Ohio’s idiocracy: Imbecilic justifications to kill a solar farm illustrate the poor state of our leadership. Today in Ohio

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Why did Ohio reject a $500 million solar farm? Opponents did not want the panels to mar the agricultural landscape.

We’re talking about the foolishness of denying green energy projects when the state so badly needs more energy on Today in Ohio.

Listen online here.

Editor Chris Quinn hosts our daily half-hour news podcast, with editorial board member Lisa Garvin, impact editor Leila Atassi and content director Laura Johnston.

You’ve been sending Chris lots of thoughts and suggestions on our from-the-newsroom text account, in which he shares what we’re thinking about at cleveland.com. You can sign up here: https://joinsubtext.com/chrisquinn.

You can now join the conversation. Call 833-648-6329 (833-OHTODAY) if you’d like to leave a message we can play on the podcast.

Here‘s what we’re asking about today:

Ohio has officially switched from a democracy to an idiocracy, and you need look no further than Jake Zuckerman’s illuminating story about a failed solar farm proposal to understand why. Using utter nonsense about preserving farmland, opponents killed a $500 million proposal to generate energy from the sun. How could such foolishness happen, and who are the elected imbeciles who killed it?

How expensive might Ohio make things for people who speed recklessly?

Anna Staver wrote one of the best pieces I’ve ever read about the challenges involved in trying to change the rules on property taxes, which have been growing rapidly in recent years. What was the gist of her story?

What is E15 gas and why is Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost pushing for more sales of it?

Last week we discussed the Greater Cleveland partnership annual report, in which the regional chamber of commerce seemed to throw up its hands and say we can’t thrive as a region without more people. Team NEO, the regional economic development agency, issued a report Monday that claimed we are making good economic strides. How?

The people we’ve elected Cuyahoga County executive since we formed a new government a dozen years ago have felt hamstrung by their spending limits. They argue they can be more efficient if they could spend more without seeking council approval. Did the council finally agree to raise the limit?

We keep worrying about bird flu, partly because it keeps jumping from animals to birds. What about pets. Are dogs and cats getting it? Can humans get it from them?

Federal investigators in Northeast Ohio keep seizing cryptocurrency because they keep learning of more scamming victims. Who’s the latest to lose her life’s savings, and how did that happen, exactly?

Homelessness for women in Northeast Ohio is growing. What are some numbers that demonstrate how much?

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Read the automated transcript below. Because it’s a computer-generated transcript, it contains many errors and misspellings.

Chris Quinn (00:00.932)

Ohio is evolving into a state that is just run by morons. Something we’ll be talking about with an amazing story by Jake Zuckerman published yesterday that will have you shaking your head. It’s Today in Ohio, the news podcast discussion from cleveland.com and the Plane Dealer. I’m Chris Quinn here with Leila Tassi, Lisa Garvin and Laura Johnston.

And Laura, for anybody that has wondered whether we have gone from a democracy to an idiocracy, look no further than Jake’s illuminating story about a failed solar farm proposal to understand the answer. Using utter nonsense about preserving farmland, opponents killed a $500 million proposal to generate energy passively from the sun. How could such ridiculous decisions be made?

Who are the elected imbeciles who killed this project?

Laura (00:55.884)

Well, this is hard to believe because it seems like such a good thing. It’s a 500 megawatt solar project that was planned for Logan County by a company called Grange Solar. And it would have generated enough power for tens of thousands of homes while driving up to $5 million in local revenue. And I love how Jake Zuckerman puts this into perspective. All this is happening as, quote, the planet records its hottest years in recorded history. Domestic oil and gas production reaches all time highs.

and the state and nation face a looming energy shortfall driven by AI, electric vehicles, cryptocurrencies, and a manufacturing boom. I mean, we need more energy. We talk about it all the time. But the developers withdrew this project application after the power siting board formally recommended that commissioners reject the application. There was no environmental land use, water use, or other technical shortcomings. But they found the project would, quote, not serve the public interest, convenience,

and necessity required by state law. We’re talking 2,600 acres of solar panels, and it would have created about 1,100 temporary jobs and then about 17-ish agricultural and full-time solar work jobs because they wanted to have sheep grazing on the site to cut costs on mowing the grass, which you’re like, that would have been so nice. But what happens is this is Logan County. There’s five townships here, and this is where

Donald Trump won with more than 75 % of the vote. The commissioners said that it would drive up real estate taxes and that it would deter from the main draw of Indian Lake, which apparently is tourism. I’ve never heard of Indian Lake. They actually hired an environmental attorney to come up with reasons it was a bad idea, including possible impacts to bald eagles. And they said, we believe in the agricultural heritage of this region for future generations. I mean, so much to dissect here.

Chris Quinn (02:26.138)

Yeah.

Laura (02:49.278)

So much ridiculousness.

Chris Quinn (02:50.448)

Yeah. And what it brings me back to when I was a kid, I used to watch Money Python and they had a skit called the Twits where they had to do simple tasks athletically and they could not figure it out. They’re just imbeciles who couldn’t figure out how to do basic tasks in life. That’s what’s going on here. These folks are not using their heads. They’re taking the Donald Trump mantra that drill baby drill and that green energy is bad and killing a project that would have been about as beneficial as it can get.

The alternative here, burn more fossil fuels, pollute our air, heat up the planet. And every one of them wrote and said, this is a terrible thing. We don’t want it. I’ve just never seen anything like it. There is no objective reason to stop this. These are great projects. You had a company willing to do all the work. They were going to make it part agricultural, as you said, and they all came out and said, no, we don’t want this because they’ve just been brainwashed by Fox News.

and the Donald Trump era. I am astounded at how stupid these folks are in killing this project.

Laura (03:55.65)

Yeah, it really just feels like it’s a cultural issue and somehow the conservatives have convinced people that green energy is a bad thing and it would wreck their way of life. I don’t understand it. It’s like a master class in PR.

Chris Quinn (04:07.579)

Yeah.

Chris Quinn (04:13.106)

It is astounding. When you read the story, your jaw is in your lap because there is not one good reason to block this project. There’s a bunch of reasons to do it. And look, we also put this into perspective. In Ohio, local townships like this are allowed to block green energy products, but local government is not allowed to block fossil fuel projects. That’s how backwards this state is. You have a state law that says

Laura (04:31.224)

Hmm?

Chris Quinn (04:41.948)

For green energy, anybody who objects can pretty much kill it, but no one is getting in the way of polluting plants.

Laura (04:50.446)

Correct. mean, this is coming straight from our state government and we know how state government works, right? We know how deep the pockets of energy companies are and how much they give to campaigns and to dark money groups. And you have to want to connect some dots.

Chris Quinn (05:07.164)

Jake Suckerman is one of the best reporters working in Ohio today. Read his story. It’s very strong. It’s on Cleveland.com and your eyes will be rolling into the top of your head at how stupid it is. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. Lisa, how expensive might Ohio make things for people who speed recklessly?

Lisa (05:18.672)

Thank

Lisa (05:26.128)

Yeah, there’s a bipartisan bill now in the General Assembly House Bill 111 and it’s a push to raise penalties and fines for people known as extreme speeders those that are caught going at least 30 miles per hour over the speed limit. Finds for that currently vary by county so this would be just a normal fine so it’s like two hundred and twenty seven dollars in Franklin County but the bill would add a two hundred dollar additional fine on top of that for extreme speeders.

Co-sponsor Kevin Miller, a Republican from New York says, this is for drivers, you know, this is not your average person who’s driving fast. You know, this is for drivers who run a hundred miles an hour or more and create dangers on the road. So under current law for extreme speeders, you get four points on your driver’s license. It takes 12 to get your license suspended for six months. So.

Between just this year, between January 1st and March 9th, the DPS wrote 1,337 tickets for people driving 30 miles per hour over the limit. That’s about 4 % of all tickets. It’s a little bit lower than 2024, but the year is still young. And 29 % of traffic fatalities are speed related, or they were back in 2022.

Chris Quinn (06:38.834)

If you think about this, to put it in perspective, on the turnpike where the speed limit is 70, you’d have to be doing 100. On regular roads where it’s 60 or 65, you’d have to be doing 90 or 95. And in neighborhoods where it’s 25 or 35, you’d have to be doing 55 or 65. This is a horrendously dangerous speed if you’re going that fast.

Lisa (06:45.733)

Mm-hmm.

Lisa (06:56.624)

50.

Chris Quinn (07:03.474)

So I have no problem with landing on people more firmly. If you have a 25 mile an hour zone and somebody’s doing 55 in it, they’re going to hurt somebody. You can’t really navigate a 25 mile an hour road at 55 miles an hour. And as fast as people go in the turnpike, 100 miles an hour is really fast.

Lisa (07:12.516)

Mm-hmm.

Lisa (07:22.34)

Right, right. So you know, and of course in Mayfield in 271, that’s like a drag race there on that section of 271. People are always getting caught going 100 miles an hour there. So yeah, I think it’s great. mean, this, you know, I’d say $200 is a little low. I would charge more.

Chris Quinn (07:39.205)

Alright.

Laura (07:40.863)

This feels like those people that are always zooming in and out of the cars who treat it like it’s a video game and you’re just like come up on you and you’re like and they just switch lanes. Those are the problem.

Chris Quinn (07:51.066)

Yeah. I mean, if you’re going 100 miles an hour on the turnpike, that’s just super, super dangerous. So good. I agree with you, Lisa. I’d make it a thousand. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. Anna Staver wrote, one of the best pieces I’ve ever read about the challenges involved in trying to change the rules on property taxes, which have been growing rapidly in recent years. What’s the gist of her story?

Leila (08:17.306)

Well, the gist is that Ohio lawmakers are under a lot of pressure to do something about rising property taxes, but the challenge is there’s no easy fix. Our property tax system is incredibly complex and trying to lower tax bills for homeowners without accidentally cutting off funding for schools or libraries or parks or other services is like walking a tightrope. So Anna explains how we got here.

Over the past few decades, the state shifted more of the tax burden onto homeowners. Back in 1991, about 48 % of property taxes came from residential and farm properties. Now it’s 66%. That shift happened because the state phased out a bunch of taxes on businesses and also stopped covering part of our property taxes, those old rollback credits we used to get. Meanwhile, lawmakers cut state income and sales taxes.

Local communities had to lean even harder on property taxes to fund schools and services. Now, there are a bunch of proposals on the table now to ease the pain for homeowners, things like expanding property tax credits for people who live in their homes, boosting the homestead exemption for seniors and adjusting how school funding works. But it’s really tricky. If you give taxpayers too many breaks, you risk underfunding schools and local governments that depend on that money.

And nobody wants their kids' schools or libraries to suffer because of a tax tweak. One of the more complicated parts that Anna digs into in the story is something called the 20-mill floor. It’s a rule that guarantees schools a minimum amount of tax revenue, even if property values skyrocket. Some lawmakers think schools are benefiting too much from rising home prices without voter approval, and they want to close what they see as loopholes.

But education advocates warn that this could lead to major funding cuts. Some estimates say schools could lose nearly 300 million in a single year if the changes go through. So Anna also talks about inside millage, which is another automatic tax that increases as property values go up, and the role of tax abatements, which give developers big discounts that can shift more of the tax burden onto homeowners. So the big takeaway here is that it took 15 years of policy changes to get us to this very complicated place.

Leila (10:33.642)

And it’s going to take a bunch of different solutions, not just one big fix to untangle it.

Chris Quinn (10:39.934)

I was bothered by the one element where they said, let’s put it on the counties because I think it would have cost Cuyahoga County, 15 million was the number, which Cuyahoga County doesn’t have that. That’s just wrong to put more onus on the county. I do think there’s an easy solution. This isn’t part of the story, but it would overnight change everything for everybody is to stop exempting nonprofit property.

If the Cleveland Clinic and and all the churches had to pay property taxes, all of our taxes would go down. We are subsidizing all of them. I’m subsidizing the Cleveland Clinic and with my taxes. Is that really the right thing to do?

Leila (11:22.786)

That idea was floated publicly at one point, right? Wasn’t it Chris Ronane who put that out there?

Chris Quinn (11:28.368)

Yeah, yeah. Well, but I he was just going for the hospitals. But I my feeling is if everybody has to pay their share, seniors, unlimited incomes and people in poverty, why shouldn’t everybody pay? Why do the nonprofits get that break? And it’s a subsidy. We’re subsidizing all the nonprofits, every one of them. You and I by paying higher taxes. If you took every piece of property and said everybody must pay their share.

Leila (11:41.454)

Huh?

Chris Quinn (11:56.88)

our taxes would all be far lower. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. What is E-15 gas and why is Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost pushing for more sales of it, Laura?

Laura (12:10.382)

So E15 is also known as unleaded 88 and it contains 15 % ethanol and 85 % gasoline. That’s more than the 10 % of ethanol that’s found in most traditional blends that you put in your car. And Dave Yost wants to be able to get it all year round. He’s saying it’s good for our state’s economy. It’s a key step toward energy independence for our country. mean, Dave Yost, do you want to do other green things for this state?

So cars manufactured after 2001 can fill up with this E15, but the Clean Air Act prohibits the sales during the summer without a waiver from the US EPA. Ohio is one of eight states with a waiver. We rank seventh in the nation for ethanol production. We have seven biorefineries and about 40 % of our corn that the farmers here grow gets converted into fuel. So he wants to be able to fill up all year round, put it in more places.

Right now, the Ohio Corn and Wheat Association, this is just 215 gas stations across the state, it because investing in new pumps can be cost prohibitive.

Chris Quinn (13:12.452)

Yeah. Do you put this stuff in your car? You neither. This is not gas that I want to put in my car. So I guess Dave Yost is just trying to pander again, but I’m not sure that there’s a clamoring for more use of this gas. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. Last week, we discussed the Greater Cleveland Partnership annual report in which that regional chamber of commerce seemed to just throw up its hands and say, well, we can’t thrive because we don’t have enough people.

Laura (13:14.829)

I’m no.

Chris Quinn (13:42.438)

Team NIO, the regional economic development agency, issued its annual report Monday and claims we’re actually making some good economic strides. How is that, Lisa?

Lisa (13:53.392)

Yeah, it’s actually the performance and impact report issued by Team NEO actually looks pretty good. And mind you, this is before Matt Dolan took the reins earlier this year. So in 2024, they say that they invested in 125 businesses in our 14 county region. That’s the highest in their 22 year history. They’re also, these are exposed to create 3,800 jobs, 253 million in annual payroll, and 1.1 billion in capital investments.

And they touted their progress in four areas. And Dolan kind of talked about this when he met with the editorial board, expanding their industry base, developing competitive sites for development, leveraging local talent and promoting the 14 county region to outsiders. They also secured $200 million in state and federal grants for local research and development.

It looks like they’re doing a lot of stuff and they went to a lot of meetings. met with mayors and legislators last year and round tables, 20 of those. had 18 state house meetings. So they were very, very busy last year.

Chris Quinn (14:56.53)

It’s kind of a rosy report, but based on what I hear from a whole lot of people in the region, nobody thinks we’re doing well. So you’ve got this report that says, yeah, we’ve had our best year ever, but it’s nowhere near enough. And I just wonder whether Matt Dolan can bring much bolder thinking. We can’t do incremental progress because we’ll never catch up to.

Columbus, Cincinnati or other cities in the Midwest. So it’s fine. It’s it’s good that it’s not negative But what are we really doing to change the narrative here? And I think it gets back to what we talked about last week We’re not going to get anywhere until we have a regional government

Lisa (15:36.88)

And yes, and a regional taxing authority.

Chris Quinn (15:39.922)

Yeah, I just we’re stuck. We have every little mayor and fiefdom refusing to give up their power, lobbying residents against the idea. But if you turn Cuyahoga County into a single city, so Cleveland was all of Cuyahoga County, we’ve reported it, we’d be one of the top city economies in the entire nation, a real economic force that would show that we’re a force to be reckoned with. Instead, we’re

50 plus municipalities all fighting with each other for peanuts.

Lisa (16:11.6)

Well, it’ll be interesting because there’s been word that, you know, Dolan has gone out and has already been pretty aggressive with local leaders and business people. So I don’t know. We’ll give him some rain and see what happens this year.

Chris Quinn (16:24.068)

Okay, you’re listening to Today in Ohio. The people we’ve elected, Cuyahoga County executives, since we formed a new government a dozen years ago, have felt hamstrung by their spending limits. They argue they’d be more efficient if they could spend more money without having to go to the county council for approval. Leila, did the council finally agree to raise that limit?

Leila (16:47.83)

So after almost a year of back and forth, Cuyahoga County Council and executive Chris Ronane had finally landed on a compromise over how much spending authority the executive’s office should have. And spoiler alert, Ronane didn’t get as much as he wanted. So here’s the deal. Since the county charter was created, the executive has been able to approve contracts and make routine purchases up to $500,000 without needing the full council sign off. Ronane had pushed to triple that amount.

to 1.5 million, arguing that it would speed things up. Vendors could get paid faster and it’d make the county more competitive for contracts. But council wasn’t totally buying it. They agreed to bump the limit up, but only to $750,000. Their thinking is that this amount keeps pace with inflation, but it still gives council plenty of oversight. Councilman Marty Sweeney called it a good compromise. Some council members didn’t want to give any more room at all.

So this was really the middle ground there. There were a number of other adjustments that were made to the board of control. For example, informal bids will now cover contracts up to $200,000 up from 50,000. And there are new exemptions, so they don’t always have to do competitive bidding. They’ve also added a list of routine items that the executive can just approve automatically, like postage or jury duty stipends and things like that.

But even with these changes, council made sure to keep some checks in place. Real estate deals will still need full council approval. And if something weird pops up with a spending request, council’s president can still pull it back for a closer look. So these changes are expected to get formal approval, I believe at the next council meeting.

Chris Quinn (18:29.01)

For some reason, I was under the belief that the charter had set these limits. So when this story popped up, I went and reread the charter and saw that, no, it has always been in counsel’s purview to make the decisions on how money is spent. And back in those early days, they set a tight limit because we were so worried about corruption. mean, the whole reason the voters changed the government was because of the Demora corruption machine in which 60 some people got convicted.

So they set a very tight limit, tighter than what City Hall has. I’ve heard from every county executive, man, this is kind of dumb. I can’t really do my job if every time I want to spend some money, I have to go to them. So I’m a little bit surprised they still are keeping it low because the spending still has to go through the board of control where three council members are members. And so it’s not like the council isn’t paying attention to what’s being spent.

But if they raised the limit to a million or a million and a quarter or a million and a half, they’d still have the ability to see everything. It’s very transparent. And like you just mentioned, they could pull anything into the full council if they wanted. So this seemed wrong to me. I felt like they’re still hamstringing the executive that we’re not as efficient as we should be.

Leila (19:48.288)

I mean, we said that last time and then something happened and you were like, that’s why Chris Ronane needs oversight. I feel like, you know, one of the things that strikes me about this story is that Ronane argued that this overhaul should have gone further to cut the red tape. And he says that vendors get frustrated by how long it takes to do business with the county and that delays can scare off potential bidders. But, you know, counsel’s point is that most of the delays are happening inside the administration before contracts even reach them.

Chris Quinn (19:54.096)

Yeah.

Leila (20:18.286)

I mean, just last week, council had to rush a contract for the Norma Herr women’s shelter and it was three months late. you know, it’s not quite that, it seems like the problems are on the administrative side and that’s where they’re getting tangled in their own red tape.

Chris Quinn (20:35.974)

It was so much simpler back in the County Commission days. You had a County manager that he ran the County, the County commissioners approved what he was doing. And there was a lot less red tape than we have today. But good point. We did say he needs more oversight. So good memory. And you are listening to Today in Ohio. We keep worrying about bird flu, partly because it keeps jumping from

Leila (20:51.253)

Yes.

Chris Quinn (20:59.792)

birds to animals. What about pets, Laura? Are dogs and cats getting it and can humans get it from them?

Laura (21:06.702)

They can. I didn’t realize this. Cats more than dogs are at risk of catching this virus. That’s from veterinary experts. They’re not exactly sure why, although maybe it’s because the cats are eating the dead birds and maybe because cats are left unaccompanied outside more. I’m not sure. But there have been 106 cases of cats getting the bird flu in the US since February of 2022, 90 cases in the past year, one of those in Ohio.

They get it from the migrating waterfowl such as ducks and geese. Those are the primary transmitter of the virus. We’ve seen it in some backyard flocks in Eastern Ohio, Portage County, also Stark County, and confirmed among geese around Wade Lagoon in the University Circle in Cleveland, even though apparently ducks are shedding this more. So the virus is transmitted through feces, mucus, and respiratory secretions from the nose and eyes of an infected bird. So you want to keep your pets away from eating goose poop.

And don’t, you don’t want to step in it either. Like if you accidentally do that, you need to wash everything really well.

Chris Quinn (22:10.128)

not surprised cats are getting it though cats kill a lot of birds. I mean, they’re constantly killing birds. It’s a problem in a lot of suburban neighborhoods, and dogs don’t do that. So the cats are constantly exposed to birds because they keep killing them.

Laura (22:25.346)

Right, I mean that makes sense.

Chris Quinn (22:27.812)

You’re listening to Today in Ohio. Federal investigators in Northeast Ohio keep seizing cryptocurrency because they keep learning of more scam victims. Lisa, who’s the latest to lose her life savings and how did that happen exactly?

Lisa (22:43.13)

Yeah, this poor woman was scammed out of almost a million dollars. The Cleveland FBI seized $8.2 million in cryptocurrency in an ongoing probe of online scams. And the scam that victimized this mentor woman helped them find more victims and actually, you know, trace some of the scams. So this woman, she lost $652,000. She lives in Mentor. It was her life savings and her retirement account got

cleaned out last June. The FBI was able to track this activity online. She got a text back in November 2023 from an unknown number and for some reason they began messaging each other about hobbies and so on and so forth. So she invested $250,000 in crypto and believed that it had grown to a million dollars. So she tried to withdraw some of that money, but she was forced to pay $176,000 to release the funds.

and a $238,000 handling fee. Then she was later asked to pay $300,000 to improve her credit score. But she said, hey, look, I’m out of money. I have no money left. And that’s when they started to threaten her. And then, you know, when she went and reported this to the FBI, they, like I said, they were able to, you know, track this and they found four other victims of the same scam. Now these scams started in China, but they spread throughout the world during the pandemic.

And I just read an article about this. operate in forced labor camps in Myanmar and Cambodia. They use human trafficking victims to try and scam people.

Chris Quinn (24:21.058)

I read the story and I just felt that this is the product of loneliness. We all get these calls on our phones. Many of us block unknown numbers just for this reason. You don’t want to be bothered by it. But I think for elderly who are lonely, if they pick up the call and it’s a friendly voice and it’s somebody who wants to chat with them, they just pull them in and pull them in and pull them in. And the next thing you know, they’re sending money. I wish there was a way to...

Lisa (24:29.56)

Mm-hmm.

Lisa (24:40.901)

Mm-hmm.

Chris Quinn (24:49.862)

to have alarm bells go off the minute somebody’s about to send money like this to say, you sure you’re not being scammed? Check this out. The Cuyahoga County Scam Office works in high gear to try and publicize this, but it happens over and over. I was amazed at how many other cases they found here and in Michigan. It’s the local investigation. It’s just so sad.

Lisa (25:10.788)

Mm-hmm.

Lisa (25:14.608)

Well, and you know, of course I say nobody’s getting more than a dollar of my money that I don’t know about. But like you said, loneliness is a thing. And my mother is sharp as a tack at 95 and she knows about these scams, but I worry that even she might get hoodwinked.

Chris Quinn (25:28.986)

Yeah, I know. I know exactly what you mean. It’s a frightening thing because people just start going down and when they look at it later, they feel foolish because it’s like, of course, I should have seen this, but they don’t because these scammers are just so good at winning their trust.

Lisa (25:44.58)

and they can’t get their money back. If you invest in crypto or gift cards or any of that other crap, that stuff is gone.

Chris Quinn (25:52.048)

Although they’re seizing a bunch of crypto, so I’m hoping that she gets some of that back. But who knows? We’ll see. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. Homelessness for women in Northeast Ohio is growing worse. Leila, what are some numbers that demonstrate just how bad it’s getting?

Lisa (25:54.234)

True.

Leila (26:08.174)

Yeah, the numbers really tell the story here. Just looking at the Norma Her women’s shelter in Cleveland gives you a sense of how much things have changed. Two years ago, women who stayed there were typically at the shelter for about 37 nights on average, but now they’re staying more than twice as long, 91 days on average. That’s a really big jump in a short amount of time. And the number of women needing a place to stay each night has shot up too. Last fall, they were seeing around 200 women coming in every night.

Now it’s closer to 265. That’s 65 more women looking for shelter every single night and the shelter is struggling to keep up. It’s not just about the numbers though. A growing number of these women are older. Many are in their 50s and 60s and they’re showing up with health issues and fewer work opportunities. So the shelter was never designed for this, but they’re adapting and

They’ve added 16 more beds at a temporary site in Tremont, and on some nights they’re even sending about 20 women to sleep in a nearby church because they’ve run out of space. And while there’s a $25 million renovation in the works to upgrade the shelter, making it more accessible for seniors and adding private rooms, that’s going to take a couple of years. In the meantime, the need is just really outpacing the resources.

Chris Quinn (27:28.722)

It’s a depressing story in that it is evident that housing just isn’t available. And so they have to stay there weeks and weeks at a time. And it’s very hard for them to get their lives together if that’s what their housing challenges are.

Leila (27:38.03)

Bye.

Lisa (27:45.274)

You know what’s sad about senior housing is that, you know, senior communities are really, really expensive. You know, and they’re not building like little 400, 500 square foot apartments for people like this.

Leila (27:52.334)

All

Leila (27:58.636)

Right. And you know, these are women who’ve worked, raised families, contributed to their communities, and now they’re facing homelessness at a time in life when they should be enjoying some stability and peace. I mean, what we’re seeing at the shelters is really a symptom of a much bigger issue, I think. We’re not set up as a community to support aging adults who are slipping through the cracks, especially older women who might not have the same financial safety net. So

Chris Quinn (27:59.654)

Yeah.

Lisa (28:03.344)

Mm-hmm.

Lisa (28:11.929)

Mm-hmm.

Leila (28:27.95)

know, be sure we can add the beds and make spaces at the shelter ADA compliant. That’s important, but we should really be thinking about permanent supportive housing, access to healthcare, on-site mental health services, stuff like that, and real pathways to stability because, no one should be spending their golden years in survival mode.

Chris Quinn (28:52.378)

Okay, you’re listening to Today in Ohio. That’s it for Tuesday’s episode. Thanks, Leila. Thanks, Lisa. Thanks, Laura. Thank you for listening. We’ll be back Wednesday.