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About Us/Contact Us • Help Us End Homelessness • Resources • Solutions • Site Map |
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About Us/Contact Us • Help Us End Homelessness • Resources • Solutions • Site Map |
Prepared by the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless 216.432.0540
Cleveland Mediation Center: For those in apartments who need assistance CMC can provide mediation and funds to prevent an individual from becoming homeless. They can transfer someone to another apartment if their mediation does not work. They have very limited funding for a small number of tenants. 621-1919
Cleveland Tenants Organization: They have an Eviction Diversion program available since 2000. They will contact those who have 30-day eviction notices to try to hook them up with a social service organization or at the least a list of landlords. They also have limited resources to offer the person or family being evicted. Telephone: 432-0617
What is needed: Other cities have huge programs where they have a social worker visit the apartment or house of everyone who is being evicted and then work with that household to prevent them from going into the shelter system. They usually have a pool of funds available to help with security deposit or moving if necessary. The few hundred dollars spent on homelessness prevention does not even compare to the thousands of dollars it costs to house a family in an Emergency Shelter.
Shelter Plus Care: Well over 1,000 households have taken advantage of this program in Cuyahoga County. Those with a disability (drug addicted, mentally ill, or HIV/AIDS) are eligible. The disable person applies through their caseworker at one of the contract agencies (Mental Health Board, Alcohol and Drug Board, Veterans Administration, and AIDS Housing). The applications are sent to Eden Inc. 216/961-9690 who determines eligibility and issues the voucher. The applicant must find an apartment, and Eden inspects it to assure that it meets housing quality standards. The Shelter Plus Care program pays based on need (30% of income). The intention is for the person to move away from the need for the subsidy, and will pay more of the rent themselves every year. Eden has a comprehensive list of landlords that will accept the Shelter Plus Care voucher that they give to those in the program and looking for housing.
The program is currently taking applications, but has a waiting list.
Gateway: A program with to provide housing vouchers to homeless and disabled people through the Section 8 program at CMHA. Eden Inc. coordinates this program. There was some language in the CMHA annual plan about a commitment of 10% of their Section 8 vouchers to the disabled and/or homeless (approx. 800). This program is currently full. This replaced the old Horizens for the Homeless program. This is a collaborative between the AIDS community, mental health, those with physical disabilities, mental retardation, and homeless providers. Contact: Eden Inc. 216/961-9690.
SROs: Single Room Occupancy Housing is a Federal designation for supportive housing in flop houses or apartments. In Cleveland, we have three SROs. One on Superior (currently undergoing renovations), and one in the Mt. Pleasant neighborhood called Kinsman Kare, and Cogswell Hall on the West side of Cleveland. They each have a social worker on staff to help the formerly homeless people maintain their housing. The barrier for the one on Superior is that they have to apply through CMHA, which slows down placement. They pay 30% of their income, but have to meet the same eligibility standards of CMHA, which are extreme. Famicos telephone number 216/791-6476. Cogswell Hall telephone number is 961-1568.
Cleveland Housing Network SAFAH program: This is a housing program that takes homeless families and moves them into a house. A social worker assists them in linking the families with services. They are given an opportunity to pay rent with the goal of applying those funds to eventual ownership of the house (after 15 years). The social worker will work with the families on any barriers to stability. SAFAH only works with families, and usually take referrals from some of the family transitional shelters in the area. CHN has also made a large commitment to building houses that are affordable and are offering a few of those to families graduating from a homeless situation. Contact: 216/574-7100.
Bridging the Gap: This is a program of NEOCH that is currently refocusing its efforts. BTG staff helps homeless people coming out of the transitional housing facilities who are in need of subsidized housing. The staff will then make sure the application is complete. The BTG staff keep track of the status of the application to keep it moving along. They communicate that information to the applicant. They will also handle any appeals for those turned down for a subsidized unit. The BTG staff stay in contact with the individual to assure that the person is not in danger of being evicted. The goal is to place 100 people a year into housing. Their telephone number is 216/432-0543. Currently the program is not accepting new applications.
Council of Economic Opportunities of Greater Cleveland (CEOGC): Offers vouchers to homeless people trying to get into housing. They will open a case for those applying for a voucher and try to get additional services to the household. When an individual is given a voucher they must go out and find an apartment that will accept the voucher. CEOGC can give out a list of landlords to those in the program. The big drawback is that they are out of money most of the time. Applications are available at May Dugan, Tremont, Hough, Central, and Glenville Neighborhood Centers. 696-9077
What is needed: Case workers that can go into the community, and provide services to people in their housing instead of forcing people to come into a centralized shelter setting. There also needs to be an expansion of affordable housing.
Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA): They have two projects they oversee—Public Housing and Section 8 for tenants. Both programs require the household to pay 30% of their income toward rent. There is an annual re-determination in each program. The are overseen by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. www.cmha.net 348-5000
Public Housing: has 9,000 families on the waiting list. They currently have 9,600 units available in the community. Examples include Lakeview, Riverview, King Kennedy, and Outhwaite. Single people do not have as long of a wait especially those 50 and over. The eligibility for Public Housing is difficult because it restricts those with a felony and those with previous eviction from CMHA. The application process is difficult for homeless people. There are very few support services available to people at CMHA. www.cmha.net. Apply at the Carl B. Stokes Center at 6001 Woodland Ave.
Section 8 Tenant Based: Applications closed for the next three years. 6,000 people on the waiting list with over 30,000 people applying last year. They are given a voucher and must go find a place within 120 days or they lose their voucher. On average, 20% of the people cannot find a place and must return their voucher. The program is run by CMHA, and they have overcome many of their administrative problems that existed in the past. CMHA still has not been able to get many landlords outside the City of Cleveland to accept their vouchers. If a landlord will not accept the voucher you must look elsewhere. www.cmha.net. The program should open up its waiting list in the summer of 2006.
Project Based Section 8: These are buildings (like Parkview or Lupecia Towers or Arbor Park Village) which are entirely subsidized. All those going into those buildings must meet federal eligibility guidelines (poor and disabled or elderly). These are scattered throughout the community all run by different private owners. There is no one place an applicant can go to figure out availability. Many of the properties are for Senior only. If you get in one of these buildings you pay 30% of your income. Cleveland has lost a significant number of Section 8 buildings over the last five years. Preservation efforts exist including the Cuyahoga Affordable Housing Alliance, which meets monthly.
What is needed: Preservation of existing units and MORE! MORE! MORE! affordable housing.
Housing Programs Needed in Cuyahoga County:
Housing for Youth: an expansion of the Job Corps type program that would provide support services and housing to people coming out of the foster care system.
Long Term Care Homes: Supportive housing opportunities for people with chronic health problems. All those hospitals that are closing would be perfect for nursing homes for homeless people with chronic health problems.
Supportive Housing Opportunities: Transitional type housing that have support services attached but are not at one fixed address. These services could follow an individual and are not necessarily tied to one building. There is also a need for an expansion of the SRO programs that people can pay for housing that will offer support services to move them to more stable housing. Low income hotels with support staff and social workers on staff to assist.
Direct Housing Programs: For many populations like families and those with a mental illness, studies have shown that they do a lot better if they are placed directly into housing bypassing the shelter system. By immediately establishing housing stability, some households can work on their other barriers, but are comfortable that they have time to work on these problems. Social workers visit them in their apartments on a regular basis to assist. This is an alternative to transitional housing without the administrative overhead of maintaining a building.
Supportive Three Quarter Way Houses: These are independent houses where a group of recovering homeless people live in a sober house. They have less frequent support from a social worker who acts as house monitor. The men or women pay rent toward owning the property. There are successful models in Chicago and New York.
Emergency Housing or a pay to stay facility. Places that people can go and pay a small amount per day in order to sleep and do not have the strict rules of the shelter. These usually provide a bed, space for storage and a secure environment.
Local Housing Trust Fund: A dedicated pool of funds to build affordable housing in the community.
Updated 05/24/06