Wednesday, November, 4, 2009
If Architect Philippe Starck Designed Homeless Housing We Could End Homelessness




Australia has it right. They are using high end designer housing to convince homeless people that housing is the answer. (Check out this article from Sydney.)

I’ve been told over and over again, that there are people on the streets that are “service resistant.” In other words, people who don’t want to enter homeless services because the rules are just too strict. No drinking. No drugs. Strict curfew. Way too many rules, for an independent adult.

But if you give them a designer apartment, they can’t say no. Of course. Who would turn down an apartment designed by some architect with a world class education? Open up Dwell Magazine, and pick out your décor.

I wish it was so easy. I wish world class architects would donate their design talent to create housing that is so enticing that people on the streets would flock to their apartments.

Wait. I think it is happening already. Talented architects, educated from Yale, Berkeley, UCLA, SciArch are starting to catch on to the fact that their skills could actually create a better society. A homeless-less society. If only they would forgo their architectural commission.

I wonder if that French celebrity architect Philippe Starck, who designs homes, restaurants, furniture and kitchenware, might be enticed to design housing for the homeless? For free. I’m sure he makes enough Dollars or Euros on his amazing buildings and products to keep him comfortable for the rest of his life.

Attention, American Institute of Architects. We need your design help. For free.

 

 



August: If they stopped the "Absolute Sobriety for Life" 12-Step Religious Cult nonsense (saving 10's of billions) no one would be homeless. My neighbors drink A LOT and they are not homeless. Why do the homeless have to become completely STERILIZED & TREATED THERAPEUTIC ROBOTIC ZOMBIES to get housing?
Posted 2009-11-06 13:14:10
Mark Holyshepherd: It's been tiring for the rules of law for homeless, but if it takes with the unstinted moral character as a homeless these laws are absolete, why make it standardize? sure a felon is a felon, an addict is an addict, why mix the sober ones? with high hope with this plan and more power! Mark Holyshepherd
Posted 2009-11-04 19:51:47
Rhonda Radomski: I got an apartment from a homeless housing. The problem is it's a revolving door. They find ways to throw you out. If you don't live the way they like your out. But I'm gonna leave before they do that. Maybe I'll head to Australia.
Posted 2009-11-04 13:28:20
inforUm
Linda Rosenberg, MSW
Saving Jobs, Saving Public Dollars: Intervening Before Disability
Linda Rosenberg, MSW
Juan was a delivery driver, but his health problems were putting him at risk of losing his job. His diabetes was poorly controlled and had caused foot ulcers that made it difficult for him to walk. He also had bipolar disorder, which was not being controlled. When he joined the Working Well program in Harris County, Texas, Juan worked with a case manager to get orthopedic shoes, to receive support in developing a diabetic diet and exercise plan, and to make an appointment with a psychiatrist to bring his mental health condition under control. As a result, Juan was able to continue working full time as a delivery driver and received a raise for exceptional performance (Bohman, Stoner, & Chimera, 2009). Working Well is part of the....
Homelessness Resource Center
Digging for Treasure Together: The Spirit of Motivational Interviewing
Homelessness Resource Center
"I believe that people who are trained in Motivational Interviewing have a different perspective on building relationships. Many people are trained to view clients in a paternalistic manner, like they are children. This attitude says that providers always know what is best for a client. This attitude makes us think that we must convince clients that we know what is best for them. In this view, success is measured by the provider’s actions, not the client’s." In the spirit of Motivational Interviewing, Alan Pickett, a Mental Health Outreach Nurse at the Project Outreach Team (PORT) for Washtenaw County Community Mental Health in Ann Arbor, Michigan, does not define success this way. He believes his first task to is to make himse
David J. Jefferson
Take Action and Confront Our Fear of Poverty
David J. Jefferson
“The prevalent fear of poverty among the educated classes is the worst moral disease from which our civilization suffers.” When William James, ostensible father of American Psychology, penned this line over a century ago, he had embedded the idea in a discussion on religious experience, in which he also extolled the virtues of voluntary poverty. Today, in a totally distinct context, James’ words are imbued with new meaning. Due to economic recession and what many economists have deemed a jobless recovery in contemporary America, people who never before feared poverty—the educated, or middle class—must now confront harsh new realities. The current conditions are like nothing we’ve ever seen. Conspiring myriad circumstances....
Jamie Van Leeuwen
Denver Defies Poor Economy to Help Homeless People
Jamie Van Leeuwen
When Denver’s Road Home began over four years ago, we never could have anticipated a year like we just had. Who could ever imagine that our economy would shift into a global recession unlike anything the country has experienced since the Great Depression? And yet, in the midst of unparalleled economic shifts, there comes great opportunity. We believe there has never been a more important time for Denver to have a plan to end homelessness. During the past year, our homeless plan has been tested and we expect the coming year will continue to pose new challenges for us. Housing foreclosures, unemployment and funding cutbacks will continue to place new demands on our ten-year plan to end homelessness. As a result, we updated our plan so....
Linda Valverde & General Dogon
When Revitalization Becomes Gentrification
Linda Valverde & General Dogon
The authors have lived and worked in Central City East—commonly known as Skid Row—for a combined thirty years. During all of our decades of living in Los Angeles, neither of us had ever heard of gentrification until about five years ago, when we became members of the Los Angeles Community Action Network (LA CAN). Now it seems that gentrification has become a common household word in cities throughout the United States, and nowhere more than downtown Los Angeles. When redevelopment really took off in downtown L.A. in 2002, LA CAN and our allies created five principles for fair redevelopment. We wanted to see our neighborhood revitalized, not gentrified. The principles were....






Inforum RSS Feed