Northland hotel site now home for many
Isaiah Project provides long-term housing help
Tucked away at the end of Mediterranean Avenue between Busch Boulevard and Interstate 71 in Northland, the Isaiah Project can be easy to miss.
The Columbus apartment building sits next to a Super 8 motel and is located across the street from the dwindling Continent mixed-use complex. Adding to its invisibility, the signage on the building has been stripped, offering no clues as to who occupies the space.
On a mid-december morning, however, the building was full of life.
A small Christmas tree had been set up in the lobby, along with some holiday decorations on the mantel above the fireplace. Several residents hung out in the area socializing or going through the lobby to climb the stairs to their units.
One of those residents was Harry Atkins, who went up to his suite on the second floor. The 61-year-old, who has
been living at the Isaiah Project since May, had previously been staying in a homeless shelter.
He sat down on his bed as the sunlight streaming through the sole window brightened up the room.
“Things are going great,” he said. “There are no complaints from me. I love the place.”
Formerly a Country Inn & Suites hotel, the nonprofit Community Shelter Board partnered with the YMCA of Central Ohio and the Dayton-based social services organization Homefull to convert the 70-unit hotel into permanent supportive housing in 2019, though housing has been offered at the site since 2017. All 70 people who live at the Isaiah Project previously experienced long-term homelessness.
Michelle Heritage, executive director of the Community Shelter Board, said the organization decided to partner with Homefull due to its previous experience with supportive housing in Dayton, a model that combines affordable housing assistance with case management and supportive services. She said there are not many nonprofit groups in the state that are familiar with this particular type of work.
“Our goal is for people to stay housed,” Heritage said. “Because if you think about it, these are apartments only for people who are homeless the longest and have disabilities. And so, if they become homeless again, they’re just going to end up either on the streets or in our shelters again. And so it takes an experienced not-for-profit that knows how to do that work.”
Theresa Nolan, chief operating officer for Homefull, said the organization’s role in the Isaiah Project is handling property management, such as signing leases, collecting rent and managing maintenance. In addition to running the housing project, Homefull also manages 90 units at scattered sites across Columbus, where regular apartment complexes rent to tenants, but the nonprofit offers subsidies, she said.
At the Isaiah Project, if tenants have an income, they allocate 30% to rent, said Emily Hawes, the director of Homefull’s operations in Columbus. If the tenant has no income due to unemployment or lack of benefits, they receive a full subsidy.
“A lot of them will budget with us, and we can come up with some payment plans if they fall behind,” Hawes said. “So as long as they follow their lease, make sure their rent’s paid if they do have one, it’s permanent. They’re able to live here as long as they would like.”
Alicia Ward, president of the Northland Community Council, said the organization has had several meetings with the Community Shelter Board to help them with their projects of transitioning people out of homelessness.
“They’ve been mindful of the impact that any of this would have on Northland and are working towards being good neighbors with us up here as far as their project goes,” Ward said.
The coronavirus pandemic has only exacerbated the issues of homelessness and affordable housing.
According to a 2020 Annual Homeless Assessment Report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), homelessness increased nationwide for the fourth consecutive year. On a single night last year, roughly 580,000 people were experiencing
homelessness in the United States.
And Columbus ranked fifth among cities to have the most eviction filings since the beginning of the pandemic, according a United Way study from earlier this year. Heritage told The Dispatch in April that the Columbus area lost about 20,000 units in recent years for the poorest residents because rents went up to levels they can’t afford.
The Community Shelter Board decides which people are placed at the Isaiah Project in apartments that are specifically for single adults through a coordinated entry system, which contains reports and assessments from shelters, Hawes said.
People who have been homeless for at least a year and those who are vulnerable due to sickness, disabilities or substance abuse are top priorities, Heritage said.
“For example, you have two people and one is in kidney failure and has cancer and one is healthy,” she said. “We’re going to put that person who’s sicker . ... And we know if they remain homeless,
it’s very dangerous for them.“
The first lease signing Hawes did when the Isaiah Project opened was for a veteran who had never had his own place.
“When he moved in here, he had been unsheltered on the street for 12 years,” she said. “He was living behind a dumpster at Broad and High. So it was perfect timing to have that happen on our very first day here. We were already feeling the positive impact that we can bring to Columbus.”
While people stay at the apartment building, they can choose to seek job training or other assistance through case managers offered by the YMCA, Nolan said. Such assistance can include access to food, clothing and medical care.
Nolan and Hawes have converted the hotel’s former fitness center into a food pantry to make it easier for tenants who do not have transportation to drive to a grocery store. Earlier this month, Homefull brought its mobile grocery truck to the building and Hawes said every tenant received a gift card and could
“shop” in the parking lot.
Nolan said tenants experience an initial appreciation when they first move in, which then evolves into a sense of ownership of their new home.
“For a lot of people, especially people who have been homeless a very long time, there’s a little bit of a trauma reaction,” Nolan said. “The reason somebody gets to homelessness, there was probably something traumatic that led to that. So there’s a lot of unpacking that happens when you finally become housed.
“But they eventually have that feeling of like, ‘Pride in my home.’”
The project hasn’t been hiccup-free — police have been called to the building more than 150 times since Jan. 1 for issues ranging from petty theft to noise complaints, according to police spokesman Sgt. James Fuqua. But Nolan said these type of incidents have declined in the past two years.
“We feel like in the two years we’ve been there, we’ve seen a lot more stability,” she said. “We’ve been able to work with people; if they’re not appropriate for the site, to move them elsewhere. And in our partnership with the case management services on site, we’ve worked together to really address any potential issues that might come up.”
Before Atkins settled into his apartment at the Isaiah Project, he stayed at the Faith Mission homeless shelter Downtown for 15 months. Originally from Florida, he moved to Ohio in 2014 with the promise of a job and house, but his plans fell through. Atkins then went to live with his sister who lives in Columbus, he said.
Atkins said he usually spends the day chatting with Nolan and Hawes and going to the stores along Dublin-granville Road. He does not work, as he is waiting for his Social Security payments to kick in.
Hawes said Atkins is a great neighbor to others in the building.
“He’s always the one down in the lobby offering to help anyone, offering to help staff set things up,” she said. “We were just out there trying to hook up a phone at the front desk and he was helping us.”
Atkins joked that he plans to stay at the Isaiah Project until Homefull throws him out. He considers the people there his family.
“This is a nice place. I love it,” Atkins said.
Meanwhile, Wilbert Clark, 59, has been living in his apartment for almost two years. He was previously at Maryhaven on the South Side, which provides shelter for publicly inebriated homeless men and women. Before that, Clark would jump from shelter to shelter across Columbus, sometimes living in the street.
He moved from New York City to Columbus 10 years ago to be closer to his uncle and cousin. However, Clark no longer has contact with his family.
Since he has lived at the Isaiah Project, Clark said he has completed a 35day rehab program twice. He is now sober and is able to remain in the building through disability benefits.
“This is the best place that’s helped me out,” Clark said. “I have a roof over my head. I can eat. I can sleep peacefully.”
This story is part of the Dispatch’s Mobile Newsroom initiative, which is currently focused on Driving Park and surrounding neighborhoods. It previously was centered on the Northland area. Visit our reporters at the Driving Park branch library. mwalker@dispatch.com @micah_walker701