Earlier this year, Cleveland Mediation Center began collaborating with Mental Health Services and Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry to institute a diversion program at both the men's homeless shelter at 2100 Lakeside and at the Community Women's Shelter in Cleveland.  CMC's role in this project is to use conflict resolution and mediation to find suitable housing for clients so they don't have to enter the shelter.

 

This new program dovetails with what CMC has heard from our clients in the past.  In the mid-1990's, CMC Executive Director Dan Joyce facilitated a dialogue with homeless men.  These men told Dan that if they have a room, a bed, and a door that locks then they are no longer homeless.  They said they would be better able to make changes in their life if they were out of the shelters, off the streets, and into stable, basic housing.  This runs against most programs which require mental health, substance abuse and job training services before people qualify for housing.
 
Through this program, CMC receives referrals of clients entering the shelter and meets with the client to talk about resources needed to obtain stable housing.  This will include conversations about the most recent housing arrangement, the potential for housing arrangements with family and friends, and/or housing with a new landlord.  The housing specialist will help the client determine the viability of each option along with resources that might be needed such as food and transportation .  
 
As needed, mediations will be scheduled between the client's family or friends, the most recent landlord, or a new landlord.  The mediation provides the opportunity for all parties to set out the plan for the housing arrangement.  Particularly with the mediations with friends and family, this will include discussions of length of stay and plans for new housing in the future.
 
Some individuals need rental assistance to pay back rent or a security deposit for a new apartment.  The housing specialist will determine whether the client is eligible for assistance and will pay particular attention to ensure that the funds will be used in a way that the client stays in housing.  With new housing, the housing specialist will help the client identify potential landlords willing to work with them and will help negotiate move-in arrangements.

One instance in which the program assisted an individual involved a client who lived with his brother and family.  The brother had been laid off from the steel mills, and the family had run out of food.  The client checked into the shelter so he would have food to eat, which was necessary so that he could take his schizophrenia medication. CMC purchased a fifty-dollar gift certificate for the client so that he could purchase food and return to his family. 

CMC staff is also facilitating a family meeting with a young resident who has been incarcerated since he was 14, was released from the juvenile justice system on his 21st birthday, and now lives in the shelter.   The meeting is to engage him and his family in a process where they become key support persons as he begins to move out on his own.  

 

These are two examples of how CMC continues to apply conflict resolution to address the very real problems of our community.

Basic Mediation Training