There is a solution to the nation’s homelessness crisis. The solution is to build ultra-low-cost centers with in-house dining and medical services on inexpensive land just outside populated areas and then fully care for each resident. The centers should provide their residents with a variety of learning options and activities — online and in-house classrooms, pools, tennis courts, game rooms, art and music studios, carpentry shops, etc. to create an environment so wonderful that residents never want to go back to the streets. As explained at lotfi-zadeh.com, the cost of each housing unit would be approximately $5,000, and the annual cost of caring for each resident would be approximately $10,000.
Cost Comparison for California
California spent $24 billion over five years, or approximately $5 billion a year, on its homelessness programs to take care of, on average, approximately 170,000 homeless people. During that period, homelessness increased by more than 20%. Had California built ultra-low-cost housing for all its homeless population in 2018 and fully cared for them as we propose, it would have cost California taxpayers $850 million to build housing for all 170,000 homeless people and $1.7 billion a year for their care. [Fewer than 170,000 units would be needed because some homeless individuals have families and each unit is large enough to hold a man and his wife, or an adult with children.] California taxpayers would have saved more than $14 billion and completely ended homelessness five years ago.
Answers to likely concerns
Are the homes temporary or permanent? The homes are permanent. They are not tents. The structures are state of the art, weigh 150 pounds, but are sturdy, cost $1,500 each and have an estimated life of 30 years.
What about drug addicts and violent offenders? Residents will be screened for violent behavior and drug addiction. Those exhibiting violent tendencies will not be allowed at the centers. There will be separate facilities for drug addicts.
Will people want to go? It’s a choice between being hungry, cold and sleeping on the street with essentially no hope, versus being fed, warm and sleeping in your own room with multiple ways to grow and improve. The homeless people I’ve talked to love the idea. Residents can leave whenever they want so there is no downside to checking out a facility. Once the first center is built and receives rave reviews, everyone will want to live in one.
Aren’t you giving some people a free ride? Any person who leaves their low-cost unit and moves to a center will free up that unit for someone else. In other words, such “free loading” will not change the number of available low-cost units. The bottom line is that 170,000 new housing units will be built very inexpensively, all the tents will be gone from the streets and California taxpayers will save billions of dollars.
Where might the centers be built and what would be the impact on nearby communities? The centers will be at least five to 10 miles from populated areas, possibly in Merced or Lancaster in California or Scio in New York State. Nearby communities are likely to benefit, as the centers will purchase much of their food and supplies from local farmers and merchants.
How long would the construction take? Once a state gets behind the program to cut through red tape, construction should take at most six months.
Would residents have an opportunity to rejoin society? Residents will be offered online classes as well as in-house classes in carpentry, auto repair, sewing, art, musical composition, cooking, etc. Residents can leave whenever they want and rejoin society with their new skills.
What would it cost to end homelessness in the United States? With an estimated 650,000 homeless people nationwide, it would cost approximately $3.25 billion to build 650,000 units and around $6.5 billion a year to fully care for all the residents. That is about one-10th of 1% of federal spending, which, in 2023, was $6.2 trillion.
Below is a site plan for a 1,000-unit trial facility. Its capacity can be increased by adding blocks of units around the sides.
LOTFI ZADEH FOUNDATION
Preliminary Site Plan for 1000+ Units
840’ x 760’ – 14.65 ACRES
About the Author: Dr. Norman Zadeh (aka Zada) taught Operations Research in a visiting capacity at Stanford, UCLA, UC Irvine, and Columbia Universities between 1975 and 1983. He managed hedge funds from 1991 to 2012. His father, Lotfi Zadeh, is a computer scientist known for creating fuzzy logic and fuzzy sets.
For more information, contact Dr. Norman Zadeh at norman@lotfi-zadeh.com, or visit lotfi-zadeh.com.
