HOMELESSNESS: A SOBER AND RESULTS DRIVEN APPROACH
The Silicon Valley Public Accountability Foundation believes in programs and solutions for homelessness focusing on rehabilitation and emphasizing sobriety, treatment for mental illness, and job placement through immediate housing in prefabricated university-like campuses away from schools and neighborhoods, with a goal of self-supportiveness while saving hundreds of millions of tax dollars in construction costs over current practices.
Current strategies and policies used by our County and State are not effective and take years to complete, placing more lives in jeopardy while the numbers of families and individuals becoming homeless continuously increases. Programs like Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) fail because they are exceedingly expensive and enable homelessness by precluding treatment of its underlying causes: mental illness and substance abuse.
Homeless residents needing immediate shelter and services are forced to wait on county lists for years to win a roulette-like lottery because there are not enough beds available resulting in more illegal encampments throughout our City. This problem is made worse by the severe shortage of psychiatric hospitals and social services in our state and county.
Don’t we want to respectfully locate our homeless neighbors off the street and provide a hand up to reestablish their lives by treating mental illness and encouraging sobriety? Don’t we believe that job training and placement will help our homeless residents become contributing members of society? Here is how we help:
Increase the Housing Supply
Reducing fees, regulations and restrictions to increase all types of housing supply. Building prefabricated university-like campuses tailored to the individual needs of homeless individuals to heal and rehabilitate.
Prevention
Assisting persons on the fringe of losing their home for a specific amount of time with medical/mental health, sobriety, temporary housing, financial assistance and more.
Identification and Treatment Services
Triaging our homeless population based on need and receptiveness to treatment. The sooner the treatment, the faster the stability.
“Category 1: Short Term:” those unhoused less than six months who can rapidly rejoin society through minimal services and job training.
“Category 2: Intermediate:” those unhoused for 6-18 months requiring longer term treatment.
“Category 3: Long Term:” those unhoused for greater than 18 months and who are not likely to rejoin society without clinical hospitals.
Self-Supportive with a Safety Net of Services
Instilling a sense of purpose, worth, and confidence in our neighbors’ ability to support themselves while recognizing that humans are fallible.
Construct University-like Campuses to Heal and Thrive!
Similar in construction to Navigation Centers throughout the United States, these campuses should be constructed in a semi-rural setting and will be comprised of prefabricated dormitory structures, indoor/outdoor kitchens, medical facilities, classrooms, recreational areas and more. Residents will engage in job training, hobbies, community gardening, and other valuable life skills. Pets will be welcome. Onsite security and staff housing will provide responsible management; and partnership with service organizations will be sought.
Construction costs for an 800 bed campus will be around $50,000 per bed, a savings of $440,000,000.00+ over current PSH construction costs. Private funding from pledged Silicon Valley businesses will bypass governmental limitations to allow for sobriety and mandatory rehabilitory participation while expediently building shelter and providing other treatment and vocational services.
County and State legislators must expand mental health facilities. Our municipality must empower and support law enforcement to transition mentally ill homeless persons to such campuses and/or medical centers through conservatorships.
With homelessness increasing every year, such immediate action is necessary and imperative.