Social service agencies challenging resolution against their locations

The city council member who drafted the resolution says what’s happening now isn’t working.

CINCINNATI (AP) — Agencies that help the homeless and the poor are challenging a city resolution they say is meant to keep them out of high-poverty neighborhoods where they are needed most.

The resolution says social service agencies shouldn’t be concentrated in a small geographic area because it can isolate disadvantaged people, physically and socially, from mainstream society and employment opportunities.

It also says the “unchecked proliferation” of these agencies could potentially have a negative impact on neighborhoods.

Critics say the city is catering to business interests that want to redevelop poverty-stricken areas, such as the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood north of downtown.

Agencies including the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless and the Drop Inn Center filed a lawsuit this week in U.S. District Court attempting to stop Cincinnati from carrying out the policy.

“Some of these agencies have tried to say the city is more interested in economic development than in people, and that’s just patently false,” said city council member Christ Bortz, who drafted the resolution. “We’ve got circumstantial evidence that the status quo isn’t working in Over-the-Rhine, where you have high crime statistics and low homeownership.”

The lawsuit alleges the resolution violates constitutional rights to due process and equal protection by creating a zoning restriction without a formal zoning change and treating the agencies and those they serve differently from anyone else.

The city has said it will file a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, saying the resolution doesn’t take any action and therefore there is nothing to litigate.

The agencies fear the resolution could lead to a zoning ordinance preventing them from moving into new areas and restricting their services, said Georgine Getty, executive director of the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless.

“We also are concerned that it doesn’t really define ‘concentrated’ and ‘impacted’ but clearly assumes social service agencies have a negative impact on communities without looking at all the positive effects,” Getty said.

Bortz said the resolution is a statement of policy and ordinances or a zoning code change would be needed to implement it.

“This is a policy statement to begin defining how we can effect change to help the most vulnerable segments of our community,” Bortz said. “It seems extraordinarily premature to file a lawsuit when there isn’t even an ordinance in place.”

The resolution was adopted amid ongoing efforts to clarify the city’s zoning code. The city has set up committees of community leaders, social service providers, residents and others to come up with final recommendations that are expected before the council by November.

Many of those served by the agencies in Over-the-Rhine have moved to other neighborhoods through federal housing initiatives but must return to the high-crime area to get social services, Bortz said.

“It also affects people living and working there,” he said. “When so many people from outside are flooding into an area, the criminal element that preys upon the disadvantaged often follows.”