Introduction
The issue of homelessness describes a condition of not having a place to dwell. Homeless people are usually not able to have and maintain a safe, regular and adequate housing. A homeless person is a person who does not have adequate resources, shelter and lacks community ties. There are many definitions explaining what homeless means, whereby according to Polakow, V (2001) “the meaning of homeless is more than not having a place where you can sleep whereby he explains that homeless is lacking a place where you can save those this which connect you to your past, losing any contact that you may have with your families and friends, and getting your children out of the school.”
homeless means suffering the degradation and suffering of living from hand to mouth, whereby you completely depend on the generosity of strangers or on the agencies of the government in order for you to survive together with your children. Homelessness can be defined as the condition of being detached from the community which is characterized by lack of the affiliated bond that links a person who is settled to the interconnected social structures network.”
Being in a condition of detachment is a very insecure experience because the person develops a working model where you construct a negative world for yourself and the world that is around you. People who are homeless normally develop social network with each other so as to generate social capital resources and protect themselves from physical harm, but they have very limited contact with their members of family or the parents. Many people who are homeless do not have positive social networks that are required in order to prevent from being homeless. In cases of women, most of them become homeless when they break up from their marriages therefore they tend to look for places to stay or they get to staying shelters where her social network gets constrained to other women who are homeless in that shelter (McKenzie, M et al 2012).
There are many factors which led to homelessness such as unemployment, financial difficulty, drug use, social isolation, family breakdown, poverty and lack of affordable housing. Homelessness is a big problem which needs a solution and the solution that will help in ending this problem completely is by having targeted changes in the policies and resources of the government that is focused on the outcome and research based. Homeless people can be divided into two groups that is the primary homelessness and the secondary homelessness, whereby primary homelessness include those people who are living on the streets, where they do not have any shelter.
Secondary homelessness includes those types of people who do not have places of residence hence they tend to frequently move among different types of accommodation. A policy need to be developed that will help solve the issue of homelessness. In the 20thcentury, homelessness has resulted because of the stresses in the economy and the reduction in the ability to afford housing like single rooms for people who are poor. Researches on homelessness suggest that the number of people who are homeless is widespread and substantial (Polakow, V 2001).
Public policy
The public policy developed fore providing homes to the homeless is going to understand the many problems which are thrown on the issue of homelessness. The aim of the policy is to provide homes to those people who do not have homes, helping them to get employment so that the financial difficulty can be reduced which is the cause of the increase in homelessness. Homelessness is a problem that is related to housing, hence this policy is going to help homeless people get houses and it will also it will make sure that it is providing resources to this people so that to avoid this problem from being repeated again.
The intention of this public policy is to provide a supporting environment where this people can live, tools for developing skills, housing and helping in development of the community among the residents (Dye, T 2012). In order to do this, providing homes to the homeless will allow people to participate in training programs and also in education programs, the program will address the issue of addiction, they will enroll in education facilities so that they can be able to move to dependent living the large communities. A large population of the people who are homeless need sustained assistance where they can be assisted by providing them with rent assistance and house stabilization services like helping them with employment and providing them with budget counseling.
This policy will be able to help people with this assistance which will be able to prevent them from being homeless through provision of rent, the policy will pay the rent for the first month and provide security deposit and it will also help in paying the landlords rent that the people owe them. In order to solve this issue completely, the policy will also focus on the factors that cause people to be homeless and how these factors can be controlled.
The makers of this policy are supposed to get involved with the city officials, the police department, the business people and those people who are homeless so that the policy can be implemented. This policy is going to work in conjunction with the government so that they can be able to receive funding for improving the services. The local councils will also be involved in this practice as they will help in preventing incidences of homelessness in their areas (Dye, T 2012).
Phases of public policy life cycle
The creation of a public policy is the result of the incremental which is often long term process which involves many participants and variables. A public policy is a process which involves many activities including the state and the local government. When developing a public policy, there are certain phases of public policy life cycle that are supposed to be utilized. The first phase in the life cycle of the public policy is problem identification.
The development of a public policy starts with defining the problem where by the problem, is first identified and the possible solutions for solving this problem are explored through doing a research and analyzing the data. The aim of this policy is to solve the issue of homelessness and the solutions that this policy will offer to solve this issue are providing transitional houses, employment and providing supportive environment for the homeless.
The second phase of policy development is agenda setting, whereby in this stage, efforts are used in order to raise the profile of the issue and possible solutions between the, public and the decision makers. The strategies which are used in this phase include, community organizing, building coalitions, media and communication, public education and convening stakeholders. In order for the policy to be known by the community, the policy makers will provide public education through the media whereby the public will be informed what the aim of the policy is and how it is going to help them. In order for this policy to be effective, the policy will build coalition with the administration, state, and federal government. This policy is going to work in conjunction with the government so that they can be able to receive funding for improving the services. The local councils will also be involved in this practice as they will help in preventing incidences of homelessness in their areas (Dye, T 2012).
The third phase of public policy development is policy adoption where the makers of the policy discuss the options that are available and the possible solutions and adopt the policy. The strategy that is used in impacting the adoption of the policy includes the issue advocacy, private or public partnership creation, regulatory advocacy, and community organizing. Providing homes to the homeless is authorized whereby it is administered and it will be enforced by an agency of the government. This agency will have to take instructions as provided by the policy. The last phase in development of the policy is evaluation whereby it is important to evaluate the effectiveness of the developed policy. Through research and analysis of the policy, this is a good strategy for evaluating if the policy is meeting its original purpose and if there is any outcomes that is not intended to happen.
In order to know if the program is in place and if it is providing solution for ending homelessness, research will be conducted that will examine the impact of the interventions on those individuals and families that are homeless. This policy will have a program that will work on collecting data and doing research on the extent and the nature of homelessness among youth who are unaccompanied so as to improve the outcomes of the young people who are helpless.
Responsibility of the policy
The policy will expand all its efforts in preventing and ending homelessness in all the communities across the country. This policy will work with the administration, the local, state and congress and all the national partners in the effort of improving the policy which will put an end to homelessness. In order to do this the policy will provide finance for the homelessness assistance grants program in order to be able to continue with investments in interventions which are cost efficient in prevention of homelessness and ensure rapid re housing through the use of the emergency grants program.
Providing homes to the homeless will make sure that it increases the focus of all the programs on decisions which are performance driven, proven solutions and system coordination. This policy will also be responsible of the costs that have been used in renewing and expanding the reserves for rapid re housing and permanent supportive housing. In order to reduce the incidences of runaways, the policy will have a program that will aim at making sure that they increase the use of innovative and family interventions models which are evidence based in order to support the reunification of the family.
The policy will build existing investments in the programs which will serve runaways and the youths who are homeless. This program will also aim at improving response to crisis and approaches for early interventions. This program will also expand the attainment and availability of transitional living programs that will aim at providing many youth with an appropriate housing foundation that will act as a basis for achieving economic independence. This program will work on collecting data and doing research on the extent and the nature of homelessness among youth who are unaccompanied so as to improve the outcomes of the young people who are helpless. The policy will aim at increasing the access of affordable, permanent houses for low income people and families.
Policy priorities for working with the administration
Providing homes to the homeless will implement an act that will re authorize the homeless grants program to expand the investments in the transition place and the strategies for rapid re housing through the care program. This policy will increase emphasis in solving all the issue that results to homelessness in the rural areas and improving the coordination of the system level in the communities (McKenzie, M et al 2012). The second priority with the administration is improving knowledge about homelessness among the youth and its solution.
In order to do this the policy will advance efforts to integrate data systems, it will promote the best practices that will capture accurately homelessness among the youth through improving the ability of the children welfare systems so as to prevent homelessness. This policy will make sure that gender identity and sexual orientation data is collected so that it can be able to improve knowledge about the causes of homelessness and prevalence.
In order to know if the program is in place and if it is providing solution, research will be conducted that will examine the impact of the interventions on those youths who are homeless. The third priority of the policy will be to administer the provision of federal health care to the support programs for those populations that receive low income. The policy will make sure that there is sufficient funding and well-organized processes in order to meet the health needs of those people who are homeless and at risk.
Time regulations and guidance will be published so as to implement the section of the affordable care act which enhances the capacity program for the people who do not have homes and the population that is at risk. The policy will work with the state in order to ensure that improvement and the expansion of the Medicaid comprise of services that are cost effective to remove those people with disabilities out of the streets and give them housing (McKenzie, M et al 2012).
The other priority of the policy will be to advance the ability of the children welfare system to prevent the issue of homelessness. In doing this the policy will examine and promote the effective strategies that will meet the need for housing in children welfare, it will involve families and the youth who have been brought up out of foster care. This policy will support the efforts of the state to extend foster care services to the youths who are above the age of eighteen and it will facilitate good transitions from the foster care.
Solutions to end homelessness
Transitional housing
Providing homes to the homeless will provide the homeless people with transitional housing. Transitional housing is an intermediates step that is between the emergency crisis and having a permanent housing. The need for transitional housing is for those people who are in need of support, building skills, structure or supervision so that they can move from being homeless to having a stable and permanent housing.
The objective of transitional housing is to assist the families in getting the necessary resources in the community so that they can build up their strength. Transitional housing also assists families in building their levels of education and skills so that they can have a gainful employment and be able to keep it. Transitional housing help the homeless families and individuals to connect to the medical network so that there needs in terms of health, nutrition, dental and mental can be met.
When homeless people are provided with a transitional housing they get a safe place where they can stay, a place where they are able to overcome their trauma and while in this place they can be able to address this issues and then they can rebuild their support network (McKenzie, M et al 2012). When the policy provide transitional housing to this homeless population, some of the services that they will be provided with while they are in here will include case management, financial counseling and employment services. While still in this housing, the policy will make sure that the people are provided with drug abuse treatment and counseling on domestic violence so that when they go back to their permanent housing they will be able to face the many challenges that may lead to homelessness and be able to deal with this challenges.
When the policy provide transitional housing to the homeless this will reduce the number of homeless people in the streets and this people will be provided with structure and support that they require for them to cope with the critical issues and they will be able to remain in their permanent homes and also they will achieve self sufficiency.
The policy recognizes that the strengths and needs of each and every family is unique. This policy values the family member’s individuality and the families as a unit and because of this the policy will build upon the strengths of the families and the families will be included in all the stages of planning and implementation of the strategies of the service. While the families are in these transitional homes, they will not be charged the rent for the first thirty days they stay in the homes so that they can be bale to meet their other need with the income that the families have at the moment.
Education
This policy will also consider providing the homeless people with education because the policy understands that most of the homelessness results due to financial difficulty which is sometimes because of unemployment which led to people lacking housing hence they become homeless. Most people in the country are unemployed and hence they end up living in the streets. The focus of providing homes to the homeless policy will be to create many opportunities of employment for the people so that they can have a source of income and prevent people mostly the young people from opting to taking drugs and alcohol.
The policy will establish training and education programs so that the homeless people can gain some skills from this programs that will help them in gaining employment. This policy will make sure that the government introduces a program that will provide education and employment opportunities to people who are homeless and this will greatly help in reducing the issue of homelessness.
Providing education to the homeless people will help them be able to keep their jobs, it will improve their quality of life and later this people will be able to get shelter by themselves and also for their families. Through education these people will be able to improve their present conditions and it will be easy for them to cope and be able to survive in today’s world. Those people who end up being homeless because they are unemployed or because they are underemployed because of the low level of literacy skills, when they get education they have an opportunity of leaving the status of homelessness (McKenzie, M et al 2012). This policy understands that literacy skills gives one an opportunity of managing circumstances and hence makes it possible for you to recover from the set back hence, it will make efforts in developing an education program so that the homeless can build knowledge, skills and independence. It is important to understand that homelessness does not cause illiteracy but illiteracy is the cause of homelessness and this situation can be improved if people are provided with education so as to be able to improve their life style.
Conclusion
Homelessness is an issue that affects a diverse population where families, people who are disabled are all involved. It also includes people who flee their homes because of domestic violence and people who have lost their jobs and because of this they are unable to afford a decent housing. This policy will make sure that the issue is solved by providing housing and support services to those people who are homeless.
Homelessness is a big problem which needs a solution and the solution that will help in ending this problem completely is by having targeted changes in the policies and resources of the government that is focused on the outcome and research based. The policy will make sure that it increases the focus of all the programs on decisions which are performance driven, proven solutions and system coordination.
When the policy is established it will be responsible of covering the cost for renewing and expanding the reserves for rapid re housing and permanent supportive housing. This policy values the family member’s individuality and the families as a unit and because of this the policy will build upon the strengths of the families and the families will be included in all the stages of planning and implementation of the strategies of the service. The policy will make sure that there is enough funding and efficient processes in order to meet the health needs of those people who are homeless and at risk.
Reference
Cochran, C Carr, T & McKenzie, M (2012). American public policy Cengage Learning
Dye, T (2012). Understanding public policy Pearson College Division
Polakow, V (2001) International perspectives on homelessness Greenwood Publishing Group
