Sheltering U.S. Persons Unsheltered

SUMMARY: World Shelters’ mission is to provide temporary and transitional shelter for persons in need, including persons unsheltered in the U.S., a.k.a. “homeless”. We have developed an economically sustainable, jurisdictionally conforming and technically unique design for emergency and transitional shelter that we propose to demonstrate in three jurisdictions in California.

PROBLEM SPACE: Over 750,000 people in the U.S. are without housing; in California over 170,000. Substantial discrimination against homeless persons prohibits implementation of many shelter programs, especially those intended for the neediest populations. The synergy of civil rights and design science offers a meaningful solution for emergency and transitional shelter by right.

SOLUTION: The opportunity is at hand to create sufficient shelter capacity for all persons unsheltered in every jurisdiction in California with legally conforming and economically self-sustaining programs affordable by those in need. California’s Senate Bill 2 establishes civil rights, zoning and development standards that have not yet been effectively utilized to establish emergency and transitional shelter programs. World Shelters’ initiative establishes successful emergency/transitional shelter demonstration projects in California. This will lead other states, towards replicating the civil rights model of zoning for emergency shelter by right to enable World Shelters and other providers to dramatically increase shelter capacity for persons unsheltered in every community in a legally conforming and economically sustainable manner.

The underlying principles that guide us in this strategy include:
• making each program financially self-sustaining, scalable and replicable;
• integrating and coordinating with local stakeholders;
• working to provide necessary complementary services;
• providing the means for individuals to take steps towards their personal preferred state;
• creating a ramp for our disadvantaged neighbors to step once again into the social and economic milieu.

Initial phases of our model have been proven and replicated at two different scales in two different locales (Ventura and Humboldt County). See http://www.worldshelters.org.

CONTACT PERSON: [email protected]