[Peace-discuss] Fw: [Discuss] 15 children and 3 elders face homelessness tomorrow, come out to Champaign Council Tuesday to stop this

Sun May 10 21:57:25 CDT 2009

Everyone who can possibly make it to the Champaign City Council meeting Tuesday night at 7pm should be there to back these people up.

David Johnson

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Danielle Chynoweth 
To: Community Courtwatch 
Sent: Sunday, May 10, 2009 8:56 PM
Subject: [Discuss] 15 children and 3 elders face homelessness tomorrow,come out to Champaign Council Tuesday to stop this

News flash:
I called Karen Foster on Champaign Council and told her that we counted 25 residents with no place to go today, including 15 children between the ages of 1 - 17 and 3 elderly women.    I told her that they were talking about living out of their cars or amongst the trees starting tomorrow, and how many of them were working and simply needed a month of housing to get their next paycheck and make longer term plans.  She agreed to call Steve Carter and council members to take action.  I urged her to use the $100,000 federal dollars they were unexpectedly receiving now, instead of waiting until July 1st, when they intend to start a rental assistance program.

I also called Mike Monson who will be calling me and Carol tomorrow to get more info for a story that might go out Tuesday morning.  He knows we will be at council Tuesday night.

I plan to call Danny, Amber, and John to see if we can get residents to speak up before council Tuesday at 7 pm.  6 of us have committed to being there - and we are asking for others to come out as well.

Things to ask for:
- The City just got $100,000 of federal money for rental assistance that they were not expecting - why don't they use it right now to help these folks?
- The City knew this property was a problem and they were not proactive, allowing the situation to turn into a crisis.
- Both cities need to address that all the local shelters are full.
- By condemning properties, they are pouring fuel on a crisis.  They need to keep the place open or provide for relocation.

Background:
This afternoon Kim, Carol, Belden, Deacon, Amira, Randall, Durl, Martell, a man from the Catholic Worker House and myself visited the Gatewood Studios on North Neil where ~100 residents were told they had to leave by the end of the weekend because their landlord was $44,000 behind in utiliity payments, despite the fact that tenants have been paying for utilities in their rent.

We spoke to 25+ folks who represented those who had no place to go.  Reports are that all the shelters are full.   Some had small children; most held down minimum wages jobs.  The group included 15 children and 3 elders.

Power will be cut to the premise either Monday (according to residents) or Tuesday (according to the paper). The city intends to condemn the property on Tuesday because it will not have power.  A number of residents had recently paid May rent ($600 a month or $150 a week) and had nothing left over to move with.  Their main problem is lack of notification, which will leave them homeless until they find a new place.

Some residents said they will come to the Champaign City Council meeting Tuesday at 7 pm to tell their story, although it is unclear where they will be staying Monday night.  6 of us intend to be at Council Tuesday - and invite others to join us.

The place, a former motel, appears to be the cheapest place in town.  Last year the motel was flooded by the Boneyard and people relocated by the Red Cross.  Many of the units were being repaired - the moldy parts of the walls replaced.  Some units lacked locks or had broken handles and the the pool in the center of the complex was filled with slime.

A women named Karen we spoke to who has three teenage girls and works at another motel down the street says she has no place to stay but her car.  The same for her sister, her nieces and a one year old girl.  A man who was working maintenance on the building and hasn't been paid in awhile plans to sleep outside, as it appears 2 other men will.  

Federal money to help with rent assistance
   MIKE MONSON mmonson at news-gazette.com
March 30, 2009 
CHAMPAIGN – The city intends to use federal money to start a rental assistance program, starting July 1, to help people struggling to pay their rent. The program will be small, helping between 12 and 15 people each month, but will work intensively with people to help them become economically self-sufficient, said Kerri Spear, neighborhood programs manager for the city. The overall budget for the program will be $115,000, including $18,000 in city matching funds, $25,000 in federal Community Development Block Grant funds for administrative costs and $72,000 in federal Home Investment Partnership Program (known as HOME) funds. "The primary focus of it is to provide rent assistance and, at the same time, to work with people to become self-sufficient," Spear said. "The case manager will work with the tenant about what's preventing them from being able to afford their rent and how to increase their income potential." The case manager will help the tenants determine if they need to go to college to get more training, if they need to search for another job or help them to resolve child care issues, she said. Tenants will have to make progress in completing their action plan that they work out with their case manager to remain in the program. Those who don't make progress could be dropped from the program, she said. Participants will be expected to contribute financially toward their rent, with the amount varying depending on factors such as whether the tenant is going to school and only working part time, Spear said. The city will be requesting proposals from outside agencies to administer the program in coming weeks. Spear said the Champaign County Regional Planning Commmission administers a tenant-based rental assistance program for the county and is likely to make a bid. To participate in the program, a renter must make less than 80 percent of the median family income. For a family of four, that's less than $52,150. For a single person, that's less than $36,500. Champaign has previously focused more on owner-occupied housing when spending federal HOME money, such as down payment assistance and a rental rehabilitation program for landlords. But the declining national and local economy indicated a need for tenant rent assistance program, Spear said. "There's not enough rent assistance," Spear said. The economy is affecting people. Households are being directly impacted by the economy." Local statistics also show a need, Spear said. The Housing Authority of Champaign County has 1,754 households on its Section 8 waiting list and 164 families on the public housing waiting list. The 2009 Homeless Survey, done in January by the Urbana-Champaign Continuum of Care, showed a 15 percent increase in the number of people reporting homelessness since the last survey, in 2007. There were 495 people reporting homelessness this year, compared with 429 two years ago. Fifty-two percent of those reporting homelessness were age 18 or under, according to Spear. Those homeless figures include people living in shelters, people living on a friend's or relative's couch or doubling up with another family, and unsheltered people living in a car, tent or on the street. The survey found 21 people living unsheltered. 

Gateway Studios tells residents they must move out
By Mike Monson 
Saturday May 9, 2009

CHAMPAIGN – It was a Friday afternoon, generally a time for relaxing in anticipation of the weekend.

But the residents at Gateway Studios, 1505 N. Neil St., were anything but relaxed. Rumors began spreading Thursday that the company that owns the downtrodden former hotel – which rents rooms by the day, week or month – was far behind on its utility bills.

City and AmerenIP officials confirmed on Friday that those rumors are true, that electricity will be turned off Tuesday and that residents have mere days to get out, or face living without power.

Residents, many of whom have already paid $500 to $600 rent for the month of May, were agitated at the prospect of becoming homeless. They were awaiting a 5 p.m. meeting Friday with Gateway management to find out their fate.

Among the residents was Daniel Lance, 27, who shares a hotel room with his pregnant fiancee, Amber Gaskin, and his young son.

"My girl is pregnant with twins and I have a 2-year-old boy," said Lance. "We've called hotels and we don't have no place to go.

"I go to work every day," he continued. "I try to provide for my family. If I lose this, I lose about everything."

Gateway Studios is a former Holiday Inn built decades ago. Lance's room, where Amber was resting on the bed, is a single room with a bathroom. A wall-mounted color television, a small refrigerator and a microwave for cooking are the amenities.

Next-door neighbor Larkin Johnson, 45, was another unhappy resident. He has lived at Gateway for five months with his wife, Mary Sue Bennett Johnson. He said he had paid his rent for May, $600, just a few days before.

"I've had to take two days off of work to be here, to figure out what's going on," he said. "I've lost money. That's not good for me or my wife. We find us a place that's comfortable, just to find we're getting thrown out."

Johnson said his biggest worry was the many children who live at the old motel, and a few disabled residents.

Willie Winston, 56, has been a resident at Gateway for six months. He also had just paid his rent and said he's worried about coming up with the cash to pay for another apartment or hotel.

"I don't know what I'm going to do; I don't know what direction I'm going," said Winston, who said he collects a once-a-month disability check. He suffers from diabetes, high blood pressure and a heart condition.

Sue Salzman, the city of Champaign's property maintenance supervisor, said Gateway Studios owes AmerenIP more than $44,000 in gas and electricity bills dating back several months. She said her understanding was that gas was to be turned off Friday and electricity on Tuesday.

More than 100 people, including small children, are staying at the former hotel in just more than 50 rented units, she said.

City officials met late Friday afternoon with Gateway Studios management to try and make the best of a bad situation.

"We're going to identify as many resources as possible to provide shelter," said Kevin Jackson, director of the city's Neighborhood Services Department, afterwards. "Refunds are being processed for the majority of residents."

The 5 p.m. meeting finally came and Rose Touchstone, a friendly woman from Memphis, delivered the bad news to a group of about 40 residents. She works for a property management company, Blue Castle Properties, owned by the group of 15 to 20 investors, California residents, that now own Gateway Studios, her husband, John Touchstone, said.

"I want you all to do whatever you can to try to find someplace to live," she said. "We can't let you and I don't think you want to live in a room with no electricity, no air conditioning, no hot water. You need to dig down deep and figure out what you're going to do."

Touchstone said she had a list of places where residents could stay for $199 per week, and she said she was looking for cheaper options. She said she would be there all weekend.

Johnson stood up at one point and said how worried he was about "the babies and the disabled."

"We have many children here," said Touchstone. "We have a couple disabled people here. That's our main concern."

Salzman said Gateway Studios will be required by the city to follow legal procedure in evicting residents.

She said that a lack of electricity and gas are code violations and cause for the city to condemn the building. City staff typically would then issue a 10-day condemnation notice.

The notice would go to the property owner, with notification to occupants, she said. The owner must then obtain eviction paperwork from court and have residents removed from the property if they do not leave voluntarily.

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Find this article at: 
http://www.news-gazette.com/news/2009/05/09/gateway_studios_tells_residents_they_must_move_out 

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