The Concept of Program Reengineering

This research project studied the broad subject of homelessness from a distinctive perspective. Homeless individuals have different needs, and different human services organizations offer many homeless service programs to individuals, from temporary shelter to transitional housing, and training and health programs among others. Nonetheless, the most important service needed for homeless individuals should be the one that leads to permanent housing solutions. However, findings from this research study suggested that not all homeless service programs are as effective in alleviating homelessness in the community, as most have been led to believe in the past. Therefore, the required question had to be, how effective are homeless service programs in alleviating homelessness in the City of Springfield MA? Finding an answer to that question was the primary reason for this research. This research study sought to know more about the effectiveness of two distinctive service programs, which although similar in services offered, both operate with completely different funding and visions on how to solve the

Besides being the most responsible for addressing the problem, government officials also have the most to gain from a successful policy proposal. This is why government officials are also this proposal’s target audience. If the homeless population can be reduced or the issue completely resolved to the point where homelessness is no longer an issue, government officials would benefit greatly from the publicity of such success. City officials, given their responsibility, are thus both the key player and target audience for this policy analysis and proposal.

Homelessness is an aspect of society, which most people chose not to acknowledge. With the increasing amount of issues the United States faces, homelessness tends to be forgotten when the time comes for the government to establish what issues they should assist. Due to the substantial amount of issues the government concerns itself with, homelessness does not receive the necessary attention required and is improperly handled. In today’s society poverty-stricken individuals or families is too much of a common occurrence to be treated as lightly as it is. Additional government intervention is necessary in order to supply the needed resources, which can prevent the further spread of homelessness. The United States government is obligated to protect its citizens and should care about the constant growth of homelessness. Through economic policies and community advertisements, the government can control the issue of individuals who are facing poverty.

A final important issue that Boston struggles with, like many cities, is homelessness. Throughout Walsh’s time as mayor, he has aimed to end this for the city and to implement programs for those who are living on the streets to get basic care. In the past, he has housed over one thousand homeless people, launched the Southampton Street shelter, even appointed Sheila Dillon as Housing Chief. Although it was a controversial act, Walsh also closed the Long Island bridge and tore down the housing

The paper discusses Mayor's Schell's zero homeless family pledge. Mayor Schell was determined to eliminate the homelessness in Seattle when he became the mayor in 1998, to achieve his mission he and his team came up with some strategies and restructuring which are discussed in the paper.

When homelessness became a national epidemic in the 1980s, reformers responded with emergency shelters that were meant to be temporary havens. But as homelessness became more entrenched, so did shelters: Their capacity more than doubled by the late 1980s, then again a few years later, and then again by 2000. Along the way, they became institutionalized way stations for lots of poor people with temporary housing crises, including those avoiding family conflicts, leaving prison or transitioning from substance-abuse treatment.

In fiscal year 2006, the HUD, Department of Housing and Urban Development, was presented a budget by the Bush Administration consisting of $528.5 billion for homeless programs (Romeo 1). The problem of homelessness and extreme poverty is not a new occurrence; but in past years more extreme measures have been taken to combat the issue as more people become homeless. Expensive social programs and housing developments for the homeless have been created to help battle the increasing issue. Homelessness is an expensive problem that will never end; furthermore, the condition of homeless people in America is affected by the type of education they receive, the state of the economy, and the amount of funds that are available to house and feed them.

The second question Identify specific examples of how program planning and evaluation interrelate in your chosen scenario in Appendix B. in my opinion program planning and

Homelessness in Seattle has proven to be a tremendous issue. Fighting for years, Seattle has not been able to make any significant improvements when it comes to homelessness. Although eliminating homelessness may seem to have a simple solution, more housing, the causes of homelessness determine how difficult eliminating it will be. Seattle’s homelessness stems from many complex issues that can be traced back many years. One of the most significant causes of homelessness in Seattle is cuts in funding towards low-income housing combined with raised rent prices in both previously affordable housing and housing geared towards the affluent.

The bigger an issue, the more likely it is to be ignored because then people are able to blame the size of the issue. In 2015, a study found that over 500,000 people were homeless in the United States. At this point, major cities were beginning to declare homelessness an emergency situation, yet majorly successful solutions remained few and far between. In Kozol’s book. he writes about how common it is for the government to look the other way or to choose the option based on what will cost the government the least or what is more beneficial for the government, rather than what is best for the schools. “... the districts that face the toughest challenges are also likely to be those that have the fewest funds to meet their children’s needs” (Source G, 56). It is important to recognize that the book is written based off of Kozol’s experiences in the late twentieth century, meaning that the specifics of the situations may differ in present day but the basic themes and issues remain. In Source B, Lloyd Pendleton discusses how the Housing First system helped to decrease chronic homelessness in Utah by 91%. In Source E, Richard J. Berry, the mayor of Albuquerque, New Mexico, describes how he helped create

The day after Mayor Schell communicated his pledge both Seattle newspaper dedicated its headlines to the new. According to Susan Byrnes (1998), “The mayor said … he would ask the City Council to immediately allocate $500,000 for additional shelter beds, short-term rent assistance to families about to be evicted and hotel vouchers for homeless women and children. Schell also released a list of 11 ways ordinary citizens can help address homelessness, including respecting and being kind to them” (The Seattle Times, para.2). Through this declaration the four (4) steps taken by Mayor Schell to reengineer the program are easy to identify.

With a large homeless community and vacant houses one of the first natural thoughts could be to renovate these houses, and turn them into homes for the homeless. But, it just may not be that simple. In the article, Barbara Samuels, who is a managing attorney for the ACLU of Maryland’s Fair Housing Project referenced an attempt to do that exact same thing about two decades ago. A developer named James Rouse and city officials put forth more than $130 million into a poverty-stricken neighborhood to rehabilitate houses and build more, and sadly there are even more vacant houses than before. Unfornately, this probably caused some people to feel there is nothing that can be done, and loose all hope in restoring these homes.

The city should build more homeless shelters to help people get back on their feet, because no one should have to live on the streets and feel like a second-class citizen. No one should have to live on the streets, it is not healthy, physically or emotionally. Being homeless can be very stressful and can lead to mental health issues causing people to make poor decisions to be able to survive. People will constantly get into some sort of trouble so they can be arrested and go to jail just so they can sleep in a bed or be given food because if the shelters are full the only other place that offers free food and a bed is the county jail.

The temporary solving of the problem, was the mass shelters that were built, but this solution was back-lashed with the “not in my backyard” reaction, and with limited government funding. The focus of the homeless, allows claimsmakers to advocate for “rights” of those homeless. The right for them, to do as they please in the public, as they would do in their own home. Those advocating, do not advocate for more shelters, more government assistance for those homeless, job security or affordable housing, but rather the right to sleep on a cold park bench, and begging in the subway

This article comes from Real Change, which is a local newspaper that provides homeless people a job. This newspaper allows the homeless population to voice their thoughts and opinions. In this article, Lester talks about Mayor Ed Murray declaring a state of emergency for the homeless. By declaring a state of emergency, it allows the city to have more power on the topic and to increase option of helping. A state of emergency allows the mayor to have increased funding to use towards the problem. This year alone, the city will spend over $50 million on helping the homeless by providing food and shelter. The mayor wants to help the people by giving them beds and food but he can’t do it alone. He has asked out federal and state partners to help