Project Goals
This project aims to establish the issues surrounding the homelessness crisis in New York, and using those, research and analyze different policy recommendations involving a full understanding of the different authorities that currently uphold the complex, and who should be given the power instead.  This week centered on clarifying the main question of how that power-play is currently structured, and why the city may be investing so much in a strategy that causes more harm than good.

Project Design/Strategy & Key Activities
In attempts to finish the white paper, we all have been working to clarify most of our data. We have a firm understanding of the historical roots of the issue from a vicissitude of readings and texts, thus the historical context and current predicament are well debated and comprehended in the context of New York. In the white paper, we have been researching more into expanding on the root issues with cluster sites, including private owners and their control, the lack of organization of regulations of standards, etc.   Further research was also put into an organization of the cluster side violations, which have been put into a spreadsheet, listed out by location, and filled in with the various code violations from the recent Department of Buildings Information System report.

The nitty-gritty comes in with policies, mainly, trying to dive deeper into why certain policies are still in commission when they are clearly not doing as much good as others could be in their substitute. Change is not instant, but it is inevitable, and the question of when is very pressing, now more than ever, and increasingly as this homelessness issue starts to grow in magnitude. It’s very difficult to dig into these more covered-up processes, and since the majority of funds are given to private developers, and those records are not published, it makes the system difficult to track. However, we have focused efforts on instead trying to elucidate the processes towards solutions better suited to the problem, such as CGCs, but primarily CLTs.

Also, with Model City Council this weekend, we have been thinking about how to structure our presentation and somewhat collectively agreed that we need visuals and a PowerPoint presentation to present a well-rounded analysis and extrapolation of homelessness. Since our project decided to focus on how we got here, the here and now, and policy recommendations, the presentation will follow this chronology of evolution and end in our suggestions for the policy we support (CLTs) as well as an outline of how these work, since that seems to be the primary source of confusion. Clarifying this policy will help people not only to see how wrong the current state is, but also to see how the power needs to shift into the hands of the community. This is a rather ingenious policy, but a lot gets lost in translation with the many characters and circumstances of the land and its ownership. Perhaps a visual flow chart, or graphic, will be utilized to trace the timeline of necessary events and transactions.

With the brochure, much of our information will be re-directed verbally as if speaking to one of the three audiences; shelter residents, rent-stabilized residents, and the general public.  All can relate to and understand the historical context, but since the policies are regarding the current structure, it is important that each group sees how the system is affecting them directly, and how it could be better.

Work Plan:
– working on presentation materials
– SATURDAY 5/2: Model City Council
– MONDAY 5/4: meeting with Picture the Homeless
– MONDAY 5/11: presentation to Picture the Homeless (have draft of pop-ed brochures to present for feedback)
-MONDAY 5/18: submit final pop-ed piece

Proposed Deliverables:
– White Paper – all
– Pop-education piece (jobs previously assigned)
– pamphlet & website design
– pamphlet info
– Presentation boards/powerpoint:
-based on who did what for the white paper, consolidating this information into a short speech and choosing appropriate graphics and summarized text.