Making Welcome Home Even Better

I thought the Welcome Home group project's idea was very useful to society. When most people think of homelessness, I know they often think of individuals with mental illness, drug abuse, or laziness.

Many of the stereotypes that come with homelessness are incorrect because a large majority of homeless people are families and people who are just down on their luck. According to Doorways for women and families, roughly 600,000 families in the United States experience homelessness every year. Also, according to Doorways for women and families, the leading cause of homelessness is a lack of affordable housing. This means that people can be working hard, but not be able to feed their families, provide medical care, pay for school enrollment, cars, and pay for housing at the same time.

I feel like Welcome Home is a good idea because it gives homeless individuals and homeless families the chance to get back on their feet. One of the most important changes I think Welcome Home needs to make is to increase the time they can stay in the housing to 3 months. I feel like this change would give people the chance to find a job, if they do not have one already, and receive a few pay checks so they can start saving money. Another change they could make is to make a few slightly larger houses that could fit more people in them. I feel like this is important because it can give homeless people some company and it would let them take in more people at a time. 

Another addition I think they could make is to offer free medical care for the people who live in their housing. They could provide preventative health care and address other current medical needs. For example, they could offer free immunizations for common preventable illnesses and physical exams. Offering preventative healthcare is important because it is easier to prevent people from getting sick than have to pay a lot of medical bills later. It is very easy for medical bills to deplete savings and to cost more than insurance will cover, so the Welcome Home organization would want the people they help to continue to be financial stable and not be hit hard by unexpected medical bills. 

Overall, I thought the Welcome Home group's project was very well thought out and an important addition to society. I feel like housing like this would be very useful in large cities, such as Memphis, which have a lot of poverty and homelessness rates. I think with a few small changes they could make Welcome Home even better!