Families demand answers about potential housing loss with MCBDD

MEDINA — Potential displacement of loved ones brought some family members to tears Monday during a special meeting of the Medina County Board of Developmental Disabilities. Attendees were invited to speak virtually about the impact of an ongoing contract dispute between MCBDD and Medina Creative Housing that could lead to the nonprofit selling all its single-family home units in the area. "We're not talking about houses, or buildings or Medina Creative Housing," Sharon Noland said. "We're talking about human beings and my son is one of those human beings. My son has been in a Medina Creative Housing house for 11 years now." "You want to change the game's rules. Now, our loved ones are going to lose the home they've relied on for years and years. That was supposed to be their forever home." Medina Creative Housing says the lack of a new agreement with MCBDD would force the sale of 10 houses containing 14 home units with some being duplexes. Those residences currently house 18 people with two receiving notices to vacate in January. However, an ensuing deal between Medina Creative Housing and MCBDD extended previous contract negotiations for six months, which has ensured that no relocations will take place for the time being. The two parties have been unable to agree to terms on a new three-year contract after one-year extensions had been tacked onto a previous deal since 2018. This term ended Dec. 31. Betty Olah, the mother of another Medina Creative Housing resident, asked officials why such drastic changes to funding criteria have been made. "We met with the board of Medina Creative Housing and they claim they've asked for funding for more housing and been turned down," Olah said. "Because of that, they've had to do a lot of outside funding that caused them to take on mortgages. That hurts them in terms of being able to cover costs." From 2018-20, Medina Creative Housing received roughly $170,000 a year from MCBDD to help offset annual single-family home operation costs of $600,000. Those payments from MCBDD were identical to what had been received under a three-year contract running from 2015-17. Under MCBDD's current contract offer to Medina Creative Housing, payments would be formulated by adding 20 percent to fair market rental rates established by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development rather than having a set yearly amount. Medina Creative Housing contends that 2021 payments would only amount to roughly $48,000 using this method. However, MCBDD projections come out to just over $112,000 — a significant funding decrease from previous years. Residents living in affected homes pay 30 percent of their income toward rent with any remainder being subsidized. Medina Creative Housing Executive Director Dianne DePasquale-Hagerty has said the individual financial situations of residents will cause subsidies on many rent payments to be lower than MCBDD expects. MCBDD Superintendent Stacey Maleckar told Olah on Monday funding for potential new Medina Creative Housing housing in Wadsworth wasn't turned down but that more detailed project plans were requested. "We're waiting for a detailed proposal on that," she said. "We will continue to discuss that. We're certainly open to talking about any proposal. This is all a shift from funding operational deficit to funding individuals. The current contract goes beyond the single-family houses. We're going to move into mediation and those things are coming in with an open look." MCBDD president David Hartman acknowledged officials weren't prepared for January eviction notices and needed to form a "backup plan" for any similar future events. "We need this backup plan," he said. "This will probably be one of the things we talk about at our next board meeting. We need a backup notebook for this type of event or what happens if a provider who takes care of 10 or 12 people calls to say they're out of business. We need a book, a go-to where we go to chapter six and implement a plan." "Right now, we don't have a lot of plans and we're screwing around right now because of that," Hartman added. "Hence, that's why we got this six-month extension to put these plans together. It's not a stall tactic. We just weren't prepared for eviction notices." An earlier meeting Monday between Medina Creative Housing and MCBDD was the first to set up formal mediation. Maleckar and Hartman, citing that mediation process, declined getting into certain negotiation specifics when asked by family members. Those included whether MCBDD has determined that Medina Creative Housing can't justify a $170,000 yearly payment and a claim from MCBDD that Medina Creative Housing hasn't provided detailed expense reports in some recent years. Family members refuted that expense report claim and said the nonprofit believes it's in full compliance with MCBDD requirements. Lisa Hennings, another Medina Creative Housing parent, and other attendees wanted more clear-cut answers. "Just be honest with us," she said. "What do you really want? What's going to happen to my daughter? What do I need to figure out in a couple months? I need to know what the truth is, not this constant bantering of them not giving you what you need. Our family members are in the middle of your battle and I do not appreciate it." "People pass these levies," Hennings added. "They always pass and there's always money. We're fortunate here in Medina County. Why is my daughter going to be affected and end up in the ER again?" MCBDD carried a cash reserve of roughly $25 million into 2021. However, a 2021 budget summary released in October shows combined general and capital fund reserves gradually decreasing this decade and totaling just $1.26 million by 2030. That projection showed the general fund reserve being completely depleted by 2027. Projected MCBDD spending for 2021 showed a deficit of nearly $1 million with $23.92 million in expenses and just over $23 million in revenue. Board vice president Wayne Carroll said Medina County is in a better situation for local tax money than surrounding areas but that expected rising service costs and demand creates a long-term fiscal outlook tighter than it appears. "We're able to get lots of tax money compared to a lot of other counties," he said. "But that doesn't mean we have unlimited funds. We do have limited funds. They may be more than other counties but we still have a budget and we still have to watch our dollars." "We've cut salaries," Carroll added. "People are making less money in our developmental disabilities agency now. Several people who were making lots of money retired and we no longer have to deal with those salaries. We've divested our day services and contracted them for a money savings. We also leverage $9 million a year from the federal government through waiver services." The same October report stated that salaries and benefits make up 55 percent of the MCBDD budget as opposed to 10 years ago when that spending encompassed 86 percent. Over that same period, Medicaid match spending has grown from 12 percent of the budget to 31 percent. Contact reporter Jonathan Delozier at 330-721-4050 or jdelozier@medina-gazette.com.