What a Journey it Has Been…

by: Jackie Go

I would like to reflect and share some of the amazing things I have learned during our social innovation course as we developed a solution to homelessness. I have learned so much about the complexities of social problems, the many different perspectives that each person can have on an issue, and I have been hugely inspired by the many people I have met who are  committed to making a difference in their community.

I think it’s really interesting how life sometimes leads you in a certain direction and I find that I was really pushed to explore the homeless issue more this semester. I have always been interested in working to solve homelessness and was the coordinator of the Cold Wet Weather Shelter Program in the first year of its operation at Coquitlam Alliance Church in the winter of 2007.  After that I lived and studied in Vienna, Austria for one year and when I came back to SFU to finish my last term of university, I had no idea that this social innovation course would teach me so much about business, social issues, and how to make change happen. Ever since choosing to explore the issue of homelessness once again in my life, I feel so thankful for the many people who have given their feedback and helped us develop our idea. Our professor helped us get connected with homeless advocates, I knew several from my work with the Cold Weather Program and the more I delved into the project, the more names and people I recognized. I have realized how small a community can really be – especially when we started meeting various members of the community to get feedback on our project. We heard about the Port Coquitlam Mayor’s Action Team on Homelessness (MATH) and when I looked on the list of members, I realized that one of them was one of my high school teachers! What a small world it is indeed, and I was luckily able to make contact with him and invite him to our final class presentation as well. So I have definitely learned about the power of personal networks and networking in order to broaden our reach and get feedback from as many different perspectives as well. I am interested in pursuing a career in corporate social responsibility, and this project has taught me a lot about stakeholder engagement, and the different needs and desires that each unique stakeholder has with regards to their interest in the homelessness issue – from outreach workers interested in getting people out of homelessness, to bankers who want to ensure the financial viability of the project, to potential property investors who want to know how they can get a return on their investment.

One thing that really impressed me was the desire to help the homeless that came from each person that we asked feedback from. I definitely see potential for us to develop a solution using the knowledge and skills of a community of people who want to help the homeless. Creating a link between the different stakeholders and creating a platform for dialogue and sharing ideas in order to develop, modify, and customize the model has been an exciting journey and I hope to continue it as we take advantage of the connections which have already been made. Thank you to everyone for following our blog – your support and encouragement have been invaluable.

Why this social innovation makes a difference

By: Jackie Go

This social innovation makes a difference to homelessness because of its ability to organize the resources in the community and involve the entire community. In a community where there is no permanent shelter, and the temporary shelter (the Cold Wet Weather Mat Program) runs only in the winter, there is a surplus of volunteers and concerned citizens who want to help the homeless all year round. By involving community members as volunteers who will provide support services, companionship and mentorship to the client, it helps dispel myths about homelessness and helps the client get re-integrated into a society where they are traditionally marginalized and disenfranchised. People who don’t have time to volunteer are also given the opportunity to give to the program as donors for the modest needs of the sponsored client, such as daily food, clothing, and furniture. Local businesses can also get involved by providing services to maintain the housing unit, such as painting, plumbing, and cleaning, all services which can add value to the housing unit. The large community support component can also be a motivating factor for the client, showing a person which has been largely isolated from society that the community does care for them and their well-being. By involving the entire community in sponsoring a homeless client, this program builds awareness and compassion for the homelessness issue, signaling its importance to politicians while also providing the community with a sense of pride in taking action on homelessness and watching a client go from homeless to self-sufficient in a period of 6-12 months.

The program also has potential to grow – if successful, the number of housing units to be funded by donation or to be bought by the investment giving circle can grow and more and more homeless clients can be helped out of homelessness. The program is also sustainable because it does not rely only on donations, but through the investment giving circle, provides people with the opportunity to make an investment on an appreciating asset while also giving back to their community. If community support can lower the costs of the property through decreased property taxes, utilities costs, lower mortgage rates, and other incentives, the extra cash that can be generated can fund the costs of this idea as it grows. If it grows larger, we may be able to fund, or ask for the city for funding for an extra outreach worker to work with our clients specifically. This idea makes a difference in the perceptions of homelessness in the community and provides people who want to help the homeless with a variety of ways to get involved – by donating, investing, or giving their time through volunteering.

How the Community can get Involved

by: Jackie Go

From the conversations I have had with a wide variety of people from the community, it seems that many members of the community recognize that homelessness is a big problem and that we need to work together in order to solve it. We have talked to some  local business’ and foundations who in our conversations mentioned that they would like to donate a portion of their profits to charity or already have a foundation and are looking for local initiatives or charities to support.  This issue is so close to home and I think that the community support is there, it just needs to be organized so that the community is given the opportunity to help the homeless.

A fundamental part of this idea is community involvement in order to get the homeless person re-integrated into society and help society get to know homeless people as well.  Involving many stakeholders in this program helps dispel the stigmas associated with homelessness and reach our ultimate goal of re-integrating homeless clients into society. This idea involves the local community by involving volunteers to provide simple support services to the client, such as companionship, mentorship, and life skills, such as cooking, cleaning and using the library. We recognize that when a person gets out of homelessness they are starting an entirely new life, and leaving behind their old habits and circle of friends. Volunteers, who can provide companionship and mentorship in the form of simple acts such as going out for coffee, can help the client immensely in getting re-integrated into society and combating loneliness.  We will approach the large groups of volunteers from the Cold Wet Weather Mat (CWWM) Program as well as from the community at large. The community can also be asked to donate other life essentials for the client such as food, clothing and furniture. Members of the community can donate these directly, and local businesses can also be asked for donations. Essentially, the entire community is sponsoring the homeless client, and helping the homelessness problem, one life at a time.

A Church’s Perspective

By: Jackie Go

This week I talked to the head pastors of a church in Coquitlam. I proposed our idea to them in order to get feedback from a church’s perspective. This church is heavily involved in missions work and was one of the host church’s for the Cold Wet Weather Mat Program, which is a temporary shelter program which runs in the winter months. Overall the church was receptive to our idea. They asked some good questions, which helped us develop the solution to the stage which it is at today.

Some of the key issues which the church brought up were:

• Client Selection – how we pick the client, and the public scrutiny that goes into deciding who to sponsor.
• Success rate – how to ensure that the client can be self-sustained within 6-12 months. Our client selection process relies heavily on the expertise of homeless advocates and outreach workers who know the clients on a personal basis. I will be contacting the outreach workers this week and ask them if they can find a few potential clients whom they feel would be a good fit for our program. Finding the homeless person who is committed to getting out of homelessness and has a high potential to get out of homelessness when given a home for 6-12 months will be essential for the success of this program.
• Living costs –we recognize that housing is not the only thing which a client will need in order to get out of homelessness. They also need food, clothing, and other life essentials. Our idea is based on a homeless sponsorship and we would like to get the whole community involved with this. The community, which includes citizens and local businesses, will be asked to provide for the living costs – including the donation of life essentials such as food, clothing, and furniture.

A Real Estate Agent’s Perspective

By: Jackie Go

This week I met with a real estate agent from Coquitlam who has been working in the real estate industry for over 20 years. I presented our homeless sponsorship idea to him and asked him for his feedback from a realtor’s perspective. We had a lengthy discussion about the real estate industry and I would like to share some of the key concepts he wanted to contribute to our idea.

• Foreclosures – this represents a great opportunity to obtain cheaper property. With the economic downturn, the number of foreclosures is increasing, and these are properties which can be bought very cheap. We will be looking for foreclosures that we can buy cheaply for the investment giving circle, or that need repairs. If the property needs repairs, we can ask local businesses and volunteers to donate their services (painting, renovations, etc.) in order to add value to the property in that way.
• Land – he emphasized heavily that in the real estate industry, this is what has value and continues to appreciate, despite decreasing prices for buildings.
• Economic Feasibility – he emphasized that housing each homeless client in a separate unit would be very costly. In comparison, if we were to buy a unit with 3 bedrooms and house 3 clients there, the costs per person go down a lot. Furthermore, he pointed out that the homeless clients that we are trying to help have low barriers and we can look at helping those who are capable of living with companions. From talking with a homeless person myself, Sally (pseudonym from Hannah’s “Eye-opener” post) she mentioned how hard it is to get out of homelessness due to the fact that the client is essentially leaving their entire life behind, including their circle of friends. Therefore living together with 1 or 2 other people going through the same thing can help the client form a community of support in order to successfully get out of homelessness.
• Rental Units – he emphasized the difficulty of getting a landlord to rent to a homeless person. Potential renters have to fill out forms asking questions such as their previous address, their current job and other similar information which would be difficult for a homeless person to provide. Essentially renting to a homeless person would be more risky for the landlord compared to other tenants who have a job and a previous address. However, as we will discuss in other posts, we don’t want to rule out the rental model for funding the housing because this would require a lower investment from donors compared to the model which buys the property in order to generate a property investment. We will keep in contact with the realtor to see if we can find a landlord who would be willing to rent to a homeless person, or if we can find other people who may have empty basement suites. Please let us know if you might know of a philanthropic landlord or property owner who would be interested in helping the homeless, while also getting a steady flow of rent.

A Flowchart to Visualize Our Idea

By: Jackie Go and Arita Liu

To illustrate our idea, we created a flow chart which shows the entire cycle of our program, from homeless client selection all the way up to the client being self sustainable and able to live on their own.

From the pool of homeless people, we will specify selection criteria so that low needs homeless people are targeted. Focusing on low needs people who are not addicted or hard to house will reduce the number of barriers our client has. Outreach workers and other homeless advocates can help our organization with identifying the appropriate clients.

The main benefit which our organization provides the client with is housing for a period of up to 6 months. Here we have identified 3 possible options for funding the housing unit. For detailed descriptions of each funding option, please see our other posts. Once we are able to fund the housing, we will work to coordinate job placement and support services for the client. The support services include tutoring, mentorship, and cooking meals which will be provided by community volunteers. The combination of support services, job placement and housing are designed to help get the client off the streets. Following this, we can start the cycle again and help the next person, using the same housing unit.

One Idea: Homeless Sponsorship by a Community Organization or a Church

by: Jacqueline Go

Goal:

Help one homeless person at a time, by providing community support for one low needs homeless person and housing them for a fixed (less than 6 month) period of time in order to get them off the streets while providing a longstanding connection between the homeless community and the community at large.

Below is a description of the different groups who would be involved in this project and their possible roles:

Outreach Workers and Organizers:

• Outreach workers know the homeless people in the Tri Cities personally. They can nominate one client to be sponsored, based on criteria that we as organizers prescribe. They can provide reasonable estimates regarding what is needed for the nominated client to get off the streets. These needs can be fulfilled by the church/community organization, and can include things like: healthy meals, tutoring and education, help with applying for jobs, etc.
• Example criteria: We are looking for a homeless person who is “low needs” – they do not face the barriers of drug addiction or mental illness.
• They will estimate what is needed to get them off the streets – what the church/community organization can provide through regular citizens who want to volunteer
• They will estimate how long they will need these housing and support services for in order to get off the streets. They should nominate people who need housing for up to 6 months.

Church/community organization:

• Buy/ Rent a one bedroom apartment in the Tri Cities
• Find a suitable location – we will develop ideas for how to scan the region for reasonable priced locations
• Perhaps can get a cheaper price from a developer? Or from a member of one of the church communities.
• A church/community organization will sponsor one homeless family. They will:
• provide funding for the apartment
• provide volunteers to do the services necessary for the homeless family. These include cooking, tutoring, transportation, and others as identified.

Mutual Benefits:

The homeless client gets connected with the community, helping them be reintegrated into society and increasing their likelihood to help themselves out of homelessness by providing community care and support.

The community gets connected with volunteer opportunities to help the homeless. I believe that there is an abundance of people who are willing to volunteer their time to help the homeless in the Tri Cities. There is always an overflow of volunteers at the Cold Weather Mat Program and this program only runs from November to March. This program would allow community members to take shifts helping the homeless family – donating the groceries and coming to the apartment to cook and have a meal with them, teaching them life skills, and the other needs as identified.

The funding needed to acquire the housing location is the first step in this project. It may depend on whether each church already has a fund with collected money for homeless missions. Currently we are considering alternative ways to fund this project – either through donations (asking the church/organization to fund the project) or through a property management scheme (using a business idea to make the project self – sustaining and not depending on donations)

Please feel free to leave your thoughts and comments as we develop this idea.