Answer

Part I

Needs Statement

Though New Orleans has posted tremendous progress in dealing with homelessness, the overall change rate has been below the anticipation, especially following the 2011’s 10-year plan to end homelessness. By 2019 January, it was reported that New Orleans’ homelessness had dropped by more than 80% since the plan’s inception. New Orleans and Houston have been the forefront communities in dealing with veteran homelessness through innovative frameworks, hinged on ability to identify the homeless veterans and developing an individualistic plan to address each case, as posited by O’Toole and Pape (2015). However, homelessness remains an intriguing challenge in its stubborn persistence, as also confirmed by a targeted study in cities including New Orleans (Leventhal, 2017). 

With chronic homelessness comes other conditions like substance use disorders, mental health issues and psychosomatic illnesses, and other co-occurring disorders. Therefore, the homelessness phenomenon needs holistic addressing in order to completely deal with it. The setting up of this homeless shelter is intended to not only provide temporary residence for the homeless but also take care of their co-occurring needs, with an especial inclination to the most obvious substance abuse.

Goals, Objectives, and Evaluation Criteria

Goal 1: Reduce homelessness per capita in Greater New Orleans through a “Homeless to Housed” homeless shelter plan.

Goal 2: Reduce the amount of time an individual or family in New Orleans spends homeless from months to days or weeks through the temporary shelter plan

Goal 3: Increase soberness among the homeless community in New Orleans through the substance abuse aid program.

Objective 1: Within the first month of completion, one hundred homeless individuals will be housed in the homeless shelter for specified periods to cut chronic homelessness by at least 10% at every given time.

Objective 2: Provide affordable safe housing for the homeless at risk of weather and insecurity (among other risks) at the rate of 100 per time by six months from approval time.

Objective 3: To fight the substance use and abuse among the homeless community and enhance their day-to-day sobriety by periodical (by prescription) sheltering from the first month of operation.

Evaluation Criteria 1: The intention is to develop and construct permanent housing facility for the homeless shelter unit, equipped with 100 beds. The complex is intended to have wings for males and females, with higher number allocation for males since they are the most affected divide. The ‘Homeless to Housed’ agenda plan is calculated to provide re-housing and services to homeless individuals and households, and by design cut homelessness in New Orleans. Therefore, the plan’s intended implementation are highly subjective and flexible in terms of physical structures, though high recommendation is on construction of new complex facility based on an enabling architectural design that best befits the intention. The 100 beds distribution is 60 in the males section, and 40 in females, this is essential for inclusivity while also being admissible to the fact that males are more affected by share of homeless populace. By design, up to one hundred homeless individuals will be admitted to the facility for a period of time at any given time, essentially reducing the number of homeless individuals in the streets at any given time. Further, healthcare personnel and caregivers will be required to fulfill the goal and objective of caring for the homeless in the facility. In this case, janitors, nurses, counsellors, and security personnel will be helpful to the fulfillment of the ‘Homeless to housed’ plan. It would be needless to house individuals for a period and release them into the streets again, so the counsellors will aid in tracing the roots of their homelessness and solve where necessary, or recommend for the greater permanent home provision plan.

Evaluation Criteria 2: The provision of temporary shelter plan is geared towards reducing homeless individuals’’ presence in the streets for a double-edged good, that is the homeless’ good and that of the New Orleans economy and general public. During emergencies (like the Hurricane Katrina case), the homeless are adversely affected and usually the most helpless, a reason that pertinently informed the designing of the 10-year plan to end homelessness. The 100-bed facility will host and shelter one hundred homeless individuals during these times from adverse weather patterns and the rising insecurities (like the current state of public uproar and general upheaval). The vulnerability of the homeless will be taken care of by the facility during such times, which are too common with time’s progression. The same health personnel (as listed above) will ensure their safety.

Evaluation Criteria 3: The high substance abuse among the homeless is a disturbing reality that needs to be addressed in the process, in order to attain holistic help for the homeless’. The main reason for their substance abuse disorder is psychological, hence need for counsellors for wholesome addressing. The facility will include a Rehabilitation wing for therapeutic sessions, with psychological counsellors addressing the drug abuse-related issues and psychosomatic disorders alike. Since homeless males are more vulnerable to substance abuse disorders, the rehabilitation staff composition will be enhancing to befit the complexity of the scenario in this sense, as trained counsellors will be recruited with primal consideration of male substance abuse therapy attainments.