Accommodation for the homeless

[super27]

This system will bridge the gap between homelessness and working class. It's a system where people can work for a few hours and in return are given points they can exchange for accommodation. There are 300,000 homeless people of working age in England even more in the US. My inspiration has come from homeless people that work in third world countries. Local businesses that contribute will outsource work to the homeless on a minimum rate per hour bases. The work could be carried out at a local center not far from the accommodation and the homeless population. The type of work could vary from sorting, packing, stripping, cleaning, making furniture etc. 3-4 hours worth of work equals one room for the night. The quality of work will be monitored and the more hours completed the more points they get added onto their account.

Homeless people want a place where they can stay safe, warm with privacy and freedom. This block of apartments will give them that. The place will have a check in, security and cleaning system similar to hotels. The room sizes will be similar to student accommodation as well as shared kitchen and bathroom facilities. To keep the cost low the rooms will be somewhat plain. The place will separate females from males and couples.

This system could even be a business that makes a little profit. Local businesses that get involved will benefit by recognition and low cost labor, and the homeless get good night sleep feel better overall.

Reward: Fame and fortune

[greatjay]

Great idea! But how do you propose making any profit if it were to be a business?

[super27]

lets say one homeless person wants accommodation for 1 day. He/she will work 3 hours for that accommodation. The employer (the businesss) will pay minimum wage around £6 per hour. Totaling £18 per night per person. We only need 70% of that £18 to cover staffing, cleaning, building cost, rates etc. The other 30% will hopefully turn into profit!

The price for accommodation i have calculated by comparing with other working examples such as student accommodation where students pay around £60 per week.

[MikelaB]

What if we expanded the idea a little bit? Perhaps this place is not just for homeless, but for everyone. I spent nearly seven years backpacking around the world and the only way I could support my habit was to somehow find live/work situations like a kibbutz in Israel, grape picking in France, or resort jobs in the Mediterranean. I often dreamed of some sort of hostel that I could just stay and work in for as long or as little as I wanted. Ideally I would have loved to have been able to travel from one such live/work place to the other meeting new people and learning new skills.
Result? Homeless people are no longer homeless, shoestring travelers can keep traveling, and companies have a steady flow of workers. Nobody is hungry, sleeping in the street, or lonely....unless they want to be.

http://apocalypse-diy.squarespace.com

[Staab]

It's a nice idea, and something I've been concerned about for some time. I've been trying to figure out a way to personally host a homeless person to get them back on their feet, without endangering my family or possessions, perhaps through some sort of small second house.

However, you might want to consider the sociological implications of the kind of apartment block you're talking about. Not to say that the homeless are scum, but they are often at a much worse place emotionally, financially, and morally than those with homes and families and jobs. I don't know what the result of a concentrated block or two of homeless would do, but I do have a basic understanding of the situation behind "white flight" and the resultant state of places like Detroit.

[jodonow]

This system will bridge the gap between homelessness and working class. It's a system where people can work for a few hours and in return are given points they can exchange for accommodation. There are 300,000 homeless people of working age in England even more in the US. My inspiration has come from homeless people that work in third world countries. Local businesses that contribute will outsource work to the homeless on a minimum rate per hour bases. The work could be carried out at a local center not far from the accommodation and the homeless population. The type of work could vary from sorting, packing, stripping, cleaning, making furniture etc. 3-4 hours worth of work equals one room for the night. The quality of work will be monitored and the more hours completed the more points they get added onto their account.

Homeless people want a place where they can stay safe, warm with privacy and freedom. This block of apartments will give them that. The place will have a check in, security and cleaning system similar to hotels. The room sizes will be similar to student accommodation as well as shared kitchen and bathroom facilities. To keep the cost low the rooms will be somewhat plain. The place will separate females from males and couples.

This system could even be a business that makes a little profit. Local businesses that get involved will benefit by recognition and low cost labor, and the homeless get good night sleep feel better overall.

Reward: Fame and fortune

some clarification please.

Are you suggesting that an organization or private bussiness set up a hostel where one can pay with work for partner businesses?
Or that bussiness in general open up to the possibility of employing people for just a few hours with no commitment?

If the first is what you mean then, that would prevent the homeless of spending their earnings on booze or so, instead of accomodation and other basic needs. sounds good idea. But then there would have to be a law that prevented bussiness employing the homeless directly, (IE for less then they would pay the hostel).

In any case there aren't many bussinesses (if any) that want to pay minimum wage for a few hours of work by people who are not experienced in the job at hand. The first days or weeks in a job is generally worth less then what the wage is, only becomes worthwhile once the employee gaines some experience and thus efficiency in that particullar job.

The only way to make it work is if bussinesses pay consideralbly less then minimum wage.
But yes, that could work: allow by law, non-profits, or bussnisses to set up such a hostal that allows it's tenants to pay in work to affiliated bussineses. And by necessity allow bussinesses to pay less then minimum wage to those particular hostels for the work received.

[jodonow]

This system will bridge the gap between homelessness and working class. It's a system where people can work for a few hours and in return are given points they can exchange for accommodation. There are 300,000 homeless people of working age in England even more in the US. My inspiration has come from homeless people that work in third world countries. Local businesses that contribute will outsource work to the homeless on a minimum rate per hour bases. The work could be carried out at a local center not far from the accommodation and the homeless population. The type of work could vary from sorting, packing, stripping, cleaning, making furniture etc. 3-4 hours worth of work equals one room for the night. The quality of work will be monitored and the more hours completed the more points they get added onto their account.

Homeless people want a place where they can stay safe, warm with privacy and freedom. This block of apartments will give them that. The place will have a check in, security and cleaning system similar to hotels. The room sizes will be similar to student accommodation as well as shared kitchen and bathroom facilities. To keep the cost low the rooms will be somewhat plain. The place will separate females from males and couples.

This system could even be a business that makes a little profit. Local businesses that get involved will benefit by recognition and low cost labor, and the homeless get good night sleep feel better overall.

Reward: Fame and fortune

some clarification please.

Are you suggesting that an organization or private bussiness set up a hostel where one can pay with work for partner businesses?
Or that bussiness in general open up to the possibility of employing people for just a few hours with no commitment?

If the first is what you mean then, that would prevent the homeless of spending their earnings on booze or so, instead of accomodation and other basic needs. sounds good idea. But then there would have to be a law that prevented bussiness employing the homeless directly, (IE for less then they would pay the hostel).

In any case there aren't many bussinesses (if any) that want to pay minimum wage for a few hours of work by people who are not experienced in the job at hand. The first days or weeks in a job is generally worth less then what the wage is, only becomes worthwhile once the employee gaines some experience and thus efficiency in that particullar job.

The only way to make it work is if bussinesses pay consideralbly less then minimum wage.

But yes, that could work: allow by law, non-profits, or bussnisses to set up such a hostal that allows it's tenants to pay in work to affiliated bussineses. And by necessity allow bussinesses to pay less then minimum wage to those particular hostels for the work received.

Actually much simpler way to put it is: allow bussinesses or anyone actually to pay with "basic needs credits" that can be used only for basic needs, and the "basic needs credits" would have to be non-transferable.
It's all a question of changing laws to allow for such things, once the law allows it people will make bussiness that do that.