[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 24 (Wednesday, February 10, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E197-E200]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            CLEVELAND HOMELESS PROJECT LOSES FUNDS FROM HUD

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. DENNIS J. KUCINICH

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 10, 1999

  Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to expose a great injustice 
that has been committed by a federal agency against a needy population 
in the Cleveland metropolitan area. The victims of this injustice are 
homeless men who are struggling to get back on their feet and put their 
lives together. And the perpetrator of this injustice is the U.S. 
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
  I have an increasing interest in the activities of HUD, given my 
experience with the agency over the past two years. I find dealing with 
HUD as a Member of Congress to be a most frustrating experience, and I 
must imagine the frustration felt by our constituents, who do not 
occupy a seat in Congress, with the agency. Indeed, HUD is a 
disappointment. It represents why many Americans have lost confidence 
in their federal government.
  Today I enter into the Congressional Record a collection of letters 
and newspaper articles that document the following situation in 
Cuyahoga County.
  The Department of Housing and Urban Development recently refused to 
provide continued funding to a very worthy program for homeless men in 
Cleveland because of a ``technical'' mistake. This decision has been 
appealed, and HUD has summarily rejected the appeal.
  Since 1995, the Salvation Army in Cleveland has operated an 
innovative program--the PASS Program--that helps homeless men by 
providing a place for them to live (for up to 12 months) while they put 
their lives back together. The program provides counseling, job 
training and transition skills. The program is one component of an 
entire ``continuum of care'' services that are coordinated by the 
Cuyahoga County Office of Homeless Services. The city and the county 
have developed an excellent system in which government officials and 
community organizations work together to develop a comprehensive 
response to the homeless problem in the metropolitan area. The County 
considers the Salvation Army program as their highest priority for 
funding.
  As an innovative effort, the PASS Program received demonstration 
project funds from HUD for several years. By the time they applied for 
another year of funding--a request of $1.5 million to support their 
program--this particular HUD demonstration program had been terminated. 
The County and the Salvation Army realized that this had happened, and 
contacted the appropriate HUD office in Columbus, Ohio to seek 
guidance.
  County staff asked HUD staff whether their program would be 
considered a ``New'' program or a ``Renewal.'' According to the County, 
HUD staff did not respond one way or another. So the applicant assumed 
that this would be considered a Renewal, and completed the paperwork 
accordingly. The application was submitted to HUD in Washington, and 
became one of 2,600 projects that sought funding.
  On December 23, 1998, when the President announced homeless grants 
across the country, Northeast Ohio received $9.4 million for a

[[Page E198]]

variety of HUD programs by various community-based organizations. 
Cleveland officials were shocked to learn that the PASS Program--their 
top priority--would not be funded. When contacted for an explanation, 
HUD officials explained that they could not consider the program 
because the applicant had committed a ``technical error'' and submitted 
the wrong form.
  When I met personally with top HUD officials, I was told that the 
reason this program was not funded was because the applicants had 
submitted the wrong budget form. The wrong budget form! Therefore, HUD 
could not consider the proposal and could not tell the applicant that 
this error had been made until after all of the grants had been 
announced. This is a great injustice, Mr. Speaker, and I urge the 
Congress to investigate this and other examples of abuses at HUD.
  The following documentation includes letters from the Northeast Ohio 
Coalition for the Homeless and Cuyahoga County Commissioners Tim 
McCormick, Jane L. Campbell and Jimmy Dimora.

                                          Northeast Ohio Coalition


                                             for the Homeless,

                                 Cleveland, OH, December 24, 1998.
     Secretary Andrew Cuomo,
     Department of Housing and Urban Development, Washington, DC.
       Dear Secretary Cuomo: As a member of the Cleveland/Cuyahoga 
     Continuum of Care process, we once again want to register our 
     strongest dissatisfaction with the federal funding process 
     conducted by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. 
     The Coalition is a collaboration of homeless people, members, 
     and advocates. We spent a great deal of staff time and energy 
     in getting the opinions and ``expert'' testimony of homeless 
     people to be a part of the process. We staged regular 
     meetings with those on the streets to develop a priority list 
     of gaps in the community, and then compiled that information 
     for the HUD application. The two projects that were skipped 
     by officials in HUD Washington were two important projects 
     for the community.
       This is the third year in a row that Cleveland/Cuyahoga 
     County has seen the priorities of the community disregarded 
     by officials in Washington and valuable resources that were 
     intended to get homeless people into stable housing were 
     denied our community. Again, we ask if your agency is being 
     faithful to the Congressional mandate to return control of 
     these funds to the local community? It is disingenuous to 
     champion local control and yet every year discard the 
     priorities of the local Continuum of Care coordinating body. 
     We would have hoped that HUD would have gone to great lengths 
     to fund a project like the Salvation Army's PASS program, 
     which was deemed by the Continuum of Care committee as 
     Cuyahoga County's highest priority for funding of Recovery 
     Resource's project which was our second highest rated new 
     project.
       We were unhappy with the process last year, and did not see 
     any relief from the appeal process. This year the situation 
     demands your prompt attention. This year we were denied 
     funding for a program that currently exists in the community 
     which was developed as the foundation for the services to 
     single men. You will see Cleveland/Cuyahoga County back 
     significantly in addressing the needs of homeless men by 
     withdrawing funding from the PASS program. The other program, 
     submitted by Recovery Resources, was an attempt to provide 
     assistance to people coming out of treatment to maintain 
     sobriety by funding a stable living environment. This is 
     critical especially in light of the recent report by the 
     National Coalition for the Homeless which found homeless 
     people, in many cases, leave treatment and are forced to 
     return to the streets and the drug and alcohol culture.
       We once again renew our call for some changes in the HUD 
     Continuum of Care process in Washington so that the local 
     coordinating body actually makes the decisions on where 
     Federal funds are disbursed in Cuyahoga County. We ask that 
     the priorities of the local community including homeless 
     people be respected. There needs to be communication between 
     HUD and the applicant before there is a public announcement 
     if one of the projects that the community has deemed to be a 
     high priority is to be skipped. We also believe that there 
     should be a separate application process and deadline for 
     renewal projects that does not overlap with the new or 
     expanding project's applications so that locally, one 
     committee can evaluate the impact of existing projects, and 
     another entity can work on priorities for new or expanded 
     projects.
       You said in your press conference that the Continuum of 
     Care has been successful because it brings together non-
     profit groups, the private sector and local and state 
     government in a partnership to design local programs to help 
     homeless people to become self sufficient. In Cleveland, we 
     have worked tirelessly to put in place this collaboration and 
     expanded it to include homeless people in the process and yet 
     we have repeatedly seen HUD discard our recommendations. We 
     cannot build an effective continuum of care if our priorities 
     are ignored by HUD Washington.
           Sincerly,
                                                   Brian P. Davis,
                                               Executive Director.


     
                                  ____
                 [From the Plain Dealer, Dec. 24, 1998]

      Federal Funding Cut for Homeless Program in Cuyahoga County

                           (By Stephen Koff)

       Washington.--President Clinton yesterday announced $850 
     million for groups across the country that help homeless 
     people, including $9.4 million for Northeast Ohio, but the 
     program ranked as most important by Cuyahoga County was cut 
     from federal funding.
       Salvation Army's PASS program in Cleveland, which helps 
     homeless men with shelter, counseling, job training and 
     transition skills, will have to close if the Clinton 
     administration does not change its mind, said Bill Bowen, 
     director of professional and community services for Salvation 
     Army of Greater Cleveland.
       Neither the Salvation Army nor advocates who sent the 
     application for funding could understand why PASS (which 
     stands for Pickup, Assessment, Shelter and Services) did not 
     get the $1.5 million it requested.
       But Sandi Abadinsky, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department 
     of Housing and Urban Development, said PASS was rejected 
     because it previously was funded as a demonstration, or 
     tryout, program, getting seed money in 1995. Such programs 
     cannot assume their funding will continue when their tryout 
     is over.
       ``They knew when they were receiving the funding that they 
     were receiving seed money,'' Abadinsky said.
       Brian Davis, executive director of the Northeast Ohio 
     Coalition for the Homeless, who helped coordinate the 
     applications sent by Cuyahoga County, said PASS should have 
     qualified under HUD's Continuum of Care grants.
       They reward efforts to stabilize the lives of homeless 
     people through assessment, counseling, training and 
     transition into housing.
       Despite HUD's insistence otherwise, Davis said homeless 
     advocates understood from HUD that continuing projects like 
     PASS could still get money by applying under Continuum of 
     Care.
       The $1.5 million in the application represented PASS' 
     entire budget, Bowen said. ``We'll probably have to close the 
     program'' without the grant, he said. ``But I'd rather not be 
     gloom and doom about that.''
       Cuyahoga County homeless advocates plan to appeal the 
     rejection, and Bowen said he would talk to officials this 
     weekend to see about getting the funding.
       Groups that got HUD funding in Cuyahoga County are: 
     Transitional Housing, Inc., $360,583; Care Alliance, $1.6 
     million; Volunteers of America, $629,103; Continue Life, 
     $235,302; Family Transitional Housing, $111,542; YMCA of 
     Greater Cleveland's Y-Haven 1, $244,307; Cuyahoga 
     Metropolitan Housing Authority, $529,714; Mental Health 
     Services Inc., $835,026; EDEN Inc., $244,954; Joseph's Home, 
     $1.029 million; Hitchcock Center for Women, $764,073; 
     Cornerstone Connection, $150,472; Inter-Church Council of 
     Greater Cleveland, $524,194; YWCA of Cleveland, 111,522; and 
     East Side Catholic Shelter, $522,162.
       The funding will help Transition Housing with planning for 
     treatment and shelter programs for the 64 women who 
     participate at any given time, said director Kathleen Fant. 
     ``It's to help these women get on their feet again, and stay 
     there,'' she said.
       ``This is definitely the kind of news I like to hear,'' 
     said Don See, executive director of East Side Catholic 
     Shelter, who like most of the others had not been notified by 
     HUD of its awards yesterday.
       HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo yesterday said 460 communities 
     submitted applications representing 2,600 programs or 
     projects. Of those, HUD awarded 307 applications with 1,400 
     projects.
       Besides the program grants, HUD announced grants for 
     emergency shelter: $300,000 for Akron, $1.08 million for 
     Cleveland, $91,000 for Lakewood and $115,000 for Cuyahoga 
     County.
                                  ____


                 [From the Plain Dealer, Jan. 11, 1999]

                   Loss of Funds Jeopardizes Shelter

                         (By James F. Sweeney)

       A technical mistake in an application for federal funding 
     could lead to the closing of a Cleveland homeless shelter.
       ``It's heartbreaking,'' said Sandi Abadinsky, spokeswoman 
     for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in 
     Washington.
       HUD last month rejected a Salvation Army of Greater 
     Cleveland application for $1.5 million to keep its PASS 
     homeless shelter open for three years. The Cleveland/Cuyahoga 
     County Office on Homeless Services, which prepared the 
     application, asked for funding under the wrong program, 
     Abadinsky said.
       The shelter, which houses 47 men in a building behind 
     Salvation Army headquarters on E. 22nd St., has been praised 
     in its two years of operation for its innovative approach in 
     breaking the cycle of homelessness.
       ``This program has seen me through a lot of disturbances in 
     my life,'' said Clyde Owens, a resident of the PASS program 
     for 16 months. ``If they want to shut this down, I feel sorry 
     for the next man.''
       PASS stands for Pickup, Assessment, Shelter and Services.
       Local officials expressed surprise and anger that a 
     technicality could endanger the shelter.
       The Office on Homeless Services should have been given the 
     chance to correct the mistake, said Brian P. Davis, executive 
     director of the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless.

[[Page E199]]

       ``We'll keep working on it,'' said William V. Bowen Jr., 
     director of professional and community services for the 
     Salvation Army. ``We'll appeal.''
       Ruth Gillett, director of the homeless services office, 
     could not be reached for comment late Friday.
       While city and county officials appeal the decision, 
     Salvation Army directors will meet over the next weeks to 
     decide what to do. Federal funding ran out at the beginning 
     of the month, and the shelter is counting on a promised 
     $133,000 from the city to stay open through March.
       The failure to get the grant shocked Salvation Army 
     officials last month. They have suspended a two-year search 
     for a larger building in which to expand the program and are 
     scrambling to save what they have.
       PASS is not like other shelters, where the goal is to keep 
     the homeless alive by providing a warm place to sleep and 
     something to eat.
       It is home for residents for three months to a year or 
     more, as long as it takes them to get their lives under 
     control, to find jobs and save enough money to rent places of 
     their own.
       The residents, many of whom are chronically homeless, are 
     given a range of services.
       Those with drug and alcohol problems are sent to detox 
     centers. Counselors and tutors are brought in. The staff 
     helps residents open savings accounts and find jobs and 
     permanent housing.
       All the Salvation Army asks is that the men be willing to 
     change.
       From its start in October 1997 to Sept. 31, 1998, 117 men 
     were discharged from the program, 60 of whom were placed in 
     permanent housing, according to Salvation Army figures. 
     Thirty-nine of the 60 were still in housing as of last 
     October.
       ``Those are pretty good numbers, given the population 
     they're working with,'' said Bill Faith, executive director 
     of the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio, a 
     Columbus-based advocacy group.
       Some residents volunteer to help on the food and clothing 
     van the Salvation Army sends out nightly to homeless 
     gathering sites. Others staff donation kettles, sometimes to 
     help drive aggressive panhandlers out of a neighborhood.
       Faith's high opinion of the program was shared by a local 
     committee that advises HUD on which projects should be 
     funded. Continuing the Salvation Army program was its top 
     recommendation.
       HUD awarded a total of $9.4 million for homeless programs 
     in Northeast Ohio.
       HUD spokeswoman Abadinsky said the Office on Homeless 
     Services applied for renewal funding under a program that no 
     longer exists. It should have applied as a new program for 
     another source of funding, she said.
       ``They just didn't do it 100 percent correctly, and that's 
     why they weren't eligible,'' Abadinsky said.
       HUD rules do not allow the agency to notify applicants of 
     mistakes in their applications, she said.
       Though the Salvation Army must wait a year before applying 
     for more funding, it could look for money from $1.2 million 
     in emergency shelter funding awarded by HUD to the city and 
     county, Abadinsky said.
       Davis, of the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless, 
     said shifting those funds would hurt other homeless programs.
       ``If we were to take funding from another source from HUD, 
     that would close another shelter,'' he said. ``Do you want to 
     take money from the domestic violence shelters and keep open 
     PASS?''
       County commissioners said they are determined to save the 
     program.
       ``It appears to me we have heard a bureaucratic reaction 
     rather than a compassionate reaction,'' said Commissioner 
     Jane Campbell. ``This is a time when we need a creative 
     response from HUD.''
       She and Commissioner Timothy McCormack said they would look 
     for other funding if HUD does not change its mind.
       ``It is of the utmost importance to me,'' McCormack said.
       Commissioners have sent a letter to HUD Secretary Andrew 
     Cuomo asking him to reconsider and fund PASS.
       City officials, who have lobbied for HUD funding for the 
     program, did not return phone calls.
       Palmer Mack, 55, joined PASS in mid-October after losing 
     his apartment and his job. Heart disease keeps him attached 
     to an oxygen tank, the tubes running under his nose and over 
     his ears.
       Mack said the program had saved his life. Shutting the 
     shelter would be a tragedy, he said.
       ``This is really like the Rolls-Royce of this kind of 
     program,'' he said.


                                      Cuyahoga County of Ohio,

                                                 January 21, 1999.

     Re Appeal of 1998 Supportive Housing Program Decision.

     Fred Karnas,
     Assistant Secretary, Department of Housing & Urban 
         Development, Washington, DC.

       Dear Mr. Karnas: Thank you for your communication with us 
     as well as that of others who have contacted you on behalf of 
     Cleveland's homeless population. We write this to 
     respectfully and in a formal manner on appeal HUD's rejection 
     of the Number One ranked project in Cuyahoga County, Ohio 
     1998 Supportive Housing Program (SHP) application.
       Cuyahoga County, Ohio is the Applicant for this project, 
     the Salvation Army of Greater Cleveland is the Project 
     Sponsor and the name of the Project is the PASS Program 
     (Pick-up, Assessment, Services, and Transitional Shelter). 
     Our staff consulted with your Columbus, Ohio office in 
     preparing the 1999 application. We forwarded the application 
     based on this guidance and on communication between Secretary 
     Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Michael White. We were surprised to 
     learn of this vital project's rejection based on a 
     technicality. We now want to work with you to resolve this 
     problem.
       We have been advised by staff of your office, that the 
     Project was rejected for the following reason: ``The Project 
     was submitted under the wrong component of the application. 
     Specifically, it was submitted as a RENEWAL Project, as 
     opposed to a NEW Project.''
       The basis of this appeal rests on the argument that our 
     staff preparing the application sought technical assistance 
     from HUD Columbus staff, and were not advised that they were 
     applying under the wrong component.
       Cuyahoga County staff, through the Cleveland/Cuyahoga 
     County Office of Homeless Services (OHS), work closely with 
     City of Cleveland, Community Development staff to develop and 
     coordinate a coherent Continuum of Care strategy for homeless 
     services in the community. The OHS is administratively housed 
     within the County governmental structure, however, the City 
     of Cleveland shares the operating costs of the Office.
       In the Spring of 1998, Mayor Michael White wrote to 
     Secretary Cuomo stating that the community understood that 
     Innovative Homeless Demonstration Program (IHDP) projects 
     were not eligible for renewal from that source. Mayor White's 
     letter explained the importance of the PASS project to the 
     Continuum of Care strategy for addressing the needs of the 
     chronically homeless male population. Mayor White went on to 
     ask if the upcoming Super NOFA (Notice of Fund Availability) 
     would offer an opportunity for continued HUD support for the 
     PASS Program.
       Secretary Cuomo's response, quoted herein, was ``.  .  . 
     unfortunately there are no IHDP funds available to renew your 
     project. However, two other sources are possibilities for 
     funds. First, the Supportive Housing program (SHP) could be a 
     source of funds. . . .'' Later in the same paragraph, 
     Secretary Cuomo states, ``While SHP grants are commonly for 
     new activities, funds can also replace the loss of 
     nonrenewable funding from private, federal, or other sources 
     not under the control of State or local government.''
       The letter does not direct the community to apply as a New 
     project. Local interpretation of the information was that 
     while the PASS Program could not be renewed through IHDP 
     funds, eligible program activities could be renewed through 
     the Supportive Housing Program. Given staff awareness of the 
     prohibition against submitting existing projects for New 
     funding through the SHP, that a Renewal was being suggested 
     is the only interpretation staff would have made. Unless the 
     letter had stated clearly that the project should be 
     submitted as NEW, staff would not have pursued that approach. 
     At no time was the community ever informed by the Columbus 
     HUD Office that our approach was incorrect.
       The Office of Homeless Services has prepared the 
     application from Cleveland/Cuyahoga County every year since 
     1994. In 1998, the final application included 18 projects. 
     The process to develop and complete the application included: 
     establishing a representative, Ad Hoc committee to oversee 
     the application process, holding community meetings to 
     identify and rank gaps in services, a community review and 
     ranking, of the existing projects which were seeking renewal, 
     providing technical assistance to agencies submitting renewal 
     or new projects, review and ranking of all new projects, 
     final assembly and submission of the application.
       Because the County is the Applicant for the PASS Project, 
     there was further, direct communication with the Columbus HUD 
     Office concerning filling out Sections of Exhibit 2. Again, 
     let us be clear that the County was proceeding with the 
     Exhibit as a RENEWAL. Section D. of Exhibit 2 asks that the 
     applicant indicate the Program Component. Cuyahoga County 
     checked the Renewal box. Section E follows with the 
     parenthetical note ``. . . To be completed for new projects 
     only''. As a Renewal applicant, the County followed this 
     directive and went on to the next applicable Section.
       While filling out Section J. the Renewal Budget, staff 
     called the Columbus HUD Office for assistance. The original 
     IHDP awards were not broken out according to the SHP budget 
     categories of Supportive Services/Operating/etc. Staff 
     specifically asked for direction in formatting the IHDP 
     budget onto the Renewal Budget Form. HUD staff indicated that 
     they didn't know how to do this. They never indicated that 
     the wrong Budget Form was being used.
       Without an immediate response from HUD as to the ``right'' 
     way to do something, and with the application deadline 
     approaching, staff formatted the information according to the 
     understanding staff has as to HUD's definitions of what 
     constitutes Supportive Services and Operating costs. This 
     information was faxed to the HUD Columbus Office with a 
     request for a response. When a response was not received, 
     staff assumed that either the proposed format was acceptable, 
     or that if it was not exactly correct, it could be corrected 
     during the Technical Submission process.

[[Page E200]]

       In the course of developing this appeal, it has been 
     suggested that HUD staff are prohibited from providing 
     technical assistance to applicants once the Notice of Fund 
     Availability (NOFA) has been published. Clearly, HUD cannot 
     write applications for agencies. However, advising that an 
     incorrect form is being utilized would seem to fall into a 
     category of ``general information''. Moreover, there has been 
     a practice by the HUD Columbus staff to assist applicants in 
     clarifying application related questions.
       It has been the experience of this community that HUD staff 
     are dedicated professionals, who see their role as 
     facilitating community planning efforts. Regardless of the 
     outcome of this appeal, we will continue to build a 
     partnership with HUD to promote this objective.
       We look forward to hearing from you at your earliest 
     convenience.
           Sincerely,
     Tim McCormack, President,
     Jane L. Campbell,
     Jimmy Dimora,
                           Cuyahoga County Board of Commissioners.

     

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