With little warning, Cleveland Catholic Diocese more than doubles rent for low-income residents

By Walter Einenkel
Daily Kos
May 11, 2016

http://goo.gl/n8nZdM

Bishop Richard Lennon is known for going in and fixing Catholic diocese problems. He began in Massachusetts and was promoted to Apostolic Administrator after Cardinal Bernard Francis Law resigned his position as Archbishop of Boston. This meant that Bishop Lennon oversaw a lot of the fallout surrounding sexual abuse and coverups in the Catholic Church. Many people believe Bishop Richard Lennon is a guilty party to the behind-the-scenes machinations of the Massachusetts Catholic Diocese. In 2006 Pope Benedict the scary XVI appointed Lennon to head Cleveland’s Diocese. He’s been closing, and consolidating the Catholic Church’s presence in Cleveland sicne his arrival. But the other day, residents in a low-income area of Cleveland got some terrible news connected with the Catholic Diocese.

About two weeks ago, families who live in at least nine homes on the street got hand-delivered letters that started this way: "This is to advise you that the Most Rev. Richard G. Lennon, Bishop of the Diocese of Cleveland, owns the property in which you reside."

The letter went on to explain that due to rising expenses, each of their rents would go up by about $400 in the next two months. (Read the letter here or below.)

That's between an 80 and 180 percent increase, depending on what the tenants pay currently for the apartments or single-family homes.

Obviously, most of the residents can’t pay that kind of increase. Most people, whatever their financial station in life cannot fit that kind of monthly increase into their budgets. More unfortunate than the Catholic Church’s clear disregard for social inequality, is the fact that under Ohio law, these renters are out of luck. Executive Director of the Cleveland Tenants Organization, Angela Shuckhosee:

"Unfortunately, there's nothing to stop that," she said. "But it is unconscionable."

"I would expect this from..some of the other landlords I've seen," she said. "But I would not expect this from an entity that is supposed to be mission-based."

The good news is that, media attention might be putting some pause into the Cleveland Diocese plans.

After being contacted by The Plain Dealer on Monday, the Cleveland Catholic Diocese said the rent hikes were now on hold.

"It is our understanding that after considering the responses received from the community, the pastor of St. Rocco parish will have any home rental increases held in abeyance," according to an email from Robert Tayek, a spokesman for the Diocese. "This will allow for more time and a full assessment of what would be appropriate and fair rental rates for the properties."

The fact of the matter is, people know rents go up, but getting a 30 days heads up, without any warning, after years of no news, is outright un...Christian. Also, no one has any idea right now, why this is happening. Money is the most obvious reason but the details of what the Catholic Church plans to do with the properties once people start being pushed out is a mystery. And just so you know, these low income rentals are maintained by the church as well as you might imagine. Here’s a renter, talking about her landlord.

When she moved into a duplex the Diocese got last year from the land bank, formally known as the Cuyahoga County Land Reutilization Corp., she paid rent starting in January and for months before she felt the home was safe to sleep in because of a busted door that still had the Realtor's lock on it.

The door wasn't fixed until April, the same week she got the letter about the rent increase.

Matis said she was told the home had been rehabbed and then vandalized.

Even now, there's not a working outlet in the kitchen to plug a refrigerator into, so she had to run an extension cord from another room. She's gotten shocked when trying to plug things into the outlets.

She and her upstairs neighbor Jessica Montoya can't use the water at the same time. No toilet flushing or dish washing, or the shower slows to a trickle.