Cycles of Risk
People who grew up in precarious home environments are more likely to raise children in similar contexts, although that’s not necessarily their intention. The risk factors associated with homelessness are especially dangerous in this way; they get passed down generationally. Studies have found a strong relationship between the amount of childhood maltreatment and family dysfunction that homeless parents experienced and the amount that their children were experiencing. Poverty has also been also associated with child maltreatment, indicating that young people are growing up exposed to the same risks their homeless parents did.
For example, women who were abused as children are more likely to become targets for violence as adults through no fault of their own. If they have children with abusive partners, then their children are at risk for poverty, abuse, residential instability, foster care placement, and many other predictors of future homelessness, creating a cycle of risk that’s extremely difficult to break out of.
The Toiletries Delivery is enabling a couple of our HACA members to build, test, and develop a toiletries delivery service that fills the gaps they see in the existing homelessness system. This process is helping us understand how we can proactively enable people experiencing homelessness to help themselves by developing opportunities for them to help their community.
The Toiletries Delivery is enabling a couple of our HACA members to build, test, and develop a toiletries delivery service that fills the gaps they see in the existing homelessness system. This process is helping us understand how we can proactively enable people experiencing homelessness to help themselves by developing opportunities for them to help their community.
Prototypes
Prototypes are future services under construction. These are the services we are currently testing iteratively and co-creating with people who have lived experience of homelessness.
TOILETRIES DELIVERY
SERVICE
The Toiletries Delivery Service is enabling a couple members from the Lived Experience Advisory Group to build, test, and develop a delivery service that fills a gap they see in the existing homelessness system. This process is helping us understand how we can proactively enable people experiencing homelessness to help themselves by developing opportunities for them to help their community.
C4
C4 stands for the Collaborative Care Communications Center. C4 will provide first-responders across Texas and Travis County with a single point of access to homelessness related services. First-responders will be able to connect people experiencing homelessness to needed services including medical care, mental health services, social services, sobriety treatment, etc. Additionally, C4 can help provide a warm hand-off to services and help coordinate logistical processes like transportation and setting up appointments.
PHONE
BOOTH
The Phone Booth reduces communication barriers by freely connecting people to family and friends, employers, and homelessness services in Austin. Additionally, the Phone Booth also collects relevant data about which services are accessed and at what frequency, allowing the system to think more dynamically about placement and support of services.
LIFE
UNIVERSITY
At Life University, people experiencing homelessness can learn personal self-care skills, professional development skills, and housing and life skills. Classes can be taught by service providers, voluntary community members and mentors, and people experiencing homelessness. Classes can be hosted in underused spaces that are temporarily repurposed for pop-up classes.