A Cuyahoga County judge on Monday ruled that a drop-in center for young people in Cleveland who are homeless cannot move forward on Franklin Avenue in Ohio City.
Judge Brian Mooney reversed a February 2023 decision by the Cleveland Board of Zoning Appeals that had granted a variance from city code, which originally allowed the nonprofit Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry to move forward with upgrading its Franklin Avenue office. The drop-in center was slated to be a place for people age 16 to 24 to rest, shower, eat and receive support services to move them out of homelessness.
Neighbors had filed an appeal of the board's decision in March 2023, halting those plans, arguing the center's location in a residential neighborhood would create trash, noise and crime. While Mooney did not address those allegations in his ruling, he said the zoning board had erred in granting the variance all the same, arguing the nonprofit had not adequately proven it would experience "hardship" by locating the center elsewhere.
"(LMM) can still provide the charitable resources that they are now providing at the property and place a Youth Drop-in Center in a different neighborhood zoned for such activity," Mooney ruled.
Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry did not respond to a request for comment sent Tuesday morning. It had said in 2023 that on average, 550 young adults seek emergency housing support in Cuyahoga County each year; the planning process had involved young adults who had experienced homelessness, who said Ohio City would be a good place for the center. The drop-in center would have been the first of its kind in Cleveland, while Ohio’s other major urban centers have at least one youth drop-in center.
Ron O'Leary, one of the neighbors who had filed the appeal and a former Cleveland Housing Court judge, declined to comment Monday evening. The drop-in center has been the source of heated debate for more than two years. O'Leary and the neighbors had argued in filings that the neighborhood is already suffering from crime and nuisances related to the Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry property, which would get worse if more services were being provided there.
“People urinate and defecate on the property,” the response reads. “Three people attempted a carjacking at gunpoint in front of O’Leary’s house where one of the carjackers hid behind the brick wall in front of the property. A man who slept behind the front wall on-and-off for years has repeatedly screamed threats and profanities at O’Leary, his family, and other neighbors. This included yelling profanities during the Cleveland Marathon and exposing himself to multiple people mid-afternoon on a weekend in early June 2024.”
The nonprofit in its response to O’Leary’s filing noted none of the individuals allegedly involved in those activities are Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry clients, nor has it received any notices or citations from the city of Cleveland regarding any code violations.
“The reality is that O’Leary purchased a property in an urban environment that is located steps away from St. Herman House men’s homeless shelter (4410 Franklin Blvd.) and the food pantry provided at St. Paul’s Community Church (4427 Franklin Blvd.),” the filing reads. “The activities of those entities and the conduct of their clients are irrelevant to LMM’s request for a modification of the stay in this matter."
Benjamin Ockner, one of the lawyers who represented Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry during the initial board of zoning appeals hearing, had previously said he thinks stereotypes of people experiencing homelessness are causing some of the concerns about safety.
"This is a youth drop-in center, most of whom are racial minorities and most of whom, or many of whom, are LGBTQ," Ockner said. "There's an assumption that they're going to commit crime, that they're going to create trash, that they're going to make noise. None of that is supported by any evidence."
