Mark Foertch of Ingersoll Drive in West Akron figures the public looks down on him for fighting the construction of a 68-unit, four-story apartment building for the homeless and disabled.
When he began protesting the $11.3 million Stoney Pointe Commons, a government subsidized housing complex, he spoke before Akron City Council of the damage that would be done to his property values should hundreds of chronically homeless, many with mental illness, be lumped together under one roof.
“When we first came in front of council, we had a different agenda. And everybody knows that,” Foertch said Monday after attending nearly two months of City Council meetings.
Since the project became public knowledge in mid-October, the plumber has spent his evenings reading court decisions and federal law, meticulously studying the ways government houses and helps the chronically homeless and mentally disabled, many of whom are his fellow veterans. His current reading list includes three lawsuits, a U.S. Supreme Court ruling and about 60 articles forwarded to him by lawyers like Lynn Clark, a private attorney who tries housing discrimination lawsuits, or Tami Gaugler of Tri-County Independent Living Center Inc., a disability rights advocacy group.
“We’ve changed our tune,” Foertch said. “And we’ve done a lot of research.”
On a wooded four-acre lot off Vernon Odom Boulevard and not far from Foertch’s home, the proposed facility is modeled after the Commons at Madaline Park in northeast Akron. The city, which met with Foertch and other upset residents immediately following this week’s council meeting, already has awarded Stoney Pointe $250,000 in federal grant funding to build.
The project draws on public-private partnerships and federal funding, making it ripe for taxpayer scrutiny and, as council has come to acknowledge, a window through which to view the city’s homeless situation. Council President Marilyn Keith has tasked housing committee Chairwoman Tara Mosley-Samples to gather information and guide a discussion on the best housing practices, whether large-scale like Stoney Pointe or scattered throughout the city in single- or multi-family dwellings.
With Todd Tober, the developer of Stoney Pointe, announcing expansion plans before breaking ground in March, the city and its leaders figure now is as good a time as any to trace America’s deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill. Having shuttered hospital asylums, thousands of disabled found refuge in the streets, jails or public housing.
“The whole idea is that we are going to be coming together to discuss how we house the homeless and making sure that we are not over-populating residential neighborhoods and communities with these types of developments,” said Councilwoman Margo Sommerville, whose city ward would receive Stoney Pointe.
Housing the homeless
In January, Summit County agencies that house and care for the homeless counted 592 clients they served and another 87 out on the streets, in the woods, under bridges and hunkered down in parks.
All told, homelessness in the county is down 21 percent from a peak of 862 in 2013. That’s according to annual head counts performed and reported by the Continuum of Care, a collaboration of Summit County agencies that came together more than 20 years ago as the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development pushed collaboration to lower costs and streamline services.
By shifting the way federal grants are awarded, HUD has accelerated Summit County’s goal to eliminate homelessness. And a major reason for the decline is the Commons at Madaline Park, a 120-unit apartment complex that opened in 2014, paving the way for similar projects.
In two winged buildings atop a hill on a dead-end street call Brownstone Avenue, Madaline Park provides space for the homeless, chronically homeless (on the streets for a year or more), veterans and the mentally ill.
Residents are placed by Akron Metropolitan Housing Authority and cared for by Community Support Solutions (CSS), a member of the Continuum of Care. CSS has a goal of being a one-stop for homeless, a portal through which clients can access a comprehensive menu of services and housing in short-term emergency shelters, homes for battered women, and family or single-living dwellings for adults and children.
As homelessness fell 21 percent, CSS’ list of clients grew 21 percent, from 2,771 in 2013 to 3,342 in 2015. Now, the agency looks west to Stoney Pointe, which would create more options and beds in a city where poverty is up and wages are down.
Increase in incidents
In 2013 before the Madaline Park complex opened, Akron police reported six incidents on Brownstone Avenue, a quarter-mile street that dead-ends at Madaline Park. So far this year, there have been 32 incidents, including 21 at the facility.
Longtime residents say most troublemakers are weeded out in their first month by zero-tolerance policies for drug use or public intoxication. Visitors are screened and buzzed in at the front door. Those who are a threat to the safety or recovery of the addicts and disabled inside are barred.
At least three times in November, police visited Madaline Park.
On Nov. 27, they found a resident outside in a parked car seated beside a Youngstown woman. In his pocket, police found meth. On Nov. 12, police broke up an isolated fight when residents argued over burnt toast. That fight escalated into a water-bottle throwing altercation and an eyeglass snatching, face-scratching scuffle a week later.
In early October, an officer received a suicide call at Madaline Park. “I found [him] in the elevator covered in blood,” the officer wrote in his report. “[He] stated he was hearing voices.”
Robert Bensinger takes issue with how some advocates of the mentally ill are using crime statistics at Madaline Park to condemn Stoney Pointe.
Bensinger lives on Brownstone Avenue. And he is mentally ill.
Vulnerable population
Bensinger, 54, grew up in Copley Township.
Wanting to see the world, he studied in England in the late 1990s. As a young adult, he commanded his own destiny, working behind the scenes on various political campaigns, he said.
Then he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in his 30s. “It ruined my life,” he said. “Since I’ve been disabled. I’ve had trouble just functioning.”
No job. Late bills. A separation from the mother of his 7-year-old son.
At Madaline Park, his rent is capped at 30 percent of his income, which is $730 a month. About 76 percent of CSS clients earn less than $1,000 a month.
Bensinger, a resident since 2014, is managing his illness with medication. He takes advantage of on-site caseworkers, doctors, nurses, support groups and other resources. For the first time, he’s sending money to support his child, though the state doesn’t require it.
Before Madaline Park, he was homeless. Before that, he lived in a rundown apartment with three other individuals.
“I’m not an alcoholic. I’m really not a criminal,” Bensinger said. “They do a five-year [criminal] check for everyone here. They’re not letting terrible people in here. And it really gives them a chance to integrate and live nicely. That’s the best way to put it. Before, it was always hand to mouth. It was always a struggle for survival.
“Most of the problems we have in here is that suddenly the struggle to survive is over.”
Some residents, however, struggle living around others who share the same problems and addictions.
That’s why the community needs different options for the homeless, said Keith Stahl, CSS director of residential services. Those options include single-family homes scattered throughout the city, shelters for battered women and permanent housing in apartment-style buildings that go up in residential neighborhoods were land is undeveloped, cheap and the zoning is right.
Doug Livingston can be reached at 330-996-3792 or dlivingston@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow on Twitter: @ABJDoug .