Detroit's safety laws may close many homeless shelters FWD

Tom Boland (wgcp@earthlink.net)
Mon, 26 Oct 1998 17:46:26 -0400 

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Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

FWD two related articles from Detriot Free Press, October 13, 1998

http://www.freep.com/news/locway/qhome13.htm

DETROIT'S TOUGH STANDARDS UNUSUAL, ADVOCATES AGREE

October 13, 1998

BY WENDY WENDLAND
Detroit Free Press Staff Writer

Detroit's strict licensing law for homeless shelters is unusual,
according to two national groups that lobby for the homeless.

The groups agree that safeguards are needed but say rigid
procedures could force well-run shelter programs in old buildings
to close.

"It's a difficult situation," said Mary Ann Gleason, executive
director of the National Coalition for Homelessness in
Washington, D.C. "Shelters will say, 'We want to do this, but we
don't have any money.' ...There's a real dilemma there."

In Columbus, Ohio, the Community Shelter Board, a group of
shelter directors and government officials, awards public money to
shelters that meet its minimal standards, enforced by peer review
panels. The directors check for basics like clean bed linens,
staffing levels and building safety.

"In talking with cities that don't have any standards, it's better to
have these standards than nothing. Then if you go to a highly
licensed process, you're going to increase the cost of shelter. If
you do that, you have to ask if that is where the community wants
to invest the money," Barbara Poppe, executive director of the
Community Shelter Board, told the Free Press.

In Michigan's Kent County, a Shelter Standards Committee was
set up to self-regulate shelters. The standards, which have been in
the works for years, will begin being enforced this fall using peer
reviews.

Many shelter directors believe Detroit needs some basic standards,
but question if it could be done a different way.

"I believe that whatever the problems are, no one wants the
shelters in the city of Detroit to be substandard," said Cindy
Percy, divisional social services director for the Salvation Army.
"However, I think it can be done in a less laborious more
cost-effective and, more importantly, more realistic manner.


http://www.freep.com/news/locway/qshelt13.htm

CITY'S TOUGH SAFETY LAWS SPELL TROUBLE FOR HOMELESS
MANY SHELTERS MAY BE FORCED TO CLOSE IF CODE IS ENFORCED

October 13, 1998

BY WENDY WENDLAND
Detriot Free Press Staff Writer

Some homeless shelters in Detroit could be forced to close --
putting hundreds of poor people back on the streets -- because of a
law that some shelter directors fear goes too far.

Detroit started requiring emergency shelters to apply for a license
in 1997. A year later, not a single shelter has received one,
according to a Free Press review of inspection records.

However, a question remains unanswered: Will the city, with one
of the strictest licensing procedures in the nation for homeless
shelters, issue fines and shut them down? City officials won't say.

But one city official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity,
said: "When this was passed, I think people had good intentions,
but they may have been a little too zealous. They put so many
requirements in there, no one can pass."

A fire Sunday at the 300-resident Operation Helping Hand gave
the city a feel for what happens when shelters close. Agencies had
to improvise on housing the men, putting many into nearby hotels
and other temporary sites for an undetermined length of stay.

Executive Director Barry Sawyer said he wondered if his shelter
was being made an example under the new law.

The law states that the city can fine shelters in violation up to $500
per day. The ordinance requires eight city departments to conduct
more than a dozen inspections annually on everything from the
building's electrical wiring to whether well-balanced meals are
served. Many shelters are still waiting for at least one inspection.

Violations range from a wobbly outdoor staircase and worn-out
roof to kitchen cupboards that are wooden instead of the more
sanitary stainless steel.

The violations cited in reports, many of them incomplete, have left
some shelter directors gasping at mounting costs.

The Detroit Rescue Mission estimates it will cost $1 million to
bring three of its shelters up to Detroit's new code; Operation Get
Down on the east side estimates it will need to spend $550,000.

When the licensing law was passed in 1994 the city had 44 known
shelters. Many have since closed for various reasons. Last year,
25 applied for a license, but some of those have since dropped
out, according to city records.

"The potential is shelters will close. That's my concern," said
Vladimir Vandalov, outreach division director for Lutheran Social
Services of Michigan, which operates Heartline, an east-side
shelter for women.

"Certainly shelters should close if resident safety is an issue. But
if it's for the matter of meeting a high threshold?"

The problem is particularly alarming since many suburban shelters
saw their numbers increase last winter. The Pontiac Rescue
Mission, St. Mary's Catholic Church in Royal Oak and the
Salvation Army shelter in Warren reported a rise in demand.

On any given day, Detroit has about 10,000 homeless residents;
outside shelters, some live under freeway overpasses and some in
abandoned buildings.

Most shelters are nonprofit operations. Many are faith-based
agencies that depend on donations and state and federal grants.
They are located throughout the state.

Detroit is believed to be the only Michigan community that
requires its emergency shelters to be licensed.

The ordinance was passed in 1994 as a way for the city to ensure
that shelters were in safe buildings and had adequate staffing and
clean linen.

Beginning last year, shelter operators were required to submit an
eight-page application through a city government maze. It goes to
the consumer affairs department, which sends it to the senior
citizens and homeless coordination department, which sends it
back to consumer affairs, which fans it out to six other
departments.

Those departments -- building and safety, fire, health, police,
finance, and water and sewerage -- conduct investigations in about
a dozen areas. Consumer affairs is supposed to eventually make a
decision about whether a license is granted or denied.

The complicated process leaves shelters -- and, at times, city
departments -- spinning.

Alternatives for Girls, a shelter near Tiger Stadium, received a
letter from the city thanking it for applying for a restaurant license.
Heartline received a letter from the city thanking it for applying for
a used-car dealer's license.

Emma Peterson, acting director of the YWCA of Metropolitan
Detroit, which operates Interim House, a shelter for victims of
domestic violence, said she has had one inspection. As of last
week, she had been unable to reach anyone from the city to learn
where her application stands.

"I am not clear at all about what to expect," she said, echoing
statements by other shelter directors. "I have not had any
conversation to make sure that I'm thinking correctly. I am still
waiting to hear something."

In an ornate brick building with a vaulted ceiling in the lobby and
quaint courtyard, Operation Get Down houses the homeless. Up
until last year, the building was operated by the YMCA.

The list of improvements Operation Get Down must make is
exhaustive. Walls must be knocked down in the dining room to
expand eating space. A women's bathroom must be turned into a
room designed to hold a $20,000 kitchen air-filtration system. A
sprinkler system, estimated to cost a total of $400,000, must be
installed in each room, said Bernard Parker, executive director.

The city also wants the windows in the six-story, 1931 building to
open enough for someone to be able to crawl out in case of fire,
Parker said. But this could be a potential problem for someone
depressed or suicidal. About one-third of the homeless are
estimated to be mentally ill.

Open Door Rescue Mission, on the east side, a much smaller
shelter with a $140,000 annual budget, has been housing the
homeless for nearly 50 years. Yet under the new ordinance, Open
Door has been told its property is wrongly zoned and it must make
several repairs, including replacing its fire alarm system with an
automated one, estimated to cost $10,000, said the Rev. Jerome
Farris, executive director.

"We're feeding people every day. We're doing all we can....
We're not about profit. We don't have excess resources. Every
dime we use, everything we get, we give back to the people," said
Farris.

Before the ordinance, the health department did not inspect shelter
kitchens. Now it is applying the same standards it uses for
commercial facilities such as restaurants, said Donald Hamel,
environmental-health-services administrator for the city. One
shelter was told it needed a three-basin sink to properly wash
dishes.

An annual electrical inspection is also new territory. Phil Clark,
assistant chief for electrical inspectors in the city's Building and
Safety Department, said maintenance and incorrect electrical work
done by unlicensed people are the biggest problems his inspectors
have found.

"We don't differentiate what we look for between a hotel-motel,
apartment and homeless shelter," he said. "We want the building
to meet some basic safety standards."

One shelter was told to put in a new wall outlet and plug the
computer there instead of a surge protector. Again, it is a safety
concern, said Clark.

As the temperature drops, the fate of Detroit homeless shelters
remains undetermined. In the summer, Councilwoman Maryann
Mahaffey, who wrote the 1994 ordinance, gathered a group to
meet with the director of the senior citizens and homeless
coordination department, Darchelle Love.

A second meeting was canceled. Love no longer works in the
department and homeless services are expected to be transferred to
another department soon.

Love had promised the city would begin enforcing the ordinance
this fall. Whether this remains true is unclear.

But some community leaders and homeless advocates who were
involved with the ordinance's creation said they thought the city
should re-evaluate how it's working.

Tyrone Chatman, associate executive director of the Michigan
Veterans Foundation and a longtime homeless advocate, said the
city has already lost hundreds of emergency beds because shelters
closed. He said the city should review how the ordinance is
working, before ticketing.

"We're anxious to see what we can do so this thing makes sense,"
he said.

END FORWARDS
** NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is
distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. **

HOMELESS PEOPLE'S NETWORK  <http://aspin.asu.edu/hpn/>  Home Page
ARCHIVES  <http://aspin.asu.edu/hpn/archives.html>  read posts to HPN
TO JOIN  <http://aspin.asu.edu/hpn/join.html> or email Tom <wgcp@earthlink.net>
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FWD two related articles from Detriot Free Press, October 13, 1998


http://www.freep.com/news/locway/qhome13.htm


<paraindent><param>right,left</param>DETROIT'S TOUGH STANDARDS UNUSUAL,
ADVOCATES AGREE


October 13, 1998


BY WENDY WENDLAND

Detroit Free Press Staff Writer

</paraindent>

Detroit's strict licensing law for homeless shelters is unusual,

according to two national groups that lobby for the homeless.


The groups agree that safeguards are needed but say rigid

procedures could force well-run shelter programs in old buildings

to close.


"It's a difficult situation," said Mary Ann Gleason, executive

director of the National Coalition for Homelessness in

Washington, D.C. "Shelters will say, 'We want to do this, but we

don't have any money.' ...There's a real dilemma there."


In Columbus, Ohio, the Community Shelter Board, a group of

shelter directors and government officials, awards public money to

shelters that meet its minimal standards, enforced by peer review

panels. The directors check for basics like clean bed linens,

staffing levels and building safety.


"In talking with cities that don't have any standards, it's better to

have these standards than nothing. Then if you go to a highly

licensed process, you're going to increase the cost of shelter. If

you do that, you have to ask if that is where the community wants

to invest the money," Barbara Poppe, executive director of the

Community Shelter Board, told the Free Press. 


In Michigan's Kent County, a Shelter Standards Committee was

set up to self-regulate shelters. The standards, which have been in

the works for years, will begin being enforced this fall using peer

reviews.


Many shelter directors believe Detroit needs some basic standards,

but question if it could be done a different way.


"I believe that whatever the problems are, no one wants the

shelters in the city of Detroit to be substandard," said Cindy

Percy, divisional social services director for the Salvation Army.

"However, I think it can be done in a less laborious more

cost-effective and, more importantly, more realistic manner.



http://www.freep.com/news/locway/qshelt13.htm


<paraindent><param>right,left</param>CITY'S TOUGH SAFETY LAWS SPELL
TROUBLE FOR HOMELESS

MANY SHELTERS MAY BE FORCED TO CLOSE IF CODE IS ENFORCED


October 13, 1998

<flushright>

</flushright>BY WENDY WENDLAND

Detriot Free Press Staff Writer

</paraindent>

Some homeless shelters in Detroit could be forced to close --

putting hundreds of poor people back on the streets -- because of a

law that some shelter directors fear goes too far.


Detroit started requiring emergency shelters to apply for a license

in 1997. A year later, not a single shelter has received one,

according to a Free Press review of inspection records.


However, a question remains unanswered: Will the city, with one

of the strictest licensing procedures in the nation for homeless

shelters, issue fines and shut them down? City officials won't say.


But one city official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity,

said: "When this was passed, I think people had good intentions,

but they may have been a little too zealous. They put so many

requirements in there, no one can pass."


A fire Sunday at the 300-resident Operation Helping Hand gave

the city a feel for what happens when shelters close. Agencies had

to improvise on housing the men, putting many into nearby hotels

and other temporary sites for an undetermined length of stay. 


Executive Director Barry Sawyer said he wondered if his shelter

was being made an example under the new law.


The law states that the city can fine shelters in violation up to $500

per day. The ordinance requires eight city departments to conduct

more than a dozen inspections annually on everything from the

building's electrical wiring to whether well-balanced meals are

served. Many shelters are still waiting for at least one inspection.


Violations range from a wobbly outdoor staircase and worn-out

roof to kitchen cupboards that are wooden instead of the more

sanitary stainless steel.


The violations cited in reports, many of them incomplete, have left

some shelter directors gasping at mounting costs.


The Detroit Rescue Mission estimates it will cost $1 million to

bring three of its shelters up to Detroit's new code; Operation Get

Down on the east side estimates it will need to spend $550,000.


When the licensing law was passed in 1994 the city had 44 known

shelters. Many have since closed for various reasons. Last year,

25 applied for a license, but some of those have since dropped

out, according to city records.


"The potential is shelters will close. That's my concern," said

Vladimir Vandalov, outreach division director for Lutheran Social

Services of Michigan, which operates Heartline, an east-side

shelter for women.


"Certainly shelters should close if resident safety is an issue. But

if it's for the matter of meeting a high threshold?" 


The problem is particularly alarming since many suburban shelters

saw their numbers increase last winter. The Pontiac Rescue

Mission, St. Mary's Catholic Church in Royal Oak and the

Salvation Army shelter in Warren reported a rise in demand.


On any given day, Detroit has about 10,000 homeless residents;

outside shelters, some live under freeway overpasses and some in

abandoned buildings.


Most shelters are nonprofit operations. Many are faith-based

agencies that depend on donations and state and federal grants.

They are located throughout the state.


Detroit is believed to be the only Michigan community that

requires its emergency shelters to be licensed.


The ordinance was passed in 1994 as a way for the city to ensure

that shelters were in safe buildings and had adequate staffing and

clean linen.


Beginning last year, shelter operators were required to submit an

eight-page application through a city government maze. It goes to

the consumer affairs department, which sends it to the senior

citizens and homeless coordination department, which sends it

back to consumer affairs, which fans it out to six other

departments.


Those departments -- building and safety, fire, health, police,

finance, and water and sewerage -- conduct investigations in about

a dozen areas. Consumer affairs is supposed to eventually make a

decision about whether a license is granted or denied.


The complicated process leaves shelters -- and, at times, city

departments -- spinning.


Alternatives for Girls, a shelter near Tiger Stadium, received a

letter from the city thanking it for applying for a restaurant
license.

Heartline received a letter from the city thanking it for applying for

a used-car dealer's license.


Emma Peterson, acting director of the YWCA of Metropolitan

Detroit, which operates Interim House, a shelter for victims of

domestic violence, said she has had one inspection. As of last

week, she had been unable to reach anyone from the city to learn

where her application stands.


"I am not clear at all about what to expect," she said, echoing

statements by other shelter directors. "I have not had any

conversation to make sure that I'm thinking correctly. I am still

waiting to hear something."


In an ornate brick building with a vaulted ceiling in the lobby and

quaint courtyard, Operation Get Down houses the homeless. Up

until last year, the building was operated by the YMCA.


The list of improvements Operation Get Down must make is

exhaustive. Walls must be knocked down in the dining room to

expand eating space. A women's bathroom must be turned into a

room designed to hold a $20,000 kitchen air-filtration system. A

sprinkler system, estimated to cost a total of $400,000, must be

installed in each room, said Bernard Parker, executive director.


The city also wants the windows in the six-story, 1931 building to

open enough for someone to be able to crawl out in case of fire,

Parker said. But this could be a potential problem for someone

depressed or suicidal. About one-third of the homeless are

estimated to be mentally ill.


Open Door Rescue Mission, on the east side, a much smaller

shelter with a $140,000 annual budget, has been housing the

homeless for nearly 50 years. Yet under the new ordinance, Open

Door has been told its property is wrongly zoned and it must make

several repairs, including replacing its fire alarm system with an

automated one, estimated to cost $10,000, said the Rev. Jerome

Farris, executive director.


"We're feeding people every day. We're doing all we can....

We're not about profit. We don't have excess resources. Every

dime we use, everything we get, we give back to the people," said

Farris.


Before the ordinance, the health department did not inspect shelter

kitchens. Now it is applying the same standards it uses for

commercial facilities such as restaurants, said Donald Hamel,

environmental-health-services administrator for the city. One

shelter was told it needed a three-basin sink to properly wash

dishes.


An annual electrical inspection is also new territory. Phil Clark,

assistant chief for electrical inspectors in the city's Building and

Safety Department, said maintenance and incorrect electrical work

done by unlicensed people are the biggest problems his inspectors

have found.


"We don't differentiate what we look for between a hotel-motel,

apartment and homeless shelter," he said. "We want the building

to meet some basic safety standards."


One shelter was told to put in a new wall outlet and plug the

computer there instead of a surge protector. Again, it is a safety

concern, said Clark. 


As the temperature drops, the fate of Detroit homeless shelters

remains undetermined. In the summer, Councilwoman Maryann

Mahaffey, who wrote the 1994 ordinance, gathered a group to

meet with the director of the senior citizens and homeless

coordination department, Darchelle Love.


A second meeting was canceled. Love no longer works in the

department and homeless services are expected to be transferred to

another department soon.


Love had promised the city would begin enforcing the ordinance

this fall. Whether this remains true is unclear.


But some community leaders and homeless advocates who were

involved with the ordinance's creation said they thought the city

should re-evaluate how it's working.


Tyrone Chatman, associate executive director of the Michigan

Veterans Foundation and a longtime homeless advocate, said the

city has already lost hundreds of emergency beds because shelters

closed. He said the city should review how the ordinance is

working, before ticketing.


"We're anxious to see what we can do so this thing makes sense,"

he said.


END FORWARDS 

** NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. **


HOMELESS PEOPLE'S NETWORK  <<http://aspin.asu.edu/hpn/>  Home Page

ARCHIVES  <<http://aspin.asu.edu/hpn/archives.html>  read posts to HPN

TO JOIN  <<http://aspin.asu.edu/hpn/join.html> or email Tom <<wgcp@earthlink.net>

--============_-1302684099==_ma============--