A Solution to Help the Homeless

Proposed to California

12/4/2022
Table of Contents

Abstract pg 1.

Intro pg 2.

Body pg 7.

Conclusion pg 12.

Bibliography page 13.

Abstract

Homelessness is a big issue, with the rate of homelessness growing recently,

with California holding 161,548 residents. This proposal aims to offer a method to
help the homeless with their financial situation. To assess the necessity of this
proposal, Us citizens will examine things such as the possible profit potentials of the
system, the rising rate of homelessness, and how the program can be sustainable. This
system would allow the homeless to receive a mailing address; despite not having a
home, it would allow them to apply for work. Without this mailing address, it would be
difficult for the homeless to find jobs, and it would allow those willing to rise from the
streets.
To help save those who have lost their homes, we, fellow citizens, must take on
our civic duty to our country, state, and fellow people to help give them a chance to
redeem themselves. We should never condemn another human being, especially when
we do not know their exact circumstances, but no one deserves to be homeless and
suffering. The homeless deserve a chance to, and while many people would prefer to
spit on them, I believe we should lift them up so they can reach the same standard we
hold ourselves.
Our fellow Californians are like family, and we must hold each other close to each
other so that we do not fall apart. By considering this, I think we should at least give this
proposal a try. That’s why I wish so desperately for it to be passed, no matter how much
time it takes to be successfully implemented. We must take advantage of California’s
progressive mentality to be an example for the country and the rest of the world.
Showing your support for this program; will help to guide your goodwill to the
homeless. Only helping spread awareness isn’t enough; there needs to be a clear-cut
path to solve their financial problems instead of just addressing the symptoms. Helping
manage the thing that keeps many people homeless at its root can solve things.
The idea would be to create a unique address through the DMV and have all mail
sourced through the post office.
At the same time, it is possible for these addresses to be requested from banks.
While it would be possible for employers to find these addresses, they would need to
provide proof of employment or a hiring process for each request. This will force
employers to go through the DMV for every possible hire if they want to weed out the
homeless. So as long as the homeless can pass the interviews, it provides a feasible
way to employment for the homeless.
Assuming that a small charge of 10$ and using the previous stats of 161,548
homeless residents, if even 10% of them buy into this program in a year, it could
generate 16,154$ just accounting for creating an address. While this might not seem
like much, a small tax on all money transactions, such as 5%, could make even more
money. The average part-time Mcdonald's employee works 25-30 hours per week; at
California’s minimum wage, these employees earn anywhere from 375$ to 450$ weekly.
At 375$, this program will only take 18.75$, and up to 22.5$ at 450$. While this might be
a lot, the program's goal isn’t to keep a permanent mailing address but only something
that allows the homeless to get on their feet.
 Intro

Homelessness has been a problem in society for many years, and solving the

problem will take decades of work, if possible. This project is by no means a solution to

help permanently resolve homelessness but a way to help give options to help people

escape homelessness. If this system can work to its fullest potential, it creates massive

leaps and bounds to help tunnel people from the streets back into being functional

members of society. This is important with the rates of homeless growing increasingly.

Graph source
 Graph Source

Society has stigmatized the homeless, and at the worst of times, the homeless

are harassed and beaten by their fellow citizens. Seemingly denied their own human

rights because they lack a home or job. While it's true that they do not necessarily

contribute to society, the abuse they endure constantly and the stigma that surrounds

them are unacceptable. This program is designed to help fight against the stigma and

give the homeless an opportunity to earn a wage.

The core principles of this system are to create a channel for the homeless to go

from the streets to being functioning members of society. Furthermore, any and all

profits gained will be reinvested back into the homeless. In order to create a positive

cycle that can give anyone a chance to bring their life back together through their own

hard work. The idea of this program isn’t just to hand out money but make it possible to

earn it. This distinction is critical because everything is centered around how willing the

people in question are to get off the streets and earn money.

This system can furthermore generate revenue; with the previously mentioned

statistics, this program can generate money. Using the lowest possible earning from the

5% taken from transactions yearly will create a total of 7620$ at a minimum, which can

be used to help fund the program or other programs designed to help the homeless.

Now 7620$ is only in the case of one person, but if even 10% of the total 161,548

homeless people (Homeless number statistic) were to make this money, it would create

massive revenue.

While there are some security concerns about this program, all accounts will be

attached to a fingerprint and ID, which must be provided to the DMV. This is to ensure
things such as fraud can be adequately tracked if such transgressions occur while

attempting to use things such as fake mailing addresses which are tied into a real ID.

This will tie all accounts to a traceable identity that can be found and not just to

anonymous accounts.
Body

The issues revolving around the homeless have been a growing problem in California,

with “... the number of people staying in emergency and longer-term shelters has grown

34% since 2019.” (Calmatters) This situation is made worse by the fact the large

majority of the homeless have no way of getting themselves out of this situation. The

goal of this program is to create a solution to this problem that can help to tackle these

multitudes of issues by offering the ability to find work.

Graph source

Being homeless is a problem for everyone; it creates a problem for the city, the

people, and the people being subjected to homelessness themselves. The homeless

have been stigmatized, and even if possible, to find work, this stigma itself is a

significant roadblock. But the effects that being homeless have on a person are

devastating, being described as a “Loss of ability and will to care for oneself. Increased
danger of abuse and violence. Increased chance of entering the criminal justice system.

Development of behavioral problems.” (dept.washington.edu)

Furthermore, the impact of the homeless spread beyond just themselves but is

also described as “Homelessness isn't someone else's issue. It has a ripple effect

throughout the community. It impacts the availability of healthcare resources, crime and

safety, the workforce, and the use of tax dollars.” (Impact of the homeless) Creating a

route from the street to functioning members of society is in the most significant interest

of everyone.

But beyond just the social and mental aspects of the homeless, it’s near difficult

to find work. The critical aspect which needs to be resolved is the lack of a mailing

address. While general delivery is an option, it seems to be terribly inconsistent with, for

example, the United States Postal Service at 391 Ellis St, San Francisco, CA, being

swamped with bad reviews talking about terrible service.

Showing comments such as this.

 It can be said that General Delivery is not a well-developed or reliable service;

while functioning for the same purpose as the program that is being proposed, it seems

as though that General Delivery is barely functional. The idea behind security is to

ensure that the homeless can adequately find the help they need.

Ways to help avoid this significant issue is to make these programs focus purely

on the financial side. This would allow people that just want their mail to be delivered to

avoid this program entirely, sending them primarily to the USPS. Furthermore, to ensure

proper identification, this mailing address will be tied to a fingerprint.

Going back to the previously mentioned stats of possible earnings following this

program, 7620$ is being made from someone working minimum wage. The potential

revenue should be massive if this program is successful. Should even 10% of the

161,548 homeless population adopt this program and successfully find minimum-wage

jobs, it could create approximately 123,099,576$ dollars of revenue. The more hours

people work, or the more people that join this program, the further the revenue.

To ensure money is properly sent through this account, the government can

create debit accounts through the usage of public banking. This will ensure that the

proper 5% tax is on all money sent to this account. This, in particular, is very important

because the design of this program isn’t supposed to be something permanent. It’s

supposed to put a person from the streets to become a functioning member of society.

Once the goal of having found a home is achieved, the owner of the said account

should look to close it.

 This program will be managed by the DMV, city, and state working together. The

governor will be the highest acting leader, deciding which cities to introduce this system

and how/where changes are to be made. However, the mayor of the city will be in

charge of direct implementation, ensuring that everything goes smoothly and working

with local public banks. The DMV will be in charge of account and identification,

allowing for proper communication with the public bank and people joining the program.

The public banks will be in charge of the proper taxes and money being put through

accounts.

The ideal testing ground for this proposal would most likely be San Francisco,

given San Francisco’s liberal alignment and high homeless population. San Francisco is

described as having “San Francisco officials estimate as many as 20,000 people will

experience homelessness at some point in the year 2022” (How many homeless in San

Francisco). This would help to see how receptive the homeless are to this program and

how much money it can generate.

Using the last metric of 10%, this will be the ideal target. The program will be

advertised within the shelters to gather the attention of the homeless, where they can

find possible transportation to the nearest DMV or designated zone to sign up for this

program. They can then use this program to find work. Following this, with the initial

testing group, it can then be observed how many of them attempted to find jobs and/or

how many were successfully hired. More important data that would be received through

the public banks that these accounts are being made under would be how much money

is being collected by the state and the greater total of how much the homeless are

saving.
 Once all of the data is collected correctly regarding the success of getting people

to join this program and their ability to find work, the next step can be made, which is

either to correct flaws in the system or move on to the next step of implementation.

However, before the next step of implementation, the expected things to go wrong are

as follows failure to find willing applicants and failure to hire. Which would require the

examination of things such as the advertising system, possible benefits, possible

collaborations with businesses to ensure employment, changes in budget, and the rate

of the incoming money transaction tax.

While it’s not impossible to find work as a homeless as it is, this program is

designed to create a direct path for even those at their lowest of lows. Keeping in mind

that 10% of 4,990 San Franciscan homeless people were working in 2017. (Statistic)

Which translates to 499 people working. The bare minimum is to exceed this margin

within a relatively simple sample size by 10% to raise the employed to approximately

1,000 workers.

The next step would be to increase the range of advertisements and campaigns

to bring more attention to the program within San Francisco. This is to source people

into this program and ensures work continuously entered this program; eventually, the

end goal with perfect success is to reach 25% of the existing 161,548 homeless, having

a total of 40,387 people once again working. With the increase in a positive response,

the goal would be to introduce this program to more cities. Continuously increasing the

scale of this program to match the current success to a state level as the end goal.

The initial budget when introducing it to San Francisco should be around

200,000$ and should be sourced through the DMV and San Francisco Public Bank. All
future extensions will similarly be sourced through the DMV and public banks; however,

the budget will be subject to change. This program can furthermore generate its own

funding; as such, with the given success of the program, the existing budget can also be

changed.

Conclusion

The problems that circulate around the homeless make finding work extremely

challenging. To be able to solve this solution will cause a massive qualitative change in

the lives of everyone in the United States. To be able to help them is an excellent

service to all fellow citizens of America and of great importance.

By showing your will to help the homeless, not only are you showing your

character but you’re making an active impact on the community. The best way to make

an impact is to help at the lowest of levels and work our way up. The first step is helping

to resolve the homeless crisis.

The homeless have been stigmatized and have many difficulties finding work

purely because of their identities. The goal of this program is to help fight against these

two issues by providing a possibility for the homeless to find work much easier with a

transparent system. If this program is well known and the results are satisfactory, is

could help solve both of these issues.

Furthermore, the program here is designed to help the homeless have a clear-cut

path to possible financial opportunity. But beyond this, it represents a chance for the

state of California to gain additional money to reinvest into helping the homeless. This

program is purely designed for the sake of putting as many homeless people from the

streets into society.

 However, this program also brings bonuses for the surrounding communities by

helping bring the local homeless into fellow workers, helping to fuel the economy.

Should this program be successful and well-known, it could also help to combat the

stigma that the homeless face. Giving this program funding, advertising, and, most

importantly, a proper chance to do some good would help give California a qualitative

change.
Bibliography

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