Big Dreams

They say if you tell someone your dream it might not come true. At what point do you realize that you've already told it to yourself every night?

Let me start by saying, I don't think any dream is too ambitious. I think most are not well thought out.

Let's change that though. I plan to plan in 2022. I plan to add, and add, to think and to engage. I plan to dream bigger and bigger. I plan to talk to others, to research and to make adjustments.

On what?

I want to end homelessness in America.

Remember what I said about no dreams being too ambitious?

In December of 2011 I had a friend who for the purposes of identity we'll call Ray. Ray was a guy I went to school with, and he was/is an artist. The lifestyle of an artist can sometimes lead to a clash of ideals. Especially with one's parents.

That Christmas season he asked if he could stay at my place for a little while. Not long, but his parents had just told him to pack his bags and he had nowhere else.

I said no.

It isn't that I wanted to say no, but I barely had enough resources to help me stay afloat. Ray and I were never the greatest of friends but I wish I could've helped him. He needed more than I could give, but looking back I wish I would've given what I could have.

In the summer of 2014 it happened again. No, not Ray. This time it was a family member. They were going through some rough circumstances and this time they didn't ask if they could stay at my place. However, when I dropped them off at their 'residence' it was an abandoned building. An old hotel.

My heart ached. Because I still couldn't take them in. I wanted to. So badly I wanted to, but if I did I wouldn't be able to survive myself. It broke something inside of me that I swore to fix.

So for the past few years. Eight if you're keeping track of the timeline I've been focused. There are things we can fix and things we can't. So when I say I want to end homelessness in America I mean it. It will start with one person, it will start with one family, it will start with me, it will start with you.

You think it's a fanciful idea? Really? You think the idea of ending homelessness in one of the wealthiest nations in the world is impossible.

Let's think about it:

Homelessness has several problems, some of which we'll get into, but lets start at the basics. These are the things that lack from someone who suffers from homelessness. It's a disease, so I'm going to address it as such. They suffer from it. Lack of:

1. Shelter

2. Purpose

Now let's address these problems with a solution

Have you ever seen an old broken down hotel. In my home town there are three such buildings that have gone to absolute ruin. Gorgeous buildings that have aged past their prime, they've been abandoned and forgotten to time.

They have owners sure, but they've since been condemned for one reason or another. Because they're too expensive to fix, or because we want newer structures. I say we take one of these buildings to start and fill it with elbow grease and a little tender love and care.

Yes, it would take indeed a lot of capital. These things tend to. But the first thing to provide is shelter. We need to build the bottom of the pyramid. the pyramids were some of the most expensive structures for their time and they had one occupant. I think we have the resources if we look hard enough.

Unfortunately the bottom is also the largest layer. When I say shelter I mean a place to stay, to rest, and to eat. I also mean a community. The hotel would provide a place to rest, to recompose, to begin the journey. The rooms would need to be refurbished to a standard quality of living that is above that of a normal 'motel'. A small breakfast, lunch and dinner would be provided by the hotel. Nothing extravagant, but nutritionally sustainable. We'll call this 'the facility' (until a better brand manager comes aboard this is what we'll call it)

Financial counselors would need to be made available so that budgets could be made and stuck to. The idea here is to have everyone be able to afford basic amenities. Ideally local businesses would want to get in at this stage to offer basic care items at a pro-rated discount rate based off of the amount of residents that the facility could hold.

On top of that, there would need to be counseling and therapy available at the very onset. So, support groups that meet regularly in the banquet rooms, offices that contain trained counselors and psychiatrists. Drug testing would need to be available, not to take benefits away, but to ensure a safe environment for all of the inhabitants.

John, that would cost a lot of money. Even if they psychiatric help that you get is cheap, it would still be too much!

Cost is something that would need to be made up for, that I understand. At the start one would need a simply enormous amount of capital. To buy the building alone and to upgrade it to a standard that is not only survivable but live-able is already in the millions of dollars. Add to that psychiatric help and medical care, and suddenly you're in the multi millions.

So how do I propose moving forward?

To get things off the ground, it will need donations. It will need to be organized and run by a dedicated group of volunteers, with a few paid staff. Not paid to exorbitance, but paid enough to care about the work. It will need to at first incorporate pro-bono help and facilities.

During this stage it will run very similar to large non-profits and charities.

The problem that I see with most non-profits and charities though, is that they stay there. For this thing to take off, we need to build that second stage of the pyramid.

Purpose.

Anyone can tell you to get a job, but it doesn't become a career automatically. Anyone can tell you to go to school, but why should you? Purpose is what drives you in the morning to go to school, it's what pushes you to pursue a career, to take the breath that you take. To move forward.

That's what I want to give people.

I propose this in a few ways:

1st is education. It's nearly impossible to move forward in society without some type of education. So what that means is that classes of some variety would need to be offered at the facility. Nothing terribly in depth, but how to do taxes, how to form budgets, how to properly maintain a savings account, etc. How to cook affordable meals, how to prepare meals in smaller kitchens, how to study, how to stretch and maintain a body. Things that have been forgotten by people who have been forgotten.

The next step in education is reaching out to local community colleges and trade schools to develop some type of scholarship programs. I'm not talking about the free college debt trap that has been the cause of homelessness, I'm talking about certificate programs that don't break the bank in the first place. I'm talking about trade schools offering pro rated deals due to internships and apprenticeships.

2nd is a job. I know. I hate that in order to survive in this world you need to have some type of basic income. Unfortunately right now, it can't be helped. There are two types of people in this scenario. Those that can work, and those that can't.

It's not lost on me that there are in fact people who can't work! Handicapped, mental limitations, and traumatized folks are among them. For those individuals, we must as a society still tend to them.

I don't know that this particular cause is for them, but in the ideal scenario we would find places where they too could find solace.

The facility though would focus on the latter group of people. People who can work, but have not been afforded the opportunity to. Because of past work relationships, because of poor references, because of not knowing how to write up a resume' because of drug use, because of _______. I want to offer them a place to earn monetary support to their dreams.

So, the hotel lobby would serve as a coffee shop/cafe. The overhead alone would not be enough to service this entire facility idea. It would not cover the costs of financial advisors, counselors, and medical care. It would however cover some electricity. It would help to support an income of a community of people. I firmly believe that a city given the opportunity to help those in need by receiving a bit more of an expensive coffee would stop at nothing to do so.

I'm not saying that the product would not be quality, what I am saying is that everything would be more expensive than it absolutely needs to be. That, in addition to donations would allow the smooth running of the cafe to keep the lights on in the whole facility as well as pay checks for the employees.

The goal then is not to stay a basic employee of this place. It would be to become a manager, to go to school, to become educated and then to give back. Yes. That is a years long process. This is a project that would take a lot of money, and a lot of time. The result however is a self-oiled machine. I believe that there exist people who are psychiatrists that just don't know it. That there are medical professionals that just haven't been trained, that there are mechanics, janitors, and linemen that haven't been given a decent chance. Can't we as a city, as a nation, give them a chance?

Here's a truth that should help. You already overpay for coffee. Why not do it and make a difference? Like I said, I haven't worked out all of the kinks, or knots in this plan. It's a work in progress - and - that's what this year is for.

It won't be me that makes this difference. It will be all of us. If it takes a community to raise a child, then it takes a nation to raise a community, and I think we're all far more capable of kindness than we let on.