Homeless Nudged From Airport Lifestyle

Homeless men and women snooze in the early morning hours inside Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, the occasional boarding call the only disturbance to their peaceful slumber.

They've been coming here and to airports in Chicago, New York and other cities for years, seeking quiet, warmth and safety, while blending in with weary travelers.

"It's relaxed and they don't really bother you here," said James Miller, who recently became homeless after losing a restaurant job. "It's kind of comfortable."

Cleveland airport officials have tolerated the presence of the roughly 20 people who sleep on cushioned seats in the ticketing and baggage claim areas on any given winter night. But now they're joining other airports around the country in looking for ways to help relocate homeless people because of concerns about security.

Although the homeless haven't caused problems, Fred Szabo, the airport's commissioner, said that because of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, airport officials need to make sure that anyone at the airport has a legitimate reason to be there.

Cleveland Hopkins has joined LaGuardia Airport and John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York in inviting outreach workers to the airport to assist the homeless with the goal of relocating them.

"We're not looking to arrest anybody," Szabo said.

A team from the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless tries to connect the homeless with agencies that could help find them somewhere to live or sleep. Housing vouchers are available for people with disabilities. For everyone else, the coalition can offer only a crowded shelter, said Brian Davis, executive director of the organization.

"That's the big issue in Cleveland," he said. "There's not much else."

It takes a keen eye to distinguish who's homeless at the large airports. They don't resemble those who sleep on warm sewer grates downtown, often dressed in layers of dirty clothing and hauling bags around.

At Cleveland Hopkins, they sleep scattered in the baggage claim area, one to each row of seats. Most return to the same sleeping location each night. Except for one person covered with a pink blanket, the homeless here can easily be mistaken for stranded passengers.

"We have found that the clients who live out there blend in very well with the travelers," said Andrew Martin, spokesman for Volunteers of America Greater New York, which has an office at each of the New York airports and has been at JFK for 13 years. "They know the lay of the land. They know how to use the bathrooms, how to remain inconspicuous."

Outreach worker Mike Noel has more than 1,000 pairs of eyes - mostly airport and airline employees - helping him find the homeless. He tells the story of one man who has been living at LaGuardia for 21 years.

The man, an alcoholic, turned his life around about a year ago, but relapsed and is back at the airport. He declined an interview request.

The work is rewarding, Noel said, even though he can help relocate only about 4 percent of the hundreds of people he meets each year.

"We're trying to get someone to change their life, and sometimes it works," he said. "People look at us as life rescuers. That's what I was told once by a lady, 'You save lives.'"

Chicago O'Hare International Airport takes a stricter approach, enforcing an ordinance that requires a person to have a ticket to be in the airport after 1 a.m.

Haymarket Center, a drug and alcohol treatment center, has worked with the homeless from its office at O'Hare since 1991. Most of the homeless at the airport suffer from substance abuse or mental illness and are sent to shelters or treatment centers, said Raymond Souchek, Haymarket Center's executive director.

"It took months for us to dislodge people," he said. "There were people who were living at the airport for years."

Limousine driver Mike Wood stood in the lonely baggage claim area at Cleveland Hopkins recently before the sun was up, waiting for a passenger. He doesn't see a need to move the homeless out.