What
Type of Housing is Needed?
Aired June
23, 2003
Audio
Coming Soon
Several
thousand people in Northeast Ohio have been homeless for more
than a year. It's a clear indication that the region has a real
need for more affordable housing. But there is debate among advocates
about what type of housing is needed most. Some providers say
a housing model that assists the long-term homeless with life
skills is most important, while others believe the homeless would
benefit most from a place where they can pay to stay. ideastream's
Janet Babin continues our examination of affordable housing issues.
In
the dinner line at the Salvation Army men's shelter in Cleveland,
it's surprising to find out that many of the men go to work each
day. Take William Law. He lives in transitional housing and works
as the shelter's cook. Bubbly and full of energy, Law makes food
for more than 450 people a day.
William
Law: I'm upset when everybody don't eat. That's why
I take this very seriously.
Resources
are tight; fairness rules. Law doesn't allow men to take a second
serving tray until everyone's eaten.
William
Law: Hey, I don't got it like that... I don't got it
like that.
Law
loosens the food tray from the offender's grip and passes it on
to the next hungry man in line. He's been trying to translate
his 29 years of kitchen experience into a paying job outside the
shelter system.
William
Law: I'm hoping for the possibility, but I'm not pinning
my hopes on it. I've got applications out all over town, but
you know, because of the job crunch and people I'm competing
against, it's difficult...
Shelter
Director Duane Drotar says most homeless people want to work,
but face pernicious barriers to gainful employment: they have
a prison record, or they're recovering from drug and alcohol addiction.
Others are dealing with mental illness or a physical disability.
So
the homeless work when they can, often through temp agencies,
but because of the uncertainty surrounding their income, they're
fearful of committing to an apartment of their own. Instead, they
make the emergency shelter their home. This in turn crowds the
shelter, sometimes keeping the newly homeless, who aren't familiar
with the system, out on the street. Drotar is hoping to house
the working homeless in what he calls a "pay to stay"
facility.
Duane
Drotar: There's this myth that homeless people are
just in need all the time. They're so poor that they just take,
take, take. But at Lakeside, more than half (want to) contribute,
would pay to stay, would like to look at a subsidy arrangement
that would be let go of completely once their income gets better.
Kathy
Kazol is executive director of Eden Incorporated, a local group
that develops housing for disabled and low-income individuals.
Instead of a "pay to stay" model, Kazol is trying to
establish 1,000 supportive housing units in Cleveland within 5
years. Both Cleveland and Cuyahoga County have set aside money
for such a facility.
Kathy
Kazol: It's not the answer to everything, but 1,000
units would go a long way to help people integrate, not depend
on the shelter, to recover from whatever disability to engage
in typical activities. We've seen this effort work in other
cities.
Supportive
housing provides the long-term homeless with shelter plus services
where they live: drug and alcohol counseling, mental health treatment,
or job placement services.
Brian
Davis with the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless, or NEOCH,
says there are conflicting schools of thought about the permanent
supportive housing model. He says some advocates want more resources
spent on "pay to stay" facilities. Davis says without
unity among providers, divvying up funding and fighting off neighborhood
opposition to such projects becomes more difficult.
Brian
Davis: We've not sold even our group. There's
not universal support among homeless service providers that
this is the model. I think there's trust that, a) they
will use their money, and b) the transitional money
then will be used in an emergency situation.
Davis
says Cleveland and Cuyahoga County's joint Office of Homeless
Services needs a comprehensive strategy to end homelessness.
Brian
Davis: We need more organization at the Office of Homeless
Services. I don't think they have a good grasp on how to coordinate
funding, not just federal but on the state and local level.
How do you involve the foundation community, how do you get
all the players on the same page, moving to the same goal.
Cleveland
Community Development Director Linda Hudachek defends the work
that's being done by the city and the county. She's hopeful that
a permanent supportive housing facility will soon be built in
Cleveland.
Linda
Hudachek: I think that as partners everyone's learning
from past experiences and making the best of the assets that
we have, not only the partners, but the opportunities that are
out there.
Unlike
many regions searching for money to create permanent supportive
housing, Northeast Ohio has funding ready, but is still searching
for a site. But as available state and federal grants for all
types of affordable housing continue to dwindle, providers will
have to balance the need for emergency shelters with the desire
to place the working homeless in more permanent housing situations,
both with, and without, on-site support services. In Cleveland,
Janet Babin, 90.3.
Support
for ideastream's coverage of Affordable Housing issues is provided
by the Sisters of Charity Foundation.
