Plan 2.0 to end homelessness in Chicago
In the city of Chicago, homelessness is a one of our biggest social problem where over 6,500 are homeless. Plan 2.0 is a vision for Chicago where it main aim is to have a home for everyone. The people who drives this vision forward believes that ending homelessness is very possible and each and every one in Chicago is entitled to a home. The initial plan by Chicago of dealing with homelessness has made impressive strides since it was first introduced. Plan 2.0 is an ambitious plan that aims at providing housing to each and every person in Chicago. Homelessness is one of the most pressing issues that require urgent attention. Homelessness usually has a negative impact towards the economic development of the people (Kumhof & Benes, 2012).
This plan has had a lot of support from a number of stake holders. Through my research, I found out that the financing expect Federal “Housing and Urban Development”– HUD gave out a total of 68 million towards the financing of the plan. This Fund was used to facilitate building of different kind of housing. Some examples of the housing built with the money included; Section 8, HUD-Rent assisting, Foreclosures, and Urban Jobs development. Other funds for the project came from the “The Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to housing (HEARTH) in the year 2009 and it gave out an amount of 54 Million dollars (Bassuk, 2010).
Apart from the provision of housing, the plan also covers healthcare matters through “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Medicaid)”. This was instituted in order to ensure that all Americans had access to affordable healthcare. Provision of the healthcare came through the “Obamacare” policy which was signed in March 23, 2010 (Kumhof & Benes, 2012).
Through the “U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’, there has been a tremendous increase in the budget allocated for the homeless assistance programs. Through these programs, patient care has been provided as well as individuals have accrued benefits to veterans and their dependents (Bassuk, 2010).
According to the Plan 2.0, focusing on the prevention is one of the basic efforts needed in order to end homelessness. This therefore indicates that the priority of the funds should be in those circumstances that lead to homelessness. Homeless prevention is considered as a cost-efficient intervention which has yielded better outcomes especially for those at risk individuals and families. One of the strategies being put forward in order to enhance prevention of homelessness is by ensuring that individuals do not enter emergency shelter but instead housing facilities is provided to them (Bassuk, 2010).
The second priority in the plan is to house homeless was to adopt a practice of giving housing to all the homelessness as quick as possible. The main reason for doing this was to ensure that the problem of the homelessness was addressed as quickly as possible. The plan also focused on ensuring that those already housed received health services ranging from physical and mental health care, substance use treatment, child care, employment, and connection to mainstream resources. These comprehensive services were aimed at protecting the stability of housing, especially in times of crisis (Kumhof & Benes, 2012).
Since the year 2003, a number of homeless individuals have been housed. Over 49 million have been used in homelessness prevention. A number of resource centers have been developed in order to help the homeless. These resources include the federal Homeless prevention and Rapid Rehousing Program, the federal Emergency shelter, the state homeless prevention fund, and private contributions” (Kumhof & Benes, 2012).
References
Bassuk, E. L. (2010). Ending child homelessness in America. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 80, 496–504. doi:10.1111/j.1939-0025.2010.01052.x
Kumhof, M., & Benes, J. (2012). The Chicago Plan Revisited. IMF Working Papers, 12, i. doi:10.5089/9781475505528.001
