160 hours in order to
afford rent in Cleveland. It’s hard for a homeless person to make more than
minimum wage in order to afford rent. Homeless people can’t write down a
permanent address on a job application and some employers simply avoid people
with a shelter address.
In addition, Greater Cleveland has experienced job losses since 1998.
We have had the longest period of job losses in the history of the City.
It is extremely difficult to find a job in Cuyahoga County.
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13. Why do we need a homeless advocacy
organization?
Today in America homeless people are under attack. They are beaten
with baseball bats, pummeled with bottles, shocked with stun guns (which
happened in our city a few years ago) and getting videotaped drinking window
cleaner and urine on a Hate Video/DVD called Bumfights. In 2007 there were 160
violent attacks, 28 lethal attacks and 132 non-lethal attacks against homeless
people across the U.S. Ten of these non-lethal incidences happened in Cleveland.
In 2008, a homeless man was beaten to death on the east side. When a select
group of people is targeted with violence and brutality, it's usually considered
a hate crime except if the victims are homeless. NEOCH is striving to combat
this violent trend by educating children in schools about homelessness and
ensuring that homeless people are hooked up with outreach teams who can monitor
their safety. Homeless people need shelter, but they also need an organization
fighting for their rights.
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14. Why do some homeless people choose to
stay on the streets? Why won’t they go to a shelter?
Some people avoid shelters because of the concentration of theft and
drugs that can occur in walk-in shelters. The open-door shelters don’t
separate people based on needs so you’ll find mentally disabled people mixed
in with addicts and families—all under the same roof. Other people don’t
want to bother with rules and suspensions or live with the fear of losing their
bed or having their belongings thrown away by staff members.
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15. Can homelessness ever be solved?
For the foreseeable future we may have poor people, but that
doesn’t mean that the United States has to have homeless people. Eventually,
we will end the greed and realize that everyone benefits when the standard of
living is raised for everyone. Until then we could still solve homelessness. We
are the richest country on the planet and we’ve placed men on the moon, so
homelessness should be a piece of cake. We spend a great deal of time making
homelessness into a complicated matter that only “professionals” can handle.
In the end, the bottom line is that a certain segment of our population cannot
find safe, decent, and adequate housing. This is not a huge obstacle for a
country that created the Clapper, the Ginsu knives, Mt. Rushmore, and conquered
travel by plane. We can move mountains, bring a country out of depression, and
eliminate a number of diseases from the face of the planet. Surely, we can end
homelessness in the United States.
-
16. What can I do to help?
Volunteer throughout the year so that you build a relationship with a
social service provider. Shelters and meal sites will appreciate you a lot
more in August when staff are on vacation than around the holidays when most
people feel charitable. Homeless people need help throughout the year.
NEOCH is always looking for volunteers call 432-0540 or go to the Volunteer
section of this website. Write a letter to your local city government
asking what they are doing to prevent homelessness. Write a letter to the editor
of your local newspaper to keep homelessness in the media.
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17. Where are the best places to donate items?
Clothing can be taken to either the City Mission or to West Side
Catholic if you want to make sure that they get to people in need. Most of
the other clothing is sold. Furniture is a struggle in our community with
only the Cleveland Furniture Bank available. They are not always as
reliable and they make it difficult for homeless people to receive help. Food
for homeless people’s animals can be dropped off at NEOCH.
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18. Should I give to panhandlers?
There is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. In
reality, many of those who are experiencing homelessness have the same issues
with panhandlers as other pedestrians do. Homeless people feel it is a way
to get an easy buck, but it is beneath the dignity of most. A majority of
homeless people see panhandling as the last resort in tough times. While we have
seen a steady decrease in panhandling over the last two years for a number of
reasons, we do not expect that trend to continue over the next year. Expect more
people asking for help during this national recession. Remember, it is not an
easy buck. Begging for money in the hot or cold or rain and being rejected
thousands of times a day is rough on your ego.
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19. Is the Downtown Cleveland Alliance’s “It’s OK to say no” to
panhandlers campaign helping or hurting homeless people?
The Downtown Cleveland Alliance has installed parking meters downtown
to collect donations for homeless people. These meters, in combination
with the new “Change” bus, are progress. Transportation is one huge
problem for homeless people and having this free "Change" bus
traveling between the shelters and the VA hospital is a big step forward.
However, this parking meter strategy also makes it seem as though we are doing
something to deal with the "problem" of panhandling. In Cleveland, we
have a relatively small problem with panhandling, but it is cited as the second
most annoying problem with coming downtown behind parking, which has caused a
push over the last several years for the passage of laws that have restricted
the time and place for panhandling and set curfews for Public Square. Both of
these laws are merely feel-good legislation that serves absolutely no practical
purpose. The panhandling meters at least have a purpose and homeless people and
panhandlers will see some benefit, such as the Change bus. BUT, we urge
people not to forget about the Homeless Grapevine vendors. The Homeless
Grapevine was the original alternative to panhandling in our city, and still
publishes after 16 years. Feel free to give your change to the meters, but
please save $1.25 for the Homeless Grapevine.
20. What happened with NEOCH’s lawsuit against the Ohio Secretary
of State about the voter ID requirements?
Answer: NEOCH and the other groups suing to assure that those without
identification would be able to vote entered into a temporary agreement with the
Secretary of State for the November 2008 presidential election. Under this
agreement, the Secretary of State issued two directives that resulted in the
following: 1) uniform standards across Ohio for the processing and counting of
provisional ballots; 2) provisional ballots cannot be rejected for reasons that
are attributable to poll worker error; and 3) provisional ballots cannot be
rejected for failing to list a building address if the voter resides at a
location that does not have an address (ex. a park bench or a tent). This
agreement does not end the lawsuit, which will continue following the election.
Check out our blog for regular updates.
21. Are the people on the street who claim to collect money for the
homeless legitimate?
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Answer: There are only two groups that go out and collect money on
the streets that have anything to do with homelessness -- the Salvation Army and
the Homeless Grapevine. Both groups are well marked and have a long
history in Cleveland. The Salvation Army collects donations on the street with
that familiar red kettle. The Homeless Grapevine vendors do not collect
donations, just the charge for the paper, but many of them are homeless or near
homeless, and the pedestrian will always get a street newspaper for their
payment. However, there are also con artists out there who travel around
shopping centers in Greater Cleveland claiming to collect money for shelters.
Please do not be fooled by these people, who have clipboards to look official
and often are carrying the NEOCH-published street card and a fake badge and use
some sob story about a flood at the women’s shelter or the need for money for
domestic violence. If you see these scammers in action, please call the
police and tell the manager of the business that they are not legitimate.
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22. What is the Homeless Stand Down, and when and where will the 2009
Stand Down take place?
Answer: This annual event provides hot meals, respite, and
access to services that may assist in breaking the cycle of homelessness and
encourage hope, vision, and health. A wide range of services are offered
at the Stand Down, including hair cuts, medical, dental, and eye examinations,
job-readiness training, alcohol and drug services, and legal assistance.
The 2009 Stand Down will be held: Saturday, January 31, 2009, at Pilgrim
Congregational UCC Commons, 2592 West 14th Street; Friday, February 6,
2009, at the Cleveland Convention Center, 500 Lakeside Avenue; and Monday,
February 16, 2009, at Trinity Commons, 2254 Euclid Avenue. To learn more
and sign up to help, see http://www.interactcleveland.org/test/images/stories/brochure09.pdf
or www.homelessstanddown.org. for more information.
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23. In the news recently, HUD said chronic homelessness has significantly
decreased, and went down by 30% over the past few years. Is this true?
The survey that the reported results came from was seriously flawed.
Counting homeless people on one day in February across America is impossible.
Also, they are not able to count people staying in abandoned buildings or
foreclosed homes because it is too dangerous for the workers doing the count.
This can be especially significant for communities like Cleveland with 10,000 to
20,000 abandoned properties. They also do not count those who are staying on
couches. So, even though the Cleveland Public Schools reported a 40% increase in
homeless children from the 2006-2007 to the 2007-2008 school years, most of
those kids were not counted because they are staying with family and friends.
And the survey only looked at “chronic” or long-term homelessness. A
reduction in the number of long-term homeless persons does not mean that
homelessness in general is down. Nationally, chronically homeless people
only account for about 18% of the homeless population. In addition, many
of the shelters refuse to participate in the homeless counting system, and the
domestic violence programs are barred from participating by federal law. NEOCH
never uses the numbers derived from the counts, because they have no basis in
reality. We use numbers from First Call for Help or the School District or the
number of people seeking help for evictions or foreclosures to show that
homelessness is growing locally. Only a few cities in the United States
have seen recent reductions in homelessness. Most communities are instead
seeing unprecedented numbers, and we anticipate that these numbers will continue
to increase during the economic and foreclosure crises.
For more information check out the statistics section of our website which has a
State of Homelessness report on it.
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24. Explain the recent changes at NEOCH.
In 2007, NEOCH went through the worst financial crisis in our
history. With the help of the City of Cleveland, local foundations
(including St. Luke’s, the Gund Foundation, the Cleveland Foundation, and
Deaconess), and a number of individual donors, we made it through the year. We
put a plan in place to stabilize a future for NEOCH. We transferred the
Bridging the Gap program to the Cleveland Tenants Organization and the Community
Voicemail Program to First Call for Help/211. We downsized the Homeless
Grapevine and the NEOCH Board set up a Development Advisory Board. We also
did a survey of our membership and are using a strategic plan to make sure that
we are positioned to find stable and reliable funding for the next five years
while we work on addressing homelessness.
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25. What are the biggest problems homeless persons and advocates face in
Cleveland today?
Answer:
·
Bed bugs – there has been an attack of bed bugs in the shelters, which need to
consider replacing all wood beds with metal frames to contain the problem.
·
Overcrowding of family shelters – homeless families often need to break apart
to find space in the shelters.
·
No more funding for the ID program – without ID, a person cannot get a job,
sign a lease, or vote. The program had purchased about $100,000 in birth
certificates and state IDs for people who needed them before it ran out of
money.
·
General lack of funding for programs – there is very little new money
available because of the purchase of expensive permanent supportive housing
projects. Nearly every program is trying to figure out how to keep their
doors open in these tough economic times. East Side Catholic and Domestic
Violence shelter spaces have already closed. The 2100 Lakeside shelter
suffered a substantial cut in funding, has eliminated staff, and is trying to
find help with their food program.
·
Soaring transportation costs – the high cost of transportation is making it
difficult for homeless people to get a bus pass to get to jobs.
·
Lack of health care – access to health care is increasingly scarce, and debt
issues associated with hospital stays are on the rise.
·
Lack of jobs – jobs are increasingly difficult to find, and those jobs that
are available tend to be way outside of Cuyahoga County and off the bus lines.
·
The foreclosure crisis – foreclosures are killing our city and making more and
more people homeless. The worst part of this crisis is that it is reducing
the stock of housing in our community. People are abandoning their houses
and those houses are being stripped clean and condemned. This tightens the
housing market and moves everyone down the ladder.
·
Decreasing regional population – we have lost more people in this county than
any other county in the U.S. except for Orleans parish in Louisiana. This
destroys our tax base and reduces local government services.
26. What does a person or family who has recently become homeless in
Northeast Ohio need to know?
In our community, there is rental housing and there are shelters,
with nothing in between. There are no more flop houses or places to pay for a
week or a day at a time. There is no place to store your belongings – when you
enter a shelter, you will need to compact your entire life into one bag.
Also, theft is a huge problem in the shelters and you will need to take care of
your valuables.
When you first become homeless you go to the two entry shelters
around 3 p.m. There is no need to call, since they are not supposed to turn
people away. If you are a woman, go to 2219 Payne Ave. If you are a man, go to
2100 Lakeside Shelter on Lakeside Ave. It is highly unlikely that both
parents in a family can go to the same shelter, especially if they are not
married or cannot prove they are married. Call every morning to see if
there are vacancies at the other shelters so that you do not get stuck in the
two entry shelters. There is usually no choice about which shelter that you
start out in, and the rest of the shelters do not keep waiting lists. No one is
going to advocate for you or open doors for you. You have to be a little pushy
to get through the system. Ask questions, talk to people, and remember that you
will make it through this if you stay strong. Word on the streets is often more
reliable than the information you may get from the providers. Other homeless
people know a great deal of information, and you should talk to them. They often
know more than the case workers and social workers who are barely keeping up
from one emergency to the next.
Except for the entry shelter for women, nearly every other shelter will ask you
to leave to go find housing or a job during the day. Make sure that you get a
voice mail box early so that you are connected to the rest of the world. This
will help you move through the system quicker. The libraries are great places to
go during the day, and usually the librarians are incredibly helpful. There are
plenty of resources on the computer that can help. The best are the First Call
for Help website www.211cleveland.org
and the housing website www.housingcleveland.org.
Both have all the resources you need at your fingertips to get out of your
situation.
You should know that, when a family becomes homeless, the County will open a
file on the family at Children and Family Services. Make sure you stay
strong and go through all of their hoops. Don’t let the system take your
children because you didn’t do the paperwork or show up for hearings.
Finally, stay connected with your family and friends. Some of the things that you see during homelessness are amazing and can make you crazy. It is important to have people who you can talk to who are outside of the system. There are 19,000 people in the same situation as you during a year. So, while it is frustrating, there is no easy way out. There are long waits for subsidized housing, good jobs are hard to come by, and finding a professional to talk to is even difficult. Good luck. You can make it out of this situation. Too many people give up, and prolong their stay in the shelters. You can do it if you stay focused.
Answers by the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless www.neoch.org