March, 2005
STREETVIBES Vacant Lot Development Could Help The Homeless
Lot for proposed transitional housing development, Liberty and Race Street, Over-the-Rhine class of outcasts. The Homeless Two summers ago, a group Coalition and other advocate groups of homeless individuals caught the talks and meets with homeless attention of the City for weeks by individuals on an ongoing basis and taking a stand under one of Cincinnati’s bridges. (see Streetvibes has often advocated with them for shelter and housing rights. August, 2003) While it stemmed There has already been a loss from a horrible situation, the of SRO (single room occupancy) controversy generated a lot of positive results - homeless individuals permanent housing in downtown last year - 75 units at the Fort became empowered, services were mobilized, police communication and Washington Hotel and over 100 units lost at the YMCA, relations improved. The Drop Inn Center However, the question remains… what, besides a bridge, is reported at the last Homeless Coalition monthly meeting about an a permanent solution for bridge exciting project that would attempt to dwellers and for others that HUD provide a permanent home and terms the “chronic homeless.” People who are homeless for hospitality for these individuals. The project would be part of a relocation long periods of time are familiar with sought by Cincinnati Public Schools the systems that are out there. They are often first hand witness to the of the Drop Inn Center’s current failures and cracks in the systems too housing project (not the shelter) at the corner of 12th and Elm Streets - educational, economic and mental near Washington Park in Over-thehealth services, etc. Often, the Rhine. The Homeless Coalition barriers put up by the systems member agencies were very themselves create this permanent
Washington Park, Over-the-Rhine
receptive to this concept and voted to endorse the collaboration. (See GCCH member agencies resolution on page 6). The proposed plan for the relocation of the Drop Inn Center’s Transitional Housing included developing a lot at Liberty and Race Streets in Over-the-Rhine for permanent housing. Unfortunately, the Cincinnati Center City Development Committee (3CDC) was not as receptive and, as of the printing of this story, was unwilling to support the idea of Permanent Supportive Housing in the areas for which they are making their own plans. Sources of funding for 3CDC development projects in the Washington Park area of Over-theRhine are still not certain. While we debate the politics, many other cities, including Columbus and Cleveland, have successfully used Permanent Supportive Housing in inner-city development plans. The shelter system of Cincinnati is very successful in moving thousands of people from emergency shelters to permanent housing each year. However, there remains a segment of the homeless population who, for myriad reasons, cannot or will not utilize the shelter system. What has been demonstrated in Columbus’ system is that when these people, the so-called “chronically homeless” are provided with safe, stable housing, it allows them to create positive changes in their lives, including but not limited to employment, mental health counseling and drug and alcohol treatment. In Minneapolis, Minnesota the Family Housing Fund assists supportive housing projects by pooling its funds with other subsidies so that housing providers can meet their costs while charging low rents that residents vulnerable to homelessness can afford. In addition
to its contributions to the financing of supportive housing, the Fund works to improve the supportive housing system through advocacy. Since 1980, the Fund has invested $24 million to assist 113 projects, which have provided over 2,900 units of supportive housing, as well as rent subsidies to 1,200 households. In New York, the Corporation for Supportive Housing makes loans and grants to supportive housing sponsors from a pool of funds drawn from both public and private sectors. In Cincinnati, ReSTOC, a low-income housing provider also working in the Washington Park area of Over-the-Rhine, has created a proactive development permanent housing plan which was praised by some at 3CDC, however funding is still a critical issue. The Cincinnati community, especially 3CDC, could benefit from any collaboration, and especially lowincome housing providers who have access to unique public funding sources, but developers are skeptical about including room for permanent supportive housing in their areas of planning. The raw housing stock and vacant lots in Over-the-Rhine remain open for development. Meanwhile, the barriers to housing still exist for Cincinnati’s chronic homeless population. Said a homeless person who preferred not to be named, “If I had a place to stay, where I could get some help and call it my own, I could get back on my feet and be proud of it. I wouldn’t need the shelter and I could get back to work.” It is ironic, that for all their promises to OTR, 3CDC is content to let an empty lot remain just that, while hundreds of homeless men, women and children flood our streets.
Drop Inn Center transitional housing at 12th and Elm Street, the site of a proposed new public school
Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless