That's a link to an RSS feed of all the "action" in a particular area of the site, including ideas and comments, etc. To learn more about what RSS is and how you can use it, Ensure successful strategies, like supportive housing, are available to the people who need it most.
Creating enough supportive housing for people who need it will ultimately end and prevent future chronic homelessness. Housing and services, combined, is the best answer.
anonymous
shared this idea
4 comments
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Angela
commented
People are homeless for 2 reasons ONLY! Lack of support (family) and lack of adequate income. No matter what problems a person has (people who can afford their own homes have mental illnesses, health problems, drug addictions, too!) there is an amount in the bank that will get anyone into a home. Most chronically homeless people have lost their support as children and teenagers, never having a strong foundation to build on to begin with. (foster children, troubled youth, and parents who had the above problems) The only way to remedy this and make absolutely certain our future generations will not be burdened with it, is to give them what they need the most, a home, and the support they deserve. Remember that they were children once also, and in most cases, it is lack of support and us ignoring this problem that has created the more severe problems like mental illnesses and drug abuse in the first place. By getting people into housing they can become stable enough to get the services they need, and if we do it right, we can start taking care of these bigger problems in our society(foster care system please!) Let's also make sure that we prevent more severe problems for people and families *immediately* who have become homeless because of job loss, inadequate income or sudden loss of support. We don't want them to become chronically homeless, and deal with this problem for another generation with their children. (211 income % national affordable housing)
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McKinney Strat Comm
commented
DOT to ensure that transportation allowances are available to allow persons to get to and from work and job skills training
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Kellen
commented
I work in a homeless shelter. We are drowning in supportive housing programs. However, they are created for a population which does not exist. The belief seems to be that homeless individuals are just like anyone else, only they have lost a job or encountered a momentary setback. The belief continues that if we can intervene to reestablish them in housing, they will resume their formerly productive lifestyle.
There is a second line of thinking which posits that there is a problem with low income individuals and families having access to housing.
Both of these theories are inaccurate. Research has shown that there are marked functional differences between low income families who are housed and low income families who are homeless. Nor are homeless families or individuals just working folks like the rest of us who have hit a rough spot.
There are glorious exceptions to what I'm about to say, but I'm referring to the population in general. In general, the homeless population consists of individuals who are severely dysfunctional. By this I mean they have a long and vast history of not functioning on any level. They do not work, they do not pay their bills, they do not maintain housing (even when placed in affordable or supported housing), they do not maintain relationships, they do not send their kids to school, they do not follow rules or procedures, they do not obey the law, etc. etc.
This dysfunction is what must be addressed in order for homelessness to decrease.
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Ken Maness
commented
Use of Housing Vouchers and Section 8 Vouchers must be a part of this solution. We will never end homelessness if we depend upon building it all. One example I visited in Asheville NC had 12 units .. more than a year later 10 of the original 12 were still there. While building Supportive Housing with services is great, we will never end homelessness if we depend too heavily on building all that we need. HUD must make all programs with components involving housing give priority to homeless persons. Housing Authority Section 8 vouchers are one example.. top priority to house individuals and families should be mandated as a top priority for Housing Authorities across the country if USICH and HUD want to End Homelessness.
