Outline: 10 Steps to End Homelessness Forever

#1 Keep politics out of the whole process. Focus on getting into the action of building housing so people can live with respect and dignity.

#2 Create a master plan. This master plan could be developed in urban cities, counties and rural counties across the USA.

#3 Create public and private partnerships, implementing ideas, concepts and dreams to build affordable housing.

Creating Incentives for the Public and Private Sector To Create New and Innovative Solutions

We cannot spend our way out of the homeless problem.

We need to invent new ways of thinking and generate ideas. Ideas that can go from:

• Vision

• Concept

• Prototype

• Fabrication

#4 Master planning to end homelessness to include the specific creation of emergency shelters (1–90-day stays), transitional housing (91–180-day stays) and permanent rental housing models to be built on scattered sites within residential neighborhood contexts.

#5 Create a local, statewide and federal overhaul of all planning codes. This will encourage and incentivize new developments of all types, increase density bonuses by public and private partnerships.

#6 Amend and overhaul the local, state and federal building codes which will dramatically reduce the bureaucratic delays and irrelevant costs that drive up the cost of development and construction.

#7 Create an Affordable Housing Trust Fund of evolving funds made available to nonprofit and for-profit organizations. This would create a constant supply of funds for and allow loans for new housing and rehabilitation of existing structures.

#8 Create a public/private citizens’ panel to provide constant and interactive communication tools between governmental entities, financial institutions, neighborhood voices and developers.

#9 Streamline all approval processes to adopt local, state and federal legislation which will mandate a project’s length of time limit for all approvals to expedite the production and implementation of emergency shelters, transitional housing and permanent housing models.

#10 Create and adopt annual and five-year work programs backed up with legislation which details and will delineate project concepts, goals, development timelines and build-outs of emergency shelters, transitional housing and permanent housing models.

Homelessness exists in every city in America

The single biggest cause of chronic poverty and homelessness in the United States is the lack of special needs housing with intensive supportive services. This a very aggressive and comprehensive plan that we are embarking on, and I am confident that this model for affordable housing can be achieved with public and private sector partners, collaborations and support from the public at large. We do not have to see people suffer living in the street's tunnels, hillsides, in cars and in overcrowded housing conditions.

The ONLY way to END homelessness is to BUILD AFFORDABLE housing with supportive services. The time to act is now!