Purpose
The executive summary seeks to illustrate the various challenges facing New York in solving its homelessness problem. Many individuals continue to permeate the city’s streets, reducing the place’s allure to tourists and local businesses while illustrating a deeper societal problem in the area. Current government interventions to curb the problem appear to be inadequate as the number of these individuals keeps growing (USICH, n.d). As such, soup kitchens and homeless shelters do not address the root of the problem. The summary aims at illustrating the remedies proposed by the researcher to alleviate the homelessness problem in New York. It is important to consider the relevance of a strategic way to continually reduce the number of people losing homes in New York as various sources continue to propagate the problem. Short-term solutions cannot accurately solve this issue, necessitating new policies to deal with the underlying problems causing the proliferation of homeless encampments around New York.
Background
Local governments have continually developed policies to improve the city’s real estate, failing to consider low-income individuals. In this manner, New York faces a major problem involving homelessness. These individuals have been denied low-cost options for housing and work, forcing them to live on the street (USICH, n.d). This transition is detrimental to one’s wellbeing as they are considered a nuisance and outliers in society. Many individuals inhabiting the streets are depressed and abuse drugs, factors that cripple their capacity to obtain meaningful employment. They also cannot sustain a normal life, relying on taxpayers to fund homeless shelters and provide them with food. Although this is a positive way of helping these communities, their numbers increase while the taxpayer burden gradually grows (Behavioral Health, 2020). Helping these people to alleviate mental disorders and drug abuse would enable them to gain employment and contribute to society, reducing the number of dependents living on the street. This move would also boost the city’s revenues through lower provisions for homeless shelters and a boom in tourism.
Results
Exploratory research illustrates that New York exhibits a major homeless problem despite imposing various policies to help these communities. It would be prudent to adopt a novel method of analysis that involves assessing the number of homeless individuals after implementing the mental healthcare policy. The city would also benefit from discerning residents’ satisfaction with the policy and the thoughts of city officials after analyzing the problem. Using this method to gauge the correlation between improving mental healthcare among homeless individuals and the reduced number of encampments within the city is crucial. A Pearson correlation coefficient would help illustrate this connection based on a Likert scale analyzing potential social and economic indicators of program success.
Economic Predictors
The first predictor of success would be reduced public spending on homeless shelters while the population inhabiting these areas have similar offerings to their contemporary situation. In this way, the government would have more money to conduct the mental health program and aid previously homeless people adjust to society. Additionally, the researcher would focus on growing tax revenues based on the number of previously homeless people that have been integrated into the working class. These predictors would signify the program’s success.
Implementable Recommendations
The city officials should provide mental health services to homeless people. This measure would reduce the number of helpless individuals, allowing them to organize their lives and gain meaningful employment. Furthermore, the researcher suggests that city officials provide vocational training to individuals who have completed the mental health program to help them achieve economic freedom and improve their lives by seeking houses or rental apartments.
References
Behavioral Health. (2020). Behavioral Health Spending Correlates with Higher Overall Healthcare Spending. The LBL Group.
USICH. (n.d.). New York Homelessness Statistics. United States Interagency Council on Homelessness. Web.