A California group has initiated a crowdfunding effort to solve the U.S. homeless crisis by building a 300-acre city open exclusively to those without a home.
Daune Nason, founder of the Folsom-based Citizens Again, released details Thursday of his plans for an estimated $3 billion private city equipped with amenities and services for a 150,000 “high-needs” population….According to a press release, the all-inclusive city will offer high-density housing in dormitories consisting of sleeping quarters and communal bathrooms with private showers.Residents would be provided RFID-enabled wristbands to gain access to their dorm rooms as well as perform tasks such as job check-in, purchasing items with credits, medicine consumption, and more.Each of the four neighborhoods will have their own cafeteria and kitchen and multiple scheduled eating times to accommodate a 150,000-person population, according to Nason.
According to the Citizen Again website, homeless personnel would be evaluated to determine if they were qualified at processing centers.
Eligibility will be determined there, along with citizen processing and initial healthcare checkups and hygiene services. They will then travel via trains, planes, buses, etc., to the City.Upon arriving, they will go through an onboarding process with additional healthcare checkups and services, orientation programs, and more.It’s vital to ensure integration success. So after onboarding tasks are completed, citizens will be introduced into the City with guided tours and will be assigned a fellow citizen Buddy to guide them around and answer questions. Every citizen will have a designated staff counselor and will have daily check-ins during the integration period to help with the integration process.
According to the crowdfunding page, the keys to success of the City will be connecting homeless to personal improvement resources and economies of scale:
For those that wish to better themselves, or prepare to reenter society, the City will provide:• Counseling and therapy• Life skills training• Educational services• Job training• Reentry support services• And moreExtensive calculations using analogous and parametric estimates were used to identify preliminary estimates for the cost to build, run, and staff the city.These calculations clearly indicate the City will cost billions less than what is already being spent today.All of this is ONLY possible by using a single location for a large population to reach economies of scale.Economies of scale will allow significant cost savings resulting from:• Volume discounts (food, clothes, building materials, etc.)• Buying affordable land (1 lot vs. 4,000 lots across America)• Dedicated medical team (vs. costs from ambulances, ERs, and private hospitals)• Consolidated staff (1 central team vs. spread across America)• Utilize technology to increase efficiency (security, access, etc.)• And so much moreEconomies of scale will allow a 93% REDUCTION of what is spent per person today ($3k per year vs. $80k).
Theoretically, qualified citizens are free to leave at any time. However, once they leave, there will be a waiting period for reentry to discourage frequent departures.
The chief problem with this plan is that the qualified citizens don’t tend to follow rules that are the hallmark of civilized living. Furthermore, a significant segment of the homeless population has mental health issues, who also neglect to follow medical recommendations or voluntarily remain in controlled living situations.
Should this plan move forward, which is doubtful at this price-tag, the “CitY” would be a draw for homeless across the country to descend on California. That would be great for those of you who live elsewhere, but Californians might be inspired to continue their exodus from this state.
The City will require approximately 500 acres to achieve the vision Citizens Again has laid out. Where, exactly, would the City be built? If the surrounding area were to be kept safe from those who voluntarily exit the City, the security would have to be addressed, as well as the public health issues.
The fact that the project has crowdfunded only $670 of its $50,000 goal indicates there is a fair amount of skepticism about its likely success.
However, to be fair to Citizens Again, its plan is still better than those being offered by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is now blaming the state’s homelessness crisis on President Trump.
California Governor Gavin Newsom says that California’s failure to curb rising homelessness in cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco is the fault of President Donald Trump and the Trump Administration, not a stalemate in the California legislature or failed progressive efforts to curb the rise of tent cities and transient populations.Speaking in Sacramento, California, last week, Newsom claimed that Trump is deliberately withholding “key information” that California needs in order to properly address the homelessness problem, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
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