Cleveland Says New Program Housed 47 Unsheltered People This Year

Several unsheltered people from tent cities in Midtown, shown here, were moved into one- or two-bedroom apartments this year, City Hall announced this week. Credit: Mark Oprea

At least 47 homeless people have been linked with housing this year, Cleveland City Hall announced this week, as a result of work from the Home For Every Neighbor initiative.

With momentum picking up since June, the city said, leases have been signed for 35 “highly-vulnerable unsheltered neighbors” as of late September—those that had previously been sleeping on the streets of Midtown or around the West Park RTA Station. That adds to the dozen that secured housing in the program’s infancy.

Mayor Justin Bibb, who hired a special assistant Emily Collins to help crack Cleveland’s unsheltered problem, said that leases show that the Home For Every Neighbor is doing its job as good policy.

“The data reaffirms that these individuals’ specific needs were not being met by the current systems in place, which is the reason why my administration stepped up to take on a more active role in addressing this issue,” Bibb said in a release.

“I’m proud of the work our team has done so far and will continue to do,” he added, “and am grateful for city council’s support in helping our most vulnerable neighbors.”

After being greenlit by City Council in June, Collins helped “streamline” the avenues in which unsheltered people tend to get sheltered.

With help from outside consultants—Houston-based Clutch Consulting and the Cleveland Mediation Center—in-the-field workers did “intensive and compassionate engagement” to convince (and help) homeless in the apartment leasing process. Landlords were incentived to participate with “signing bonuses” and “12 months of guaranteed rent” payments toward one- to two-bedroom apartments.

As for the tenants getting settled, Cleveland Mediation Center CEO Danielle Cosgrove told Scene, money from a flexible fund would help cover miscellaneous costs: “Grocery gift cards. Pots and pans. Things they would need for their household,” she said.

Collins told Scene that the program’s success was attibuted to coordination of dozens of employees—from clean up crews to case managers—that were able to convince (and appropriately vet) 47 people to link them to paid-for housing.

“People don’t believe us at first,” Collins told Scene. “And when they understand that things are getting real—filling out the application for the unit, when move-in day comes—they realize that this is real. It’s disbelief until they move in.”

“Just the idea that they can have their own place, inside,” she added. “That’s huge. It’s disbelief. Joy. Then tears. Then adjustment.”

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