Housing Madison`s homeless

Did the city pick the right landlord for its groundbreaking program?

Heavy tire tread marks in the dirt, frozen grass and the odd plastic bag dancing in the wind American Beauty-style is all the empty lot between Ramen Station and Oriental Food Market on South Park Street has going for it. For now, there is no apartment building. No formerly homeless tenants. No on-site social workers. For now, this is just a patch of dirt with a whole lot riding on it...

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Ken Notes: We perpetuate the problems by perpetuating the same solutions. There is a profit motive in building housing for the homeless, in fact for some developers it is big money and their sole or primary source of income. This means the ideas of mental health, crime, ownership, education, and social integration are ignored. This will always breed failure.

Look at the nonprofit Habitat model. NO profit margin is needed, homes are integrated into good neighborhoods, an ownership model is developed, social responsibility is emphasized, an actual mortgage is developed, the residents are involved, the community is involved, and the success is both measurable and profound.

Now imagine a program that builds smaller micro homes for every homeless individual, create an ownership model, require resident participation and social responsibility, integrate units into the community, provide mental health care, education and security, and finally create measurable outcomes. I promise this will work far better that what we are doing now...