Re: today 10-11am webinar: #BuiltForZero [homelessness] & Public Interest Technology #builtforzero
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Tim McCormick
recent story on Built For Zero, in Next City: "Bakersfield is the first city in California to achieve functional zero for any category, and Maguire says that’s an important milestone in a state with an infamously tough housing crisis. “[Bakersfield] is not L.A., but it’s a decent-sized city combined with a huge rural county,” Maguire says. “It’s a large, complex geography in one of the highest-cost states in America, with conservative politicians and lots of things that would make people say, ‘That’s not the place to go solve homelessness.’ But actually, Bakersfield did it.” One reason why Bakersfield has had success in reducing its chronically homeless population is because the Housing Authority of the County of Kern has committed time and resources to helping. Heather Kimmel was leading Built for Zero work at the California Veterans Assistance Foundation before joining the housing authority, where she now works as assistant executive director. The Housing Authority of the County of Kern has been uniquely committed to serving people experiencing homelessness for years, Kimmel says, but more housing authorities are starting to focus explicitly on the issue. “The link between the housing authority’s resources and ending homelessness is becoming more and more clear,” Kimmel says. “A community can’t effectively address homelessness without a strong partnership with the housing authority.” Sounds good, right? Solutions Journalism! with apologies, I find I once again have a contrarian take... see below cartoon   @tmccormick: how the story went..How the situation's going.. Chronic homeless reduced by 70 people; total, by PIT count, increased by 570 people, 27%, in a year. Perhaps better story is, why we're hearing #BuiltForZero story, vs of the less attention-deserving poor? c/@anikasinghlemar @JakeMaguire as I tweeted to story author, editor, Next City co-founder acquaintance, and #BuiltForZero program head Jake Maguire. Not so incidentally, I recently watched Maguire present to Portland area's homelessnes policy board, A Home For Everyone. AHFE's Executive Committee has basically preemptorily adopted BuiltForZero's program and policy guidance, with no public discussion, in a manner and direction I find rather problematic for multiple reasons.
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-- Tim McCormick Portland, Oregon
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