CLPHA Press Room

From Cleveland.com:

Charter communications is teaming up with the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority partner to bring high-speed internet to residents living in 19 of its properties in the effort to stop the digital divide.

On Feb. 22., Charter communications announced the partnership with CMHA, where thousands of residents will be provided with high-speed broadband internet to bridge the gap.

Spectrum will be providing residential units with internet starting speeds of 50 Mbps with in-home WiFi, with no data caps or modem fees. The cost has not yet been determined, but CMHA spokeswoman Cortney Crockett said it would be low.

Read Cleveland.com's article "CMHA partners with Charter Communications to provide Spectrum Internet to residents in 19 properties."

From The Columbus Dispatch:

The Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority plans to issue an additional 1,000 housing vouchers over the next year, while 24,000 remain on its wait list for federally subsidized housing.

The housing authority has already issued 12,500 housing vouchers, but the need is much more, as the waiting list shows and housing advocates push for more affordable housing in central Ohio.

"That doesn’t capture the need for affordable housing," CMHA President and CEO Charles Hillman said.

Carlie Boos, executive director of the Affordable Housing Alliance of Central Ohio, said 1,000 more vouchers can be transformational for those families who might not have any housing without them.

"Housing is a puzzle. This is one piece. A corner piece. But still one piece," Boos said.

Read The Columbus Dispatch's article "Amid housing crunch, Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority to increase vouchers by 1,000." 

From the El Paso Herald-Post:

The Housing Authority of the City of El Paso (HACEP), in collaboration with University Medical Center (UMC), Amistad, El Paso County Coliseum, El Paso County and County Judge Ricardo Samaniego, distributed vaccines to more than 800 elderly residents on Friday, February 26.’

“We want to thank all of our partners, University Medical Center, County Judge Ricardo Samaniego, Amistad and El Paso County Coliseum, as well as all of the HACEP staff who have been working tirelessly to make sure this mission is accomplished,” said HACEP CEO Gerald Cichon.

“Completing both rounds of vaccination to our vulnerable population is lifesaving.”

HACEP completed the first round of vaccinations for its elderly residents earlier this month in collaboration with Amistad, which scheduled multiple pickups for over 800 residents to be transported from 12 HACEP locations to the El Paso County Coliseum and returned safely home.

Read the El Paso Herald-Post's article "HACEP completes second round of COVID-19 vaccinations to more than 800 of its residents." 

From the San Diego Community News Group:

Mayor Todd Gloria on Feb. 25 announced new partnerships between the City of San Diego and three nonprofit organizations to bolster programs helping young people who are experiencing or at risk of homelessness.

The new shelter and outreach opportunities will specifically target transition-age youth – people between the ages of 18 and 24 who are experiencing homelessness or transitioning from state custody or foster care. That group makes up 10 percent of San Diego’s unsheltered homeless population, according to the San Diego Regional Task Force on the Homeless’ 2020 Point-in-Time Count.

“Living on the streets at any age can have traumatizing effects on a person’s health and mental well-being, so it’s important that we do everything we can to intervene and help these young people before they experience some of the long-term issues associated with homelessness,” Gloria said. “Targeting our investments toward programs and services focused on prevention will help us end chronic homelessness.”

Using Homeless Emergency Aid Program (HEAP) funds granted by the State of California and previously allocated by the City to serve this population, the San Diego Housing Commission has executed contracts to provide the following services in the city:

• Urban Street Angels – Addition of 19 beds for transition-age youth at the Urban Street Angels Center in Downtown and support of a hotel voucher program for certain cases ($305,400)
• San Diego Youth Services – Addition of four beds to the existing eight-bed Youth Emergency Shelter program for minors; expansion of the five “SafeTAY Network” beds to now operate five nights per week versus the previously available two-night stay option; and support of a hotel voucher program for certain cases ($172,740)
• San Diego LGBT Community Center – Funding for a homeless outreach worker to prioritize LGBTQ transition-age youth but will also serve all transition-age youth ($65,000)

Read the San Diego Community News Group's article, "Mayor announces programs to serve youth experiencing homelessness," featuring the San Diego Housing Commission.

From the Chicago Sun Times:

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the need for government officials to make it easier especially for older people to access vaccine appointments, the online competition being unworkable for many of them. That’s before you even get to mobility issues.

One recommendation I passed along from the Jane Addams Senior Caucus was that we start taking the vaccine directly to senior public housing residents instead of making them find their own.

What I didn’t realize is that the Cook County Housing Authority already started doing that in the senior public housing buildings it operates in the suburbs.

And within a few days of my story, the city began offering the same service at Chicago Housing Authority senior buildings, nothing to do with me because we know government doesn’t respond that quickly.

I still think the vaccine rollout has been messy at best, but I wanted to make sure you know there are encouraging signs like this where our government officials are taking a sensible approach and getting something accomplished.

Read  the Chicago Sun Times' op-ed "Bringing the COVID-19 vaccine directly to public housing senior residents is a great idea," featuring the Chicago Housing Authority and  the Housing Authority of Cook County.