Homelessness is a growing challenge for many small communities who are seeing an increase in the transient and unsheltered residents. There are many causes that can contribute to encountering homelessness and each root cause has different needs to help someone transition back into a stable lifestyle. Federal and state funding programs are currently available but, are at risk of being eliminated due to required budget cuts (Keeley & Webster, 2018). Due to the potential loss or these programs or the challenges faced to participate in these programs, communities may need to look internally to find solutions to address the issue themselves and not rely on external sources to reduce the challenge.
The increase of crime and fear that has come from the growth of the homeless community has caused the residents to complain to the local government which responds with adding additional police to focus on specific city areas. All this has done is shift the problems from one part of the city to another (Cohen, 2011).
Finding local alternatives won’t be easy but, they are not the first to deal with this so there are plenty of examples to take guidance from. Fresno, California did this very thing and elected to rezone empty plots of land to allow for tent cities and developed specific governances needs like city permits, required health and safety regulations and mandated public meetings to ensure the tent city community had the appropriate level of city structure (Loftus-Farren, 2011, p. 1064). Another alternative that has been successful is a project performed by the Employment Connections Program (ECP) where they implemented a job training and education program which partnered with local businesses to train and hire homeless residents to help provide another transition option to the homeless community (Ratcliff, Shillito & Poppe, 1996).
Most cities have unfinished or pending projects that could use the help of additional resources. The city could look at implementing a program to employ their homeless residents to help provide them a transition plan while improving the city and completing many of the backlog of projects. ~C. Canavan104.129.206.68 (talk)
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References
References:
Cohen, DM. (2011). Policing the Homeless: An Evaluation of Efforts to Reduce Homeless-related Crime. Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, 34(3), 553-554.
Keeley, & Webster. (2018). LA County, mindful of Trump's cuts, emphasizes homeless programs. The Bond Buyer, April 11, 2018, Vol. 390.
Loftus-Farren, Z. (2011). Tent cities: An interim solution to homelessness and affordable housing shortages in the United States. California Law Review, 99 (4) (2011), pp. 1037-1082.
Ratcliff, K., Shillito, L., Poppe, B. (1996). The Employer’s Role in the Job Success of People who are Homeless. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal. 1996, Vol. 19(3), pp. 87-90