The homeless population was being overlooked and never really given any importance to. Homelessness was really a big social issue because of how many people were without a stable home. According to Berg (2013) there are four main goals that the policy is set out accomplish, 1) finish the job of ending chronic homelessness in 5 years; 2) Prevent and end homelessness among Veterans in 5 years; 3) Prevent and end homelessness for families, youth, and children in 10 years; and 4) Set a path to ending all types of homelessness.
The opening doors policy was created through the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act, which President Obama signed into a law in May of 2009. Congress and President Obama charged the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness also known as (USICH) to develop the policy. The policy was first launched on June 22, 2010. United States Interagency Council on Homelessness.(2015), shows that Council agencies agreed on a set of priorities and strategies, including activities initiated by the President in the budget for fiscal years 2010 and 2011. In oder to create a policy that could really help the homeless population they choose those who have experience homelessness at first hand. They also got input from volunteers who have work with the homeless population and local and state policy makers as well as 650 leaders of regional and state interagency councils and stakeholders. According to Berg (2013) this policy has six values which are: homelessness is unacceptable, there are no “homeless people,”but rather people who have lost their homes who deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, homelessness is expensive; it is better to invest in solutions, homelessness is solvable; we have learned a lot about what works and last but not least is that homelessness can be prevented, there is strength in collaboration, and USICH can make a difference.
One of the plans that the policy addresses is the issue of chronic homelessness. The article Collaborative Initiative to Help End Chronic Homelessness: Introduction by Rickards, L. D., McGraw, S. A., Araki, L., Casey, R. J., High, C. W., Hombs, M. E., & Raysor, R. S. (2010) states that “Individuals living in homelessness experience an array of mental, physical, economic, and social conditions, including extreme poverty, exposure to the elements, mental and substance use disorders, malnutrition, victimization, bias, and stigma. These conditions have a direct bearing for the design of housing and service programs to effectively address homelessness.” The policy plans to end chronic homelessness in a 10 year span by providing supportive housing. Supportive housing has proven to assist people with different health conditions stay out of homelessness, as well as reduced public cost of crisis services. Studies have shown that it is actually cheaper for the government to provide supportive housing than it is to have people remain homeless. Since evidence has shown that supportive housing is cheaper the policy has made it possible to doubled the number of supportive housing since 2010. This has resulted in a 27% reduction of chronic homelessness. The policy plans to continue to end chronic homelessness by providing more supportive housing through federal, state and local strategies and investments ( Opening Doors 2010). Another plan that is implemented by this policy is to end veterans homelessness in a 5 year plan. Thanks to the opening doors policy veterans homelessness has been reduced by 47% between 2011 and 2016. This reduction has come due to the government taking action at all levels and across all sectors. Congress has provided an increase into federal programs, such as the HUD-VA (HUD-VASHP) program and Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) program, these programs provide different type of housing and services interventions. State and locals from all over and the philanthropic community have aligned investments with federal resources. Communities have come together to put resources where they believe would be of most help, including coordinated entry and Housing First approaches. The policy also plans to address the issue of ending family homelessness. The plan is to provide family with more supportive services that could provide assistance and temporary shelter to those who need it. Also to ensure that there is a fast way to find homes to those families that are in need by making communities more involve in targeting resources. Build upon what they already know based on evidence to better serve families at risk of experiencing homelessness. In other words catch the problem before it becomes a problem. Another goal of the policy is to end all homelessness by 2020. The way the policy hopes to address this is by having families have the necessary assistance that is needed to prevent homelessness. To provide different resources in areas such as housing, employment, health, education and benefits. It also plans to increase the amount of affordable housing to those who live below the poverty level. Especially people with disabilities and families with children. Another way they plan on ending all homelessness is by addressing the criminalization of homelessness and racially disparate impact of policies and practices within the criminal justice system. Since those who transition from jail back to society have a difficult time getting a place to live.
This policy from what I have experience first hand has been very helpful in helping those that are homeless. At the (DHS) we offer may programs to families who are being evicted or who can’t afford to pay for their full rent. There is a program called Homebase which helps those families that are in the process of being evicted pay what ever arrears they owe no matter how much it is owed. We also offer relocation by paying for a families transportation to anywhere in the world that they want to relocate to. If a family has family members in Jamaica but they are living in New York and have no place to stay here we send them back to Jamaica to live with their family members. Another program that we offer is Linc VI which provides rental payment to any friend or family member that allows a person that is claiming homelessness to live with them. At DHS we also offer City Feps which works similar to the section 8 program. The amount of rent that is pay depends on the size of the family. These programs are all being provide based on funds availability in other words, if you need it and the government has to give they will continue to help you with the housing payment. A way that I think that this policy could be better is by providing more resources for families who don’t know about the different programs that are out there. There are many families who go into DHS that have lost their home because they didn’t know that there were any programs which they qualify for. I also believe that the policy should put a better definition in place on what a homeless person is and how a person qualifies as homeless. Many people that come into the shelter are denied because they are in a double up situation and are staying with someone who no longer wants them in the house but since their is room in that house they have to stay there because they are not approved to go into the shelter system. As social workers we are supposed to advocate for those who are not being treated equally and I don’t think that someone should stay where they are not wanted. In the article Policy practice: The neglected side of social work intervention by Figueira- McDonough, J. (1993) states that our commitment is to act as advocates for the interests of deprived constituencies. Our concern is to support policies that promote the social rights of poor people and oppose any policies that further re- strict those rights.” As a social worker I support this policy because I believe that this policy is helping those who are poor and have no shelter. as stated by Kokonis.B (2010) “By combining permanent housing with support services, federal, state, and local efforts have reduced the number of people who are chronically homeless by one-third in the last five years.” It shows that support services is very important in getting the number of homelessness to decrease so special attention should be made to providing those supportive services. I also believe that some minors changes could make it better but they are improving and amending the policy as the years go by and they get more reports on how they could better address the issue of homelessness.