Fluent Essays

Problem Solution Blog (Homelessness)Based on the various homelessness articles and videos from class, choose ONE TOPIC to focus your blog on. Here is the Prompt: What is one of the primary problems in homelessness in the United States and what is a possible solution for this problem? A blog is communicating a personal opinion and perspective, is informal, can include 1st and 2nd person, does not need to include research and citations, and is usually posted online (but you will just upload it to Canvas).Your blog should be about 2 pages, double spaced, 12 Font. You should:Have paragraphs that each center around one main ideaStart by explaining the problem in your own opinionTransition into giving a practical solution for this problemYour problem and solution should MATCHRemember that this is your opinion, but you can include some citations from news or research if you want to (remember to cite with a title and author)Only focus on ONE problem and ONE solution for that problem (not many).Be careful to avoid any plagiarism. Use these questions to organize your ideas:(consider writing one paragraph on each question)In one sentence, what do you think is the main problem regarding homelessness in the United States?Why is this a significant problem?How did this problem develop?What is a possible solution for this problem?How will this solution work?Why is this a good solution?https://www.ted.com/talks/richard_j_berry_a_practical_way_to_help_the_homeless_find_work_and_safety?referrer=playlist-the_issue_of_homelessness&language=en&fbclid=IwAR1J0qleBzZpCFzkOeeov4cdOKQCkzp8UpXp7a4vVZoglgoSujRwNBnO7Jchttps://www.ted.com/talks/kitra_cahana_a_glimpse_of_life_on_the_road?referrer=playlist-the_issue_of_homelessness&fbclid=IwAR1tzIHG_WJXLdoNGJnFQXk-Po4WOr20-1zcJvnj4JHicejYU9EyLTNH30c article_one.docx article_one.docx article_2.docx Unformatted Attachment Preview 3-D-printed homes could provide shelter to world’s most vulnerable people This 3-D printed home is a petite replica of the houses that will soon shelter vulnerable people throughout the world. Photo: New Story and ICON By Rashmi Shivni, PBS News Hour 05/02/2018 More than 1 billion people live in slums without adequate housing. A San Francisco-based nonprofit has set out to tackle global homelessness in a new way: by 3-D printing homes. The first of these homes was on display at South by Southwest in March in a backyard in Austin. The 400-square-foot model house has a rounded porch, wood-paneled ceilings and large, vertical windows along its front side. It was cozy, with a customized bedroom, bathroom and living space. The companies behind the home are New Story and the construction tech startup ICON. Their goals are ambitious, and their focus – for now – is on building houses in the Caribbean and Central and South America. This is just the first step, Evan Loomis, ICONs co-founder, said of the Austin model. And later this year, we want to build about 10 homes in El Salvador and an entire village of over 100 homes by early 2019. New Story has already constructed more than 850 homes, not using 3-D printers, in Haiti, El Salvador and Bolivia. But each home was taking too much time to build, given the scope of the problem. We have a sense of urgency, said Alexandria Lafci, New Storys co-founder and COO. We have a pretty aggressive timeline because the time is now to help these families in need. Cue ICON. Nearly a year ago, a mutual friend introduced the CEOs of both companies knowing one was mulling over new tools to rapidly construct homes and the other had the perfect tool to construct buildings in a matter of hours – the Vulcan 3-D printer. ICONs Vulcan works quickly and efficiently with little manpower. But using such a massive 3-D printer in the developing world is tricky. For example, in El Salvador, power outages are commonplace and the terrain is sensitive to flooding and earthquakes. The Vulcan plugs into an outlet or runs on a battery, but when the electricity starts flickering, its backup, built-in generator kicks in. ICON decided to use concrete because its stable, but it takes time to solidify. So to expedite the process, the company developed Vulcan to use a proprietary concrete mixture that is loose enough to ooze rapidly into 1-inch-thick slabs but dense enough to quickly solidify into a hardy structure. This step is important because the printing process happens in one fell swoop, allowing the Vulcan to build homes in under 24 hours. It prints homes at about 600 to 800 square feet – just enough for a three- to four-person family – and capable of protecting people from natural disasters. The models cost $10,000 to build. But the developers believe they can eventually be built for as low as $4,000. Lawrence Sass, an associate professor of architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who is not affiliated with either company, said these homes are a great start, but 3-D printing might not be the best tool for creating hazard-free homes. Ive worked with 3-D printers since 2000, and Ive found 3-D printing is good for some things but its really terrible for making most objects, especially an object thats over a square meter, Sass said. [3-D printers], so far, lay material horizontally, and its structurally not sound. So if theres an earthquake, it would be like stacking up paper and watching the pages slide back and forth. New Story and ICON want to focus the next year on two aspects of the house designs: durability and safety. Sasss other main concern is the lack of support materials for windows and doors. The 3-D printers lay out the structure of the home first, so someone has to go in and add the small fixings. Sass worries doors or windows wont be secure enough in the structure to endure extreme weather events. Sass suggested that these companies look into digital fabrication, which combines the efficiency of 3-D printing with computer-aided design (CAD). It will take more time (Sass built a home in 2008 in about 20 days), but the process ensures that each nook and cranny fits securely into the structure. A trial period (possibly starting by the end of 2018) for the first homes will give the families in El Salvador a chance to customize their homes to the landscape and program their housing needs into the Vulcan. This is an open-source pursuit, so eventually, we want to make this technology available to others, Lafci said. That collective effort is what will drastically reduce the number of people dealing with housing inequity. 3-D-printed homes could provide shelter to world’s most vulnerable people This 3-D printed home is a petite replica of the houses that will soon shelter vulnerable people throughout the world. Photo: New Story and ICON By Rashmi Shivni, PBS News Hour 05/02/2018 More than 1 billion people live in slums without adequate housing. A San Francisco-based nonprofit has set out to tackle global homelessness in a new way: by 3-D printing homes. The first of these homes was on display at South by Southwest in March in a backyard in Austin. The 400-square-foot model house has a rounded porch, wood-paneled ceilings and large, vertical windows along its front side. It was cozy, with a customized bedroom, bathroom and living space. The companies behind the home are New Story and the construction tech startup ICON. Their goals are ambitious, and their focus – for now – is on building houses in the Caribbean and Central and South America. This is just the first step, Evan Loomis, ICONs co-founder, said of the Austin model. And later this year, we want to build about 10 homes in El Salvador and an entire village of over 100 homes by early 2019. New Story has already constructed more than 850 homes, not using 3-D printers, in Haiti, El Salvador and Bolivia. But each home was taking too much time to build, given the scope of the problem. We have a sense of urgency, said Alexandria Lafci, New Storys co-founder and COO. We have a pretty aggressive timeline because the time is now to help these families in need. Cue ICON. Nearly a year ago, a mutual friend introduced the CEOs of both companies knowing one was mulling over new tools to rapidly construct homes and the other had the perfect tool to construct buildings in a matter of hours – the Vulcan 3-D printer. ICONs Vulcan works quickly and efficiently with little manpower. But using such a massive 3-D printer in the developing world is tricky. For example, in El Salvador, power outages are commonplace and the terrain is sensitive to flooding and earthquakes. The Vulcan plugs into an outlet or runs on a battery, but when the electricity starts flickering, its backup, built-in generator kicks in. ICON decided to use concrete because its stable, but it takes time to solidify. So to expedite the process, the company developed Vulcan to use a proprietary concrete mixture that is loose enough to ooze rapidly into 1-inch-thick slabs but dense enough to quickly solidify into a hardy structure. This step is important because the printing process happens in one fell swoop, allowing the Vulcan to build homes in under 24 hours. It prints homes at about 600 to 800 square feet – just enough for a three- to four-person family – and capable of protecting people from natural disasters. The models cost $10,000 to build. But the developers believe they can eventually be built for as low as $4,000. Lawrence Sass, an associate professor of architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who is not affiliated with either company, said these homes are a great start, but 3-D printing might not be the best tool for creating hazard-free homes. Ive worked with 3-D printers since 2000, and Ive found 3-D printing is good for some things but its really terrible for making most objects, especially an object thats over a square meter, Sass said. [3-D printers], so far, lay material horizontally, and its structurally not sound. So if theres an earthquake, it would be like stacking up paper and watching the pages slide back and forth. New Story and ICON want to focus the next year on two aspects of the house designs: durability and safety. Sasss other main concern is the lack of support materials for windows and doors. The 3-D printers lay out the structure of the home first, so someone has to go in and add the small fixings. Sass worries doors or windows wont be secure enough in the structure to endure extreme weather events. Sass suggested that these companies look into digital fabrication, which combines the efficiency of 3-D printing with computer-aided design (CAD). It will take more time (Sass built a home in 2008 in about 20 days), but the process ensures that each nook and cranny fits securely into the structure. A trial period (possibly starting by the end of 2018) for the first homes will give the families in El Salvador a chance to customize their homes to the landscape and program their housing needs into the Vulcan. This is an open-source pursuit, so eventually, we want to make this technology available to others, Lafci said. That collective effort is what will drastically reduce the number of people dealing with housing inequity. Bringing outreach programs to Georgia campuses to help homeless students Samuel Robinson, who is a homeless student, studies at the library, where he spends most of his time, on the Kennesaw State University campus, Feb. 5, 2014, in Kennesaw, Ga. Hyosub Shin/Atlanta Journal-Constitution/MCT By Janel Davis, Atlanta Journal-Constitution 03/05/2014 ATLANTA — Javon Butts had his routine worked out pretty well. Classes at 8 a.m. most days, finish up around noon, then on to work. His recent life as a student at Kennesaw State University was far from perfect, but it was temporarily manageable. And then his car’s transmission failed. The vehicle that left him stranded wasn’t just his transportation: It was his home. He’s not alone, said Marcy Stidum, coordinator of KSU’s CARE center, which helps homeless students. Most every college in the nation has students like Javon Butts. They attend classes each day, work on assignments and blend in. But when other students retreat to dorm rooms or apartments for the night, they turn to their cars, campus buildings and the couches or floors of friends. To tackle the problem, Georgia education and child advocacy officials are creating an outreach program to help homeless and former foster youths at each state campus. For now, KSU is the only Georgia college with a staff person dedicated to helping homeless students. “People say these students aren’t homeless, they are in college,” said Stidum. Grants and loans pay for tuition, but it’s the other things like housing that they can’t afford. They are not the stereotypical homeless. These are students with clothes on their backs, with an iPad, living in their car, and starving.” Stidum came to KSU to work in the school’s mental health program, but a year into that job she received a call about a homeless student. After helping almost a dozen homeless students that semester, she realized it was a problem. Since fall 2011, KSU’s CARE center has helped 61 homeless students, including Butts. Butts, a sophomore finance major from Gainesville, came to KSU in August 2012 after transferring from a South Carolina college. A bad experience there and a strained relationship with his family left him looking for a fresh start. At that time Butts, 20, settled into college life and a university dorm, and spent his time playing paintball. In fall 2013, he was using his student loan money to pay his monthly student housing bill. But before he paid the third month’s rent, his mother and sister needed help paying their bills, so Butts gave them his rent money. He was unable to recoup the money, got further and further behind on his financial obligations and was eventually evicted. “I wanted to look out for them,” he said. “But in reality you have to look out for yourself.” During the 2012-2013 academic year, more than 58,150 college applicants nationwide identified themselves on federal financial forms as homeless. That was an increase from the previous year’s 53,705, according to information obtained by the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth. That figure is likely understated because some students living on friends’ couches, for example, don’t consider themselves homeless, and some others are too embarrassed to identify themselves that way, said Barbara Duffield, NAEHCY’s executive director. Last year the national group began keeping geographical statistics on the homeless students who consulted it for help. NAEHCY received 260 requests for assistance that year, and calls from Georgia outnumbered all other states. “That lets me know that the state (department of education) is working with NAEHCY and letting kids know about this, but it also lets me know that gaps still exist for these students,” said Cyekeia Lee, NAEHCY’s national higher education liaison for homeless youth. Under Georgia’s new program, each college would have staff like KSU’s Stidum, assigned to identify and provide support for those students. These days Butts, who wants to be a financial analyst, keeps pretty much to himself. The less other students know about his situation the better. He has a hotel room but can’t afford it for long. With Stidum’s help from KSU, he is looking for a cheaper off-campus apartment until he has saved up enough from his job and student loan to move on campus in the fall. The model for the state’s new effort is similar to approaches in other states where campus coaches help homeless students navigate the college process, but also teach life skills like paying bills. On the federal level, U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., is pushing a bill that would help homeless students by streamlining the financial aid process, reducing paperwork and establishing a point of contact at each college to help them along the way. That type of help is benefitting students like Samuel Robinson, 38, who has been homeless more than a year. He didn’t start out that way. After graduating from high school in the bottom of his class, Robinson worked menial jobs for a while before getting an associate degree in general studies and business. He left small-town Georgia for better opportunities in the Atlanta area, but again found menial employment. He enrolled in KSU in 2010, and was slowly working his way through school when he lost his job two years later. Stidum is helping Robinson work out a budget to pay off outstanding college fees in time to reenroll for the summer semester. He is still living with friends, but he now has a job to pay for his living expenses there. Like Butts, Robinson never told his family about his struggle. “I don’t want pity,” he said. “It’s embarrassing to be an adult and be homeless.” ... Purchase answer to see full attachment