CLEVELAND — Some Cleveland business owners shared their growing concerns about an expanding homeless encampment along E. 19th Street near the intersection of Payne Avenue.
Ronnie Stepka, who purchased a building next to the homeless encampment four years ago and turned it into an apartment building for CSU students, told News 5 he said he believes the growing number of homeless is creating a potential safety issue and are hurting his business. Stepka is urging the City of Cleveland and local agencies to provide more direct assistance to the homeless to get them back into more permanent housing.
“I’m a Christian man, and I believe in doing the right thing all the time, but nobody wants to live next to drug deals going down, prostitution going down and living in the condition that they are," Stepka said. "You get to the point here where you see what we see, and nothing is changing; they’re just kicking the can down the road, and it’s going to progressively get worse.”
Stepka, a retired Cleveland firefighter, told News 5 the growing encampment has left his apartment building only 25% occupied, causing him to work two part-time jobs to keep the building financially viable.
A homeless woman living at the encampment, who calls herself Shay Shay, told News 5 she'd been forced to live in a tent after she lost employment and the lease on her apartment wasn't renewed when she raised questions about living conditions to her former landlord.
Shay Shay told News 5 the bigger problem is there isn't enough available shelter space and easily accessible, affordable housing in Cleveland.
“When my lease became up, they pushed to get me out, so this is what the situation is, there are no rooms in the shelters right now," Shay Shay said. “You have nowhere to live but in the open air out in the streets.”
Chris Knestrick, executive director of the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless, said he agrees additional affordable housing and shelter space is needed and said police intervention at the homeless encampment is not a solution.
“But the reality is that affordable housing is hard to access in our community; there’s not enough of it," Knestrick said.“This isn’t a problem that can be solved by police; this isn’t a criminal problem. It’s a problem of housing; it’s a problem of behavior health issues. It’s many of these problems. Just simply criminalizing someone for sleeping outside is never the solution.”
David Margolius, the Cleveland director of public health, told News 5 the city has responded by providing garbage cans at the homeless encampment site but said permanent bathroom facilities will take a few more months. Margolius said the city will continue to work with Stepka and other affected business owners in its effort to find a solution.
“We’re hoping that by the end of the summer that we get those bathroom facilities up and running, and it has taken longer than we would hope," Margolius said.
Margolius explained Cleveland has already started major capital improvements, creating additional affordable housing and shelter space.
"We've made a $35 million investment through community development that was through ARPA funds to help with affordable housing gaps, and some of that was enhanced non-congregate housing," Margolius said. “It takes a while to build something, and so we’re going to see a very different city in the next two to five years.”
News 5 is committed to following through on this developing story.
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