CLEVELAND, Ohio – Eighteen-year-old Alondra Rivera is exhausted from a stressful weekend.
Two days ago, a heated argument with her mother ended with Alondra getting tossed out into a cold January night, with all of her possessions stuffed into two suitcases. The sudden crisis prompted us, the five women of her Open Table mentorship team, to mobilize. Table mate Daniella gave her a safe place to crash for a couple nights, while we put our heads together to find a solution. We were in the process of vetting out a permanent living arrangement for Alondra, when her mom told her she could come home.
The crisis has passed. But the residual tension and instability in her home leaves us all feeling uneasy. Alondra needs to develop an emergency housing plan.
She agrees to come with me to visit A Place 4 Me. The initiative, committed to ending youth homelessness, is housed at the YWCA of Greater Cleveland. I had spoken earlier with Associate Director Christie Sozio, who said she’d be happy to meet with Alondra to lay out her options, should tension in her family’s crowded apartment reach another breaking point.
“You’re not the only young person who has been in this situation,” Christie tells Alondra once we’re settled in her office. “It happens, unfortunately, more than you think. So don’t feel embarrassed.”
Christie introduces two interns, Marla and Terrence, who appear to be in their early 20s. They’ve aged out of the foster-care system, Christie says, so they’re intimately familiar with what it means to face a housing crisis. They pull up chairs and listen to Christie describe the available resources.
The Emerald Development and Economic Network Inc., or EDEN, offers one-time emergency assistance that would pay a security deposit on an apartment for a young person who has a job and shows they can afford the rent. EDEN also has a stability specialist, who helps scout out decent, affordable apartments and landlords who will rent to an 18-year-old without a co-signer.
Or Alondra can go through the intake process at the Bishop Cosgrove Center on Superior Avenue and ask to be placed at North Point, a shelter that sets aside some beds for youth. Christie says the shelter near downtown was once a hotel, so the accommodations are nicer than at other shelters, and most people report feeling comfortable and safe there. Also, officially registering as “homeless” would unlock access to more resources and longer term rent assistance.
“I’m not telling you to go to a shelter right now,” Christie clarifies. “I just want to make sure that if you find yourself in the situation, you don’t feel totally helpless.”
Marla suggests Alondra apply for public housing through CMHA, just to get the process underway, given that it could take up to three months to get placed.
Actually, it will take up to two years, Christie corrects Marla. CMHA offers a fast track only for youth aging out of foster care or those who are living in a shelter and thereby are considered homeless. The federal government is very persnickety about its definition of homelessness, Christie says. Couch-surfing is considered ‘unstable housing.’ But it doesn’t unlock the resources that are available to the homeless.
Terrence chimes in with a question for Christie.
“So in that case, do we push people to go to the shelter, just so they can get the benefits, even if they have somewhere else they could go?” he asks.
The answer is no. Staying with friends or family is always better than a shelter, Christie says. However, A Place 4 Me is advocating for the creation of a youth drop-in center, where young adults can go for food, rest and resources when they’re experiencing any kind of housing instability. Cleveland is the only major city in Ohio without such a center, Christie says.
“So in Alondra’s situation, where everything is uncertain, what’s her best plan of action?” I ask, hoping for a roadmap. “What should she be lining up for the next six months or so?
Christie advises Alondra to start working and bank her money while she’s still living peacefully under her mother’s roof. When the time is right, Christie says, she will connect Alondra with the social worker who can help her find a place of her own. If crisis strikes again in the meantime and Alondra needs a bed for the night, she should contact Christie, and her team will walk her through the shelter-intake process.
The answer feels dissatisfying – like there should be more out there. More choices. More support.
As if detecting that frustration, Terrence turns to Alondra and shares with her a personal story, one that speaks to their shared survivalist instinct.
“Around the time that I was 18,” Terrence says, “I was unstably housed, too. I was going back and forth with my foster mother. She would get on my case when I’d come home at 11, and we would get into it. Then, I had a conversation with my foster dad, and he was like, ‘Just stand down.’
Then, he poses a question to Alondra: “In all honesty, do you sometimes snap back when your mother says certain things to you?”
Alondra starts to answer, “Yeah, because …”
“So don’t!” Terrence nearly shouts, interrupting her. “For the next upcoming months. Trust me, I’ve been there before. Whatever it is, you’ve just got to let her win. If it’s a matter of having a roof over your head or being on the street, let her win.”
TOMORROW: Alondra brings it all back to the Table.
To volunteer for Open Table at MetroHealth or to learn more about the program, click here. You do NOT need to be a MetroHealth employee to volunteer. They are looking for mentors of all ages, genders and backgrounds.
A Greater Cleveland is a project of cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer, aiming to chronicle the lives of families living in Cleveland’s poorest neighborhoods. See the entirety of our project by clicking here. A Greater Cleveland is a call to action to the community to help identify and remove the barriers to success faced by Cleveland children in poverty. Because of the sensitive family matters discussed in this series, we have provided the people we write about anonymity and are using pseudonyms to identify them.