Changes
Coming to the Shelters
With the passage of the HEARTH law or
the reauthorization of Department of Housing and Urban Development McKinney
Vento law, there are huge changes expected for the local shelters.
The McKinney Vento law funds nearly every shelter in Northeast Ohio, and
this updated law will change how these shelters operate.
The definition of homelessness will change, and it is much more
complicated to actually figure out if a person meets the HUD definition of
homelessness. There should be
additional housing and resources available to families, and the process for
distributing funding may change.
New
Voting Strategy
The Ohio Secretary of State has proposed
new voting procedures that she would like the Ohio legislature to pass.
These will have a negative impact on the participation of homeless
people. Secretary of State Jennifer
Brunner is proposing to eliminate the “golden week” that was so popular
among poor people in the last election. Golden
week was the week 36 days before the election in which a citizen in Ohio could
register to vote or change their address and then ask for a ballot and vote at
the same time at the main election offices in each County.
Over 500 very low income or homeless people took advantage of golden week
to vote in Cleveland. The other
change is to require two forms of identification when voting in person.
One would need to be a government issued card, and the other could be any
identification. Homeless people have a difficult time maintaining government
issued identification, and challenged the state over identification in 2006.
That case has yet to be resolved.
Stand
Down Held in February
Over 2,000 individuals attended the
Stand Down this year in February. This
three day affair was held at the Cleveland Convention Center, Trinity Cathedral,
and Pilgrim Church. Nearly 700
volunteers assisted in staging this event, and groups from all over the City
helped to make this event a success. InterAct Cleveland was the main sponsor along with the
Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless, and nearly 60 charitable
organizations, 140 religious congregations, and many government institutions
helped. There were hot meals,
bagged lunches, medical professionals, clothing, personal care kits, and
entertainment. The Cleveland
Photograph Society was on hand to take portraits of homeless people who could
then pick them up at the end of the event.
These professional portraits returned something of beauty back to the
participants who must face the dreary misery of homelessness every morning.
Stimulus
Will Pump Funds into Struggle to Prevent Homelessness
The February passage of the American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act will provide $14 million in funds for Cuyahoga
County to prevent homelessness. This
is the first large scale effort by the federal government to try to prevent
households from having to move into a shelter.
This three year effort must be in place by September 30, and it is hoped
will fundamentally change the way shelters and social service providers respond
to a person in need of housing. There
will be additional dollars available for rental assistance and additional funds
for attempts to move people back into housing quickly.
As of July, the County has not announced how they intend to use these
funds.
Homeless
Congress Working on Shelter Standards
At least two representatives from each
shelter meet every month to talk about issues that have an impact on
homelessness, and to take action. The
big issue that the Congress has worked on for two years now is a request to
Cleveland City Council to adopt a set of shelter standards that would regulate
the publicly funded emergency shelters. Right
now there are a set of guidelines from the State of Ohio, but there is nothing
that requires fair and equitable treatment for the individuals who sleep in the
shelters. The big issue is that at
this time there is no government office that can accept complaints regarding
shelter. Even if a person is
evicted from the shelter at 2 a.m. there is no place to go to complain about
this issue outside of the agency that did the eviction.
The Congress is asking City Council members up for election this year to
pledge support for a shelter standards bill.
The other issue that has come up recently is the new co-payment
requirements at MetroHealth hospital, and the inability to pay by some members
of the homeless community. The
Congress wrote a letter to the president of MetroHealth asking for a waiver of
the fee at least until the danger of the flu pandemic is behind us.
Cleveland
Tenants Organization Wins Anisfield Wolf Award
Because of their work on protecting
tenants in foreclosed buildings, the Cleveland Tenants Organization was awarded
the Anisfield Wolf Award by the Center for Community Solutions and the Cleveland
Foundation. CTO has begun notifying
tenants as soon as a landlord falls behind in their mortgage or utilities, so
that a tenant may prepare for a possible default.
Before CTO began their work approximately 35% of all the foreclosures
involved tenants, and they were usually caught off guard when the Sheriff showed
up to serve an eviction. This
project gives extra time to the tenant to figure out where they can relocate or
find other housing. CTO received
$20,000 for this annual award for outstanding work in the non-profit sector in
Cuyahoga County.
Shelters
Are Still Full
The two entry shelters stay full every
night, but the women’s shelter has experienced severe overcrowding in the
summer. The Men’s Shelter at 2100
Lakeside has seen a drop in the population.
Every bed is full, but there is not the need for as many mats on the
floor and problems with overflow. The
Women’s shelter has seen the population explode in the last two months with as
many as 152 women or women with children sleeping in the shelter.
The building can only accommodate 160 people, and averages around 120.
Women typically leave bad living arrangements during the summer, while
men are shown the door more frequently in the winter.
Friend
of the Grapevine Passes Away
David Westcott was a seven year member
of the NEOCH Board of Trustees, and passed away in March 2009.
Westcott was a big supporter of the Homeless
Grapevine newspaper. He was an
advocate for the end of the death penalty in Cleveland, universal health care,
and advocated for additional help from the local religious community on
homelessness. Westcott became involved with NEOCH when the Coalition was
suing the City of Cleveland over the rights of homeless people to sell the
newspaper. Westcott was a long time
supporter of the ACLU, International Partners in Mission, and West Side
Ecumenical Ministry.
Copyright
Homeless Grapevine Issue #87 in July 2009 in Cleveland Ohio.