Design Activism in Action: Addressing Homelessness through Innovative Solutions - Free Paper

Introduction

Design activists in modern society are vital to solving social justice issues since they look for unique solutions through experimentation and practical social problems. According to Fuad-Luke (2009), design activists can challenge the underlying ethical considerations by finding the best fit between economic viability, and cultural, ethical, and ecological truth that enhances mutual benefit to human problems. The design discipline breathes new counter-narratives that enhance positive reforms by applying design knowledge but must take into account the diversity and complexity involved in locating social problems and must be focused on ensuring social justice so that no individual or social group is disadvantaged at the expense of others (Fuad-Luke, 2009). In essence, there exists no readymade cookbook to solve social justice problems, which highlights the extreme importance of design activists. In this paper, the homelessness social problem will be addressed by applying design principles to improve homeless individuals' well-being.

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Addressing Homelessness as a Social Problem

In most cases, disadvantaged groups like the disabled and minority groups belonging to the lower socioeconomic class face more significant unmet needs than the rest of the population, not have disabilities (Gulley & Altman, 2008). While traditionally, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has been hailed as a popular approach to measuring wellness, there is no direct measure between the quality of life and GDP (York & Bell, 2014). Indeed, more educators, sociologists, and scholars call for more direct measures like social factors and social inequalities to measure the quality of life of nations (York & Bell, 2014). Coming up with a design framework to solve social justice problems will, therefore, enhance the community's quality of life. In particular, homelessness is a substantial social justice problem that has led to poor quality health, including increased risk of drug and substance abuse and mental health disorders. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), over 65 million people globally are displaced from their homes due to human rights violations and domestic feuds, making them homeless (Floyd & Sakellariou, 2017). Additionally, millions of individuals who have lost jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic are likely to face economic hardships rendering them homeless.

Three of the most recent design principles to address homelessness include transitional housing, forced savings, and the housing first approach. Forced saving works on the principle of implementing personal saving schemes for individuals to save a proportion of their income that would them become house-ready financially and personally when they move out of transitional accommodations into more permanent housing structures. Transitional housing refers to providing intermediate supportive services like life skills and training but temporarily to assist the homeless in overcoming issues like drug and substance abuse and beginning to rebuild self-reliance. They face the limitations of restricting the length of stay and are only useful if affordable independent housing facilities are available. Transitional housing and forced savings only provide temporary solutions and are therefore ineffective in reducing homelessness in the long term. Such similar temporary housing services are usually just staircases that only assist between 30%-50% of homeless individuals into stable, independent accommodations (Quilgars & Pleace, 2016).

On the other hand, the housing first approach works under the principle of getting the homeless persons out of the street immediately and placing them in permanent accommodations free of charge with additional choice options concerning the use of drug and mental health services (Quilgars & Pleace, 2016). The goal is to enable homeless individuals to stabilize in the new environments with no prior mandatory requirements for service rendered to be house-ready. Still, instead, additional support is given to support housing needs with some choice on preferred locations to stay. It works based on the foundation that housing is a human right, incorporates active engagement with the homeless victims, and avails as much flexible support as required.

Research indicates that among the three approaches, the Housing First approach is the most effective in developed nations like the U.S.A. In European nations, success rates of between 80%-95% are achieved with additional health benefits like better social integration, reduced drug and substance abuse, and positive mental health (Quilgars & Pleace, 2016). The rationale that has been applied in this paper is to identify the root causes of social justice issues and address the ethical concerns that pertain to the unique social problem by applying communication, research, and systems that would improve the livelihood of the community and ensure that the social justice component is met for the disadvantaged and minority groups. Two design approaches to address homelessness include transitional housing and forced savings, but only temporary and just staircases help only between 30%-50% of homeless individuals into stable, independent accommodations. Among the three designs to address homelessness, the Housing First approach is the most effective. It does not require mandatory requirements for individuals to be house-ready, making it more feasible.

References

Floyd, A., & Sakellariou, D. (2017). Healthcare access for refugee women with limited literacy: layers of disadvantage. International Journal For Equity In Health, 16(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-017-0694-8

Fuad-Luke, A. (2009). Design Activism: Beautiful Strangeness for a Sustainable World. London, UK & Sterling Virginia: Earthscan.

Gulley, S., & Altman, B. (2008). Disability in two health care systems: Access, quality, satisfaction, and physician contacts among working-age Canadians and Americans with disabilities. Disability and Health Journal, 1(4). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dhjo.2008.07.006

Quilgars, D., & Pleace, N. (2016). Housing First and Social Integration: A Realistic Aim?. Social Inclusion, 4(4). https://doi.org/10.17645/si.v4i4.672