Committee Report CR-3
The Housing Committee held a public meeting on April 15, 2009 beginning at two o'clock and thirty-five minutes in the Sullivan Chamber, 2
floor, Cambridge City Hall. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss plans for a public forum to provide information and support for homeowners or tenants who may be facing displacement because of economic distress.
Present at the meeting were Vice Mayor Sam Seidel, Chair of the Committee, Councillor Larry Ward and City Clerk Margaret Drury. Also present were Ellen Semonoff, Assistant City Manager for Human Services, Beth Rubenstein, Assistant City Manager for Community Development; Christopher Cotter, Director of Housing, Community Development Department (CDD), Joshua Meehan, Senior Program Manager, Cambridge Housing Authority (CHA), Angelica Benzan, CHA, Peter Daly, Executive Director, Homeowners Rehab, Inc., Lauren Curry, Just-A-Start, Peter Shapiro, Just-A-Start Mediation for Results program, Raymond Chicoye, Food Pantry Coordinator, Cambridge Economic Opportunity Committee (CEOC) and Scott Cole, Residential Services Manager, Fresh Pond Apartments.
Vice Mayor Seidel convened the meeting and explained the purpose. He invited Mr. Chicoye to describe what he has learned from his work at CEOC about current economic situation of Cambridge's most vulnerable residents. Mr. Chicoye said that more and more people are coming to CEOC requesting assistance because they are facing eviction. In response to a question from Ms. Semonoff, Mr. Chicoye said that most of the people he has encountered are tenants who do not have rental subsidies, and most of them are families with children. CEOC refers these people to RAFT and to Legal Services. In response to a question from Vice Mayor Seidel about what would most help these people, Mr. Chicoye said money to pay the rent would help the most.
Vice Mayor Seidel said that he would like to get a better sense of the scope of the problem. Mr. Cotter said that the housing staff at CDD is seeing a similar need and increase in the demand for affordable housing. Ms. Semonoff said that the Multi-Service Center, which provides services for homeless people and people facing the risk of homelessness, has seen some increase, but not a massive increase, in cases of tenants facing eviction. The Multi-Service Center works closely with the CHA to keep tenants in their homes and to find housing for people who have lost their homes. One of the huge challenges is finding affordable rental units in Cambridge, even for tenants who have rent vouchers. Recently they are seeing some more landlords who are willing to take tenants who have subsidies. In addition, the Multi-Service Center has limited amounts of funds to pay rent to keep tenants from eviction.
Ms. Semonoff then reported on two new resources that will be coming online over the next two months. One resource is Emergency Shelter Grant funds as part of the Stimulus package. The DHSP plans to put the majority of funding into direct payments for people facing imminent eviction provided that the funding will stabilize their housing. The funds will also be available to people currently living in shelters. She noted that although funds from this program can pay up to two months of rent, this source will not work for people who have lost their job and still will not have a job in two months. She expects that there will be funds available through this program starting in August. Ms. Semonoff also said that DHSP is attempting to put together a plan that could provide assistance to people who are homeless or in danger of becoming homeless but who do not fit into the strict criteria provided in the Stimulus funding.
Mr. Daly asked Mr. Chicoye whether the people he sees at the food pantry who are losing their jobs are eligible for unemployment insurance. Mr. Chicoye said some people are eligible for unemployment; others are undocumented and thus not even eligible for food stamps.
Mr. Cole said that at Fresh Pond Apartments, the people who have come to him because they are in danger of eviction are all people who have lost their jobs. His sense is not that the situation that he is seeing is getting worse, but more that he is finding out more as he builds relationships and the situation is not getting better. He sees more families starting to double up and live with relatives. Mr. Daly said that in the experience from their portfolio, the situation is getting worse. Mr. Meehan said that the CHA has seen a big increase in their waiting list, a sign that demand is on the way up. Mr. Shapiro said that in his mediation program, they are seeing an increase in cases where people have lost their jobs and cases where people who were formerly middle-class have lost jobs and are now eligible for Department of Transition Assistance funds. This is a whole new population facing eviction.
Vice Mayor Seidel then moved to the question of next steps, who should be at the next meeting and what kind of public forum would be the most useful. Ms. Benzan said that one of the biggest issues for further exploration is the question of what are the resources out there for people facing a job loss. Ms. Semonoff said that for undocumented persons, the situation is dire. For people with legal status, there are a few resources. The Office of Workforce Development is still placing people. As the economy gets worse, peoples' willingness to take jobs outside of Cambridge may be one of the most important factors for successful job searches.
In terms of other resources, the Career Resource Center at Alewife will be getting more funding. In addition some job search assistance is provided by college students at the Multi-Service Center. As additional funds become available through the Stimulus grants, we will want to make sure that the general public, including landlords and service providers, is aware as soon as possible.
Councillor Ward noted that it has come to his attention that the biotech sector is one of the few sectors in which jobs are still increasing. Perhaps job developers should focus on biotech companies.
Vice Mayor Seidel asked about the ties between housing services and employment services. Ms. Semonoff said that within DHSP, there are fairly strong links between housing (shelter) and employment services. The Cambridge Employment Services program works closely with the Carey shelter program; similarly, the Multi-Service Center works with people who have DTA housing subsidies.
Mr. Daly said that his organization distributes a newsletter to their tenants each month, and they are now putting a notice in each issue telling tenants that if they lose their jobs to come into the resident services center as soon as possible so that they can try to help.
Ms. Semonoff said that there have always been two tough issues for their job development programs; now there is a third. The first issue is that people often have a very different idea of what jobs they want and what work is realistic at this point. The second problem is that sometimes there is a very significant language barrier. Now there is the additional problem of the economy; many of the first step jobs have either disappeared or are being held at this time by someone with a much higher set of job skills.
Mr. Shapiro said that there is a whole category of people for whom they will be able to find funds to buy time for the tenants to get back on their feet, but these funds are not yet available. In two to four weeks the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) will be making funds available through the HDRP, an interesting model featuring wrap around services encompassing job development, legal assistance, DTA assistance and cap agency and cultural association assistance.
Ms. Rubenstein said that one clear message from this meeting is that tenants need to hear that they shouldn't try to hide their problem from their housing provider. Ms. Semonoff said perhaps a service fair of some kind would be useful. Ms. Curry suggested making available on the city's website a two page emergency "crib sheet" for people who have lost their jobs or are facing eviction. Mr. Meehan said that the CHA lobby is a place where people with these problems often show up, so there could be hard copies available in their lobby.
Vice Mayor Seidel asked Mr. Cole what would have helped him in dealing with his tenants. Mr. Cole said that more information about how to connect people to resources before it is too late would have been very useful, including information about how to help maximize their income, for example, food stamps.
at 3 p.m. at City Hall, and that everyone would bring all of their information about resources that could help tenants facing eviction because of economic distress.