Advocacy against the Increase of Homelessness - Research Paper Example

Advocacy against the Increase of Homelessness The recession being experienced across the United States is one of the main reasons as to why there is an observed increase in the number of people becoming homeless, and in some cases these people require assistance from the government in certain ways. Three sections shall be discussing the roles of certain statutes, bills, and coalitions in the advocacy of preventing homelessness among citizens in the State of Florida. The state addresses homelessness through the implementation of certain laws and statutes that provide assistance to those that need it, as well as temporary housing during emergencies or disasters. Aside from this, other groups also assist in the welfare of the homeless such as the Florida Coalition for the Homeless (FCH), which aid not only in improving the welfare of these persons but also gives information to others with regards to the issues surrounding homelessness. Statute One of the statutes that aim to provide assistance to homeless people in communities both short-term and long-term, reestablish these people towards suitable living conditions and self-sufficiency, as well as assessing whether the grantees are eligible or not for additional benefits is written under Statute No. 420.625 or the Grant-in-Aid Program, under Chapter 420 – Housing which is included in Title XXX - Social Welfare (The Florida Legislature, 2013). The statute acknowledges the need to improve the living conditions and problems that are caused by the increasing number of homeless people, which include both homeless individuals as well as whole families, which may be highly diversified and variable depending on where the community is situated in. Also, there are also provisions for other agencies that assist homeless or displaced persons, as well as the preference of those which target both the newly and temporarily homeless people, which may not be fully possible for the state to manage solely (The Florida Legislature, 2013). Establishment of the statute constitutes the need to help mostly local communities in serving the needs of homeless and displaced people through various support services such as public education programs, information and referral services, case management assistances, emergency financial assistances, temporary and emergency sheltering programs, and provision of meals (The Florida Legislature, 2013). The district administrator handles the applications for funding requests, as well as the allocation and distribution of funds for every funding cycle. Guidelines in the appropriation and release of funds and the formation of evaluation procedures to measure the effectiveness of the programs by grantees are also developed by the budget department, while the approval of spending plans by local agencies seeking for financial assistance would be evaluated and determined by district administrators. Allocations of grants to districts would be dependent on certain factors such as magnitude of the homeless, strength of the commitment of the district in eradicating homelessness through various programs, agreements between local government and private agencies on funding allocations, and the fair and equal distribution of financial support in both urban and local areas. Other types of assistances such as in-kind contributions and cash donations of any amount from other sources such as voluntary contributions are also included in the local funding, which is dependent on the discretion of the district administrator (The Florida Legislature, 2013). Bill An amendment to Statute No. 420.625, which was Senate Bill 1130 on Homelessness of 2012 was approved and rendered effective in July 1, 2012 which addresses a need for additional contributions for the assistance of the homeless through the provision of other opportunities for voluntary contributions, gives a grant to prevent homelessness which includes the strong participation of agencies in a continuum of tracking, monitoring, and reporting on families that were given this grant for a specific amount of time, limits the percentage allotment of funding for administrative costs, and transfers some of the emergency assistance program funds to homelessness prevention grant programs (Florida House of Representatives, 2012). The House Bill 531 is similar to the Senate Bill 1130, except for some additional clauses such as additional eligibility requirements and limitations regarding grants, ranking of applicants competitively or with preference to some over others, as well as repeals on some provisions which relate to emergency assistance programs for families that lost shelters or face losing them due to emergencies (Florida House of Representatives, 2012). Overall, the bill (both HB and SB) aim increase collected funds to be used for homelessness prevention programs, to create much more specific guidelines on how to select families which would be given grants, as well as to assure a continuous process of monitoring the selected families’ improvement as well as progress towards self-sufficiency, as indicated in Statute No. 420.625. Coalition The Florida Coalition for the Homeless, or FCH was created in order to advance the issue of homelessness to become one of the State of Florida’s primary priorities to be addressed. While other coalitions specific to each location (e.g. county, district) and needs (e.g. emergency services, financial aid) also exist within the state, FCH is primarily one of the largest organizations that is able to provide information and education regarding the issue of homelessness in Florida, advocating against laws and ordinances that do not work positively for the homeless and displaced persons, creating and maintaining networks across all homelessness prevention advocates mainly across the state, and strives to unify all advocates in the whole country including government units, individual citizens whether homeless or not, other local coalitions of the same ideals, service providers and religious units in the implementation of a nationwide solution for the prevention of homelessness across the United States (Florida Coalition for the Homeless, FCH, 2006). Most of the information available in the FCH website is easy to access and free of charge, including some of the bills that might have potential impact to the homeless and displaced like SB 1130 and HB 531, as well as some methods that communities are doing in order to help the homeless in the process of becoming self-sufficient (FCH, 2012). While the FCH would not benefit greatly in terms of financial assistance from the passing of SB 1130, the organization would be able to source out funds through other methods, as well as to continue giving services to other people through distribution of free educational materials. These materials are of great help in terms of educating many people with regards to issues of homelessness in Florida, especially to agencies that directly support programs for the homeless. While the coalition does need certain amounts to keep the site from being closed, it must also be noticed that the vast amount of information in the Technical Assistance section readily available to the public, that in itself is altruistic since the members of the coalition have nothing monetary to gain by giving away free information. FCH also provides directories of various homelessness coalitions across Florida shows that aside from establishing and maintaining networks of organizations, FCH also gives assurance to the homeless citizens that in one way or another, they could identify some groups nearest to them that would come to their aid. Thus the FCH does not solely show itself as the only entity capable of campaigning for the prevention of homelessness, but it also introduces other groups to people that also believe in similar aims and causes. References Florida Coalition for the Homeless. (2006). Florida Coalition for the Homeless: About Us. Retrieved from About the Florida Coalition for the Homeless: http://www.fchonline.org/AboutUs.asp Read More