Problem
Have you ever been walking down the street and just see a bunch of homeless people trying to live on the streets? Or have you seen the inside of a homeless shelter? Or even the outside of the houses that other non-profits make?
Clean Slate housing is for any homeless people/families who need a more permanent place to live.
The problem that I am addressing is that homeless people need access to affordable housing to get back on their feet.
Supporting Statistics:
- An estimated 100 million people are homeless worldwide.
- 70% of homeless people are individuals, the rest are families with children.
- Roughly 100,000 more males are homeless than women.
- As many as 1.6 billion people are lacking adequate housing.
- More than half of all people experiencing homelessness in the country live in four states: California (30%), New York (13%), Florida (5%), and Washington (4%).
- Homelessness is concentrated in urban jurisdictions, with half (50.3%) of unhoused people living in the country’s 50 largest cities.
- People who identify as transgender, gender non-confirming, or questioning exhibit high rates of unsheltered homelessness.
Existing Solutions
Project for Pride in Living, Inc. (PPL)
This Clean Slate Housing provides housing in apartment types of homes, but only for like 4 families, and they put multiple homes in one area. They also have programs for people to get career readiness for cheap. This would provide people with the opportunities for homes and provide people with opportunities to get jobs.
This solution is not addressing the problem by creating homes that are really ugly and is basically stating the obvious that people who couldn’t really afford a home.
This is basically just giving the public a reason to complain, because a lot of people want to provide homeless people with housing just not by them, because they are ugly and they think that it brings down the value of their neighborhood, and they also don’t really trust the homeless and they think they are these terrible people who do drugs and drink all the time, etc. They are basically pointing out that homeless people live there which can lead to the public making it a big deal.
Urban Homeworks
This non-profit takes unused, unwanted or just vacant land and creates areas for affordable housing for people who need it. They will build the homes and then rent them out for cheap for the people who need them.
This solution isn’t addressing the fact that these homes are made to
be rented so what happens if someone isn’t able to afford the rent, would they just not get a home? They also only provide homes, they don't provide anything else like a community garden, or a program to give the people in the houses job experiences, etc. Also with renting landlords can be a pain to some people, what happens if their rent is late or something like that. The people who want to rent the homes have to pass a background check, some of the people who need a home could be people who served their time for what they did, but are just unable to get back onto their feet again.
Aeon
This non-profit builds, purchases, or renovates a bunch of apartments or townhomes. They then put these apartments out for people to rent. They put these apartments kind of all over but kind of focusing on the Minneapolis area or the twin cities. They work to create this community for the people in the apartments, so they can feel a part of something. They also partner with a ton of different companies to allow people to feel at home in their home. These partnerships also allow Aeon to create these apartments and provide them to people for affordable prices.
This solution isn’t addressing the problem by renting the apartment homes. If someone isn’t able to afford the
rent will they just be able to get a home? This solution also feels like it is geared toward people who have some type of money or the senior citizens, and not people who need a home for almost nothing. Some people don't have anything. They also don’t really have any ways for people to get affordable fresh foods, or a way to learn about job opportunities or job experience.