Having access to public transport is essential to many of those living within the Housing First program, and finding transportation for the people who live away from public transport has been a major struggle of implementing Housing First in rural or suburban areas (Ecker et al., 2014). Staff members offering services to clients in small cities often spend nearly 50% of their time transporting clients to and from locations (Ecker et al., 2014).
It has also been argued that the program does not meet its own objectives effectively when dealing with families. According to Costa Nunez (2014) the Housing First program, when applied to families, becomes more of a rapid-rehousing program, relying on vouchers and subsidies. New York City has spent …show more content…
I believe that the program is on the right track, but to be a truly effective program it must be selective in its participants and serve the population whom the research proves they are the most successful with. Because the nature of homelessness is so extremely diverse, it is extremely difficult, strenuous, and impractical for a program to offer services to the entire homeless population. Rather, the program should research which population they are the most effective in helping and focus on that specific population. Otherwise the approach will waste millions of dollars offering services to those they are not able to effectively serve. When seeking to apply the Housing First approach in a region, it is also imperative to assess the effectiveness of the approach in specific geographical locations. The program will be much more easy to implement in large cities with large real estate markets and excellent public transport, compared to small cities with limited real estate and weak public transport. Analyzing the region before implementing the program could prove imperative to its success. I do believe that the Housing First approach can be extremely beneficial, especially when serving individuals with mental or substance disorders, and can overall help to eradicate homelessness while improving the health and quality of life amongst individuals. Once the program identifies a specific …show more content…
I lean in favor of the Housing First initiative because it has proven to permanently house people in need, while addressing other issues with services. This approach examines the whole person instead of just one of their needs. Taking a holistic approach to the issue of homelessness is the only way that a program can make any impact on the lives of its’ participants. I also support the Housing First program because many of the negatives uncovered in the research are rather petty compared to the amount of good the program is doing. I also tend to overlook some of the negative issues because the program is relatively new and has not had ample opportunity to work out many of the kinks that come along with the approach. Ground breaking approaches have never been easy to pursue, as they often confront many obstacles that have not been experienced by other approaches in the
It has also been argued that the program does not meet its own objectives effectively when dealing with families. According to Costa Nunez (2014) the Housing First program, when applied to families, becomes more of a rapid-rehousing program, relying on vouchers and subsidies. New York City has spent …show more content…
I believe that the program is on the right track, but to be a truly effective program it must be selective in its participants and serve the population whom the research proves they are the most successful with. Because the nature of homelessness is so extremely diverse, it is extremely difficult, strenuous, and impractical for a program to offer services to the entire homeless population. Rather, the program should research which population they are the most effective in helping and focus on that specific population. Otherwise the approach will waste millions of dollars offering services to those they are not able to effectively serve. When seeking to apply the Housing First approach in a region, it is also imperative to assess the effectiveness of the approach in specific geographical locations. The program will be much more easy to implement in large cities with large real estate markets and excellent public transport, compared to small cities with limited real estate and weak public transport. Analyzing the region before implementing the program could prove imperative to its success. I do believe that the Housing First approach can be extremely beneficial, especially when serving individuals with mental or substance disorders, and can overall help to eradicate homelessness while improving the health and quality of life amongst individuals. Once the program identifies a specific …show more content…
I lean in favor of the Housing First initiative because it has proven to permanently house people in need, while addressing other issues with services. This approach examines the whole person instead of just one of their needs. Taking a holistic approach to the issue of homelessness is the only way that a program can make any impact on the lives of its’ participants. I also support the Housing First program because many of the negatives uncovered in the research are rather petty compared to the amount of good the program is doing. I also tend to overlook some of the negative issues because the program is relatively new and has not had ample opportunity to work out many of the kinks that come along with the approach. Ground breaking approaches have never been easy to pursue, as they often confront many obstacles that have not been experienced by other approaches in the