More homeless stay at courthouse

CINCINNATI (AP) — The number of homeless who spend the night on courthouse benches or in doorways is a growing problem, according to a county commissioner who wants to shoo them away to shelters.

An advocacy group says it’s the men who have nowhere else to go who are being victimized, not people who are offended by the presence of the homeless.

Hamilton County Commissioner David Pepper said allowing people to sleep at the courthouse makes the area appear unsafe, and county workers have to clean and sanitize the area every morning because of refuse and urine.

Josh Spring, executive director of the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless, said Wednesday that safety is one reason the homeless choose the courthouse.

“These people don’t want to cause problems. They just want to feel safe,” Spring said.

He said recent coverage that included video and interviews with some homeless men showed “a propagandized and exploitive story” and only pointed to the urgency of dealing with the larger problem.

“People who are homeless are perhaps the most marginalized of people,” Spring said. “We need to end homelessness, and such stories only serve to prolong this travesty.”

Pepper said getting the homeless to sleep elsewhere is “just a matter of common sense” and he has not threatened mass arrests, as police in Cleveland did a decade ago to rid Public Square of homeless people.

“I’m not saying it would make any sense to use heavy-handed law enforcement,” Pepper said. “This is the kind of thing that every property owner deals with.”

Spring acknowledged that about 35 people have been sleeping around the courthouse, on the edge of the downtown business district.

“The system has failed them, and they no longer have a place to call home,” Spring said.

The coalition represents nearly 50 agencies that provide emergency shelter, transitional and permanent housing, and medical and social services. Spring said a new study is set to update one that in 2005 showed about 25,000 people in Cincinnati were homeless at some time during the year.

“There are two definitions of homeless,” Spring said. “One is simply counting people on the street and in shelters. The one we use is people who simply don’t have a home, including those who are moving nightly from friend to friend to friend.”

The Drop Inn Center, the city’s largest shelter, takes in about 250 people a night, up from about 200 a year ago, according to Pat Clifford, the executive director.

He said that with more than a dozen shelters available, Cincinnati has one of the lowest unsheltered homeless populations in the country, and many do not use shelters simply because they prefer to sleep outdoors.

“There are about 1,300 homeless at any given time, and this very small fraction of them — 30 to 60 people — that like to stay outdoors,” Clifford said.

The most recent survey of homeless in the state is a point-in-time count by the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio. It showed a statewide total of 12,821 homeless during a 24-hour period in January 2008, including 2,274 in Cleveland, 1,341 in Columbus and 1,133 in Cincinnati.