Public Administration in America: Grants to Help Homeless

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Information
Statement about the Homeless issue
Set Goals to solve the Homeless issue
Methods applicable in solving the Homeless issue
Evaluation of the program
Future Founding
Non-personal budget to solve the Homeless issue
Conclusion
Works Cited

Introduction

When people live in conditions such that they lack a regular dwelling they are said to be homeless. If people are not in a position or are not willing to have permanent or at least safe and decent housing they pass for homeless lot.

However, this statement is just a general definition of homeless individuals; concise definition depends on location. For instance, in the US, a homeless person is an individual who lacks a permanent, veritable, and nighttime abode.

Moreover, people housed in institutions that offer impermanent residence pass for the homeless coupled with those encroaching public or private areas not delegated for sleeping. The issue of homelessness in the US is too demanding to be discussed in a single essay. This essay issue will thus discuss homelessness in the city of Little Rock in the Arkansas state.

Information

Little Rock is the largest city of Arkansas estimated to have a population of almost 700,000 thousand people. It is located at the central of Arkansas and in 2004, it was rated the basest city towards the homeless. The rating was based on the authorities’ plans to remove the dispossessed from encamps along the banks of river Arkansas.

A research by the University of Arkansas at Little Rock found “200 to 300 homeless people are unsheltered at any given time while other 2000 stay in shelters in a four county central Arkansas area, which includes Pulaski county” (USA Today Para.8).

This revelation made the authorities in that city to initiate a ten year plan in 2006 that would see that inveterate homelessness is cut down in the city by the year 2016.

Statement about the Homeless issue

Even though there is variability on the numbers of the homeless in the city, the fact remains that in central Arkansas, there is a considerable number of homeless people. The nature of the population and the disputes associated with finding homeless persons at any given time makes it inconceivable to have an exact number of the homeless.

In 2004, a report of the Homeless Count and Survey results estimated that “there were over 3000 homeless persons in the city of little Rock” (Central Arkansas 2).

This number is justified if the full definition of a homeless individual is taken according to the federal laws because critics argue that the enumerators could only locate an estimated figure of 1430 homeless people, but this number did not include about 300 children who were at school, those under police custody, and others in psychiatric hospitals.

Despite the efforts to reduce the number of the homeless, the figures continue to ascend. The council efforts are thus not enough to curb this, federal and state governments need to intervene to help in providing a solution to the issue.

Set Goals to solve the Homeless issue

In an effort to solve the homelessness issue, the municipal council of the city in conjunction with other governmental and non-governmental agencies concerned had the goal of eliminating homelessness in the city by the year 2016.

Nevertheless, this goal is an ambitious project that requires the collaboration of all community leaders and service providers that will move persons from the state of homelessness (Central Arkansas 24).

Methods applicable in solving the Homeless issue

To achieve the set objective, the agencies had to set ways into which the goals would be achieved.

The outlined ways include, strengthening of the agencies’ outreach and referral services that connect the homeless with appropriate assistance, break the dependency of homeless on shelter care, and support the mental health and substance abuse outreach progarmmes to reduce the incidence of homelessness caused by these illnesses.

In addition, the city authorities plan to equip the homeless with work skills to groom them for jobs, become independent, and acquire housing units for those having special needs and are in need of housing.

The city municipal council also aims at increasing the transitional housing so that discharged patients and prisoners can have intermediate shelters. Lastly, the agencies aim at making partnerships with community stakeholders to elaborate the stock of low-priced housing units.

Evaluation of the program

To evaluate the progress of these initiatives, an oversight team constituting of work teams would be established to track the process and determine, after a given period, whether the goals are being achieved.

Establishment of an office for the homeless services is also vital since it would assist in collaboration with all agencies and aid in monitoring the effectuation of the plan. These two bodies will work in concert to ensure that the outlined objectives are achieved.

For instance, tracking the number of houses constructed as per the plan, evaluating training given to the homeless to enable them get jobs and sustain themselves, and assessing partnerships that have been established in an attempt to solve the problem

Future Founding

As stated earlier, this program is long-term with its completion expected by the year 2016. Since the city has a deficit of low-cost housing units, there is a need to increase the number and make them available at reasonable rental rates.

Partnerships with the federal, local government, and homebuilders in the city would enhance the number of low-priced housing schemes. Ways in to which money is raised to subsidize rent is thus an important aspect of the plan if it will have to succeed.

The funding of this project would thus require funds from bond financing of annual allocation by the local governments due to its long-term nature.

Non-personal budget to solve the Homeless issue

In order to implement this ambitious plan, it is inevitable for a budget to be made as guide to activities to be conducted. The budget will not only show the financial image of the projects, but also used as evaluation tool to compare budgeted and real performance.

Some of the proposed activities would require new resources while others are already in place or would require minimal resources. The following is a simple budget of the project.

Item	amount
Establishing an office of homeless services for full management of implementing the project	$50,000
Renovation of house for day resource center to provide outreach services	$745,000
Utilization of a day resource centre to provide outreach services	$275,000

Some of the activities would not require any new resources; for instance, establishing an oversight team and work teams to implement this plan, developing comprehensive outreach, intake, assessment, referral system, building of close relationships in the city’s work force, and collaboration with other stakeholders to enlarge the stock of affordable housing.

Conclusion

The goal of ending homelessness has gained widespread support not only in the city of Little Rock in Arkansas, but also in the whole of America. Critics however argue that the effort to end homelessness has accentuated on inveterate homelessness only.

Therefore, according to critics, this move does not solve the problem of homelessness, which stems from lack of low-cost housing, healthcare, and income support. In contrast to this argument, the city of Little Rock ten-year plan is based on the precepts dealing with the pertinent issues in homelessness to create a long-term solution to the problem (McCarty 21).

By the time the ten-year project, geared at ending homelessness is completed, the real impact will be reported after the final evaluation, but for the time being, homeless people are still present in the streets despite the provisional reports of the success in eliminating homeless people in the city of Little Rock.

Works Cited

Central Arkansas. Ten year plan to end chronic homelessness, n.d. Web.

McCarty, Maggie.Homelessness: Recent statistics targeted Federal Programs, and recent Legislation. Washington DC: The library press, 2005.

USA Today. Group: Little Rock named ‘meanest’ city to homeless, 2004. Web. <https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2004-11-10-meanest-city_x.htm>

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