Homelessness in Utah

Submitted by:
Jorge Falcon, Emina Hadrovic, Monica Smith, Jesse Winslow
Salt Lake Community College, Communications 1010-15-F16
Nicole Anderson
November 2, 2016

Table of Contents
Executive Summary ......Pg.2
Project Description Pg.2
Methods .....Pg.3
History ...Pg.4
Characteristics Pg.4
Stakeholders ...Pg.5
Policy and Politics .....Pg.5
Problem and Solutions ...Pg.6
Conclusion .....Pg.7
Work Cited .........Pg.9
Appendix

...Pg.11
Appendix
......Pg.13

Executive Summary
Homelessness is a huge problem in Utah, the low minimum wage, mental and physical
illnesses as well as drug dealers and the homeless who buy the drugs (even though they cant
afford them) arent making the homelessness problem any easier to manage. We need to provide
more help to those in need, if we want to problem to be solved. The swarming homeless
population hasnt helped with businesses either, being that homeless disrupt these
establishments. Homelessness is said to be brought on by the housing costs rising as well as
the job market being too picky and not hiring the people that are willing to work. Many people
are affected by the homeless population, including business owners that have establishments
nearby, homeowners, and passers bys.
There is one law in our state government that is helping with the children of homeless
parents, it says that they need to be educated and given a chance, but what we need is a law for
the parents as well as just adults in general. We also need to find a safe place to put homeless
shelters that dont badly affect the population around them. The problem of homelessness could
be slowly put to a halt with changes such as getting more jobs that have higher wages, education
for everyone that isnt overly expensive, and making homes a slight bit cheaper so that people
can afford them and manage them better.
Project Description
Poverty is an issue in our communities because it is not yielding sufficient results therefore it
is needing a more efficient solution. Homelessness, hunger, and minimum wage are problems
that affect all of us either directly or indirectly. The programs in place here in Utah are simply
not doing enough or have the wrong approach. More than just needing shelter , the homeless
have drug and medical problems that must be resolved. 1 in 5 children in Utah face hunger
leading to malperformance in school, in turn other problems occur later on. On top of that
minimum wage in Utah is 7.25$/hr, well below the poverty line.
Our projects goal is to present plausible and effective solutions to create change in our
communities. We want to provide more aid to the homeless so they can sustain themselves and

integrate back into society. To break the cycle of poverty we want to provide a better education
to people of all ages but specifically focusing on children. Our solutions are effective in that they
address the root problems. If we get involved and stay proactive we can overcome poverty.

Methods
For the Team Decision-Making Assignment, we started by creating a Team Contract (see
Appendix I) where we designated relational and task roles (devil's advocate, writer, editor, team
lead, etc.) as well as relational and task norms (refrain from whining, punctuality on meetings,
etc.). At this point we also exchanged contact information and preferred communication
methods. Then we followed the Reflective-Thinking Sequence developed more than 100 years
ago by John Dewey, who is identified as the father of American educational philosophy (Alder,
pg A18).
When followed correctly, this method has been proven to provide the best possible
solutions when it comes down to decision-making. The method consists of a list of steps, which
are put in the Acronym "PAC_BOY" that we will further expand on below:
P: Problem - We contemplated several issues that are affecting us right now and unanimously
decided on one problem. The problem we chose was why are there so many homeless people in
Utah and what we can do to help?
A: Analysis - Once we decided on the case study, we analyzed the problem by researching its
characteristics, stakeholders, history, policies, politics and resources. At this point we also came
up with two possible solutions.
C: Criteria - We decided on the goals we wanted to accomplish with the solutions we already had
and the new ones we were about to come up with. For example, is the goal realistic or does it
help more in the long run with the problem of homelessness (see Appendix II).
B: Brainstorm - We also brainstormed more possible solutions that we could use for our group
case study.
O: Organize - After the brainstorm session we organized our ideas and put them in a chart with
the criteria to pick the best solution (see Appendix II).

Y: Yes - We selected the best solution, which in this case we decided that education at a young
age was going to work best to fix the problem of homelessness.

History
It was not long ago when The Gateway Retail Property was opened in 2001. An
upcoming new place in Salt Lake City to shop, eat, and stroll all year-round. This is not how
Pamela Atkinson, an advocate for the areas homeless describes it, as of June of 2016. In fact she
says, It is more unsafe than its ever been down there. This is due to the vast amount of
homeless, mental illness, and drug distribution. Their are those that say that Utah has reduced
chronic homelessness by 91% in an article by the site All Things Considered, but it does not
take much to see that poverty levels and homeless population are getting worse in the streets of
Salt Lake City as well.
Furthermore, in an extensive report (Comprehensive Report on Homelessness) by the
Department of Workforce Services, it was estimated that in 2014 more than 13,000 persons
experienced homelessness in Utah. In the same report there was a 10-year plan to help mediate
the problem. Also, in 2015 Salt Lake Mayor Ralph Becker and Police Chief Mike Brown
launched a war on homeless problems. Among the steps to help alleviate the problem, one step
was dealing with the root causes of homelessness.
Characteristics
In the state of Utah, as previously said, there is a problem of there being too much
homelessness. Kelly Mcevers states that An additional 14,000 people in Utah experienced
homelessness this year. Mcevers says the result of 14,000 people becoming homeless is because
the housing prices are rising and people cannot afford to pay for the higher rent and also the
essentials for life. Also some people fall to being homeless not because they want to but because
of reasons like, being a felon, a disabled veteran, or just being disabled period. These people
want to work but no one is willing to hire them. There so many reasons why people become
homeless but most people who have never experienced homelessness have a stereotype set that
they are just lazy and dont want to work, when really some really had no choice but to become
homeless.

Homelessness is a problem because those who are going through homelessness are in a
difficult situation. They do not have a home and cannot provide for themselves and most result to
doing drugs and some of these people cannot support themselves because they have disabilities.
Homelessness also affects those who are not homeless by having a community that is not
working together and making it a place that is not safe. The community is separating themselves
from homeless people and dehumanising homeless people. They now see them as objects
holding signs, that want to get their money. The way this is affecting people in Utah is by
creating an unsafe environment, like downtown where there is a homeless shelter, people are
afraid to go down there alone of the fear of being mugged by the homeless. Also, it is affecting
Utah by more drugs being brought here because some homeless are looking for them so they can
forget about their issues. Utah had created some programs to help but they problem is not going
away. That is what bring me back to the characteristic of money, the homeless need money to
get off the street to support themselves and the community needs to find a way to fix this so that
they can all become one. Every year prices for everything is going up and if this continues in the
future, more and more people will not be able to support themselves. The future of homelessness
will get worse if nothing is done.

Stakeholders
Stakeholders of homelessness include Utah state government, Salt Lake County
government, passersby of the homeless shelter, homeowners near the shelter, and employees of
businesses near the homeless shelter (e.g., the Rio Grande restaurant). They are all affected in
some way by the homeless population, whether it be a homeless man sitting somewhere near
their workplace asking for money, or straight out walking into their business and bothering their
customers for food, which then affects the government from all the complaints that seem to go
unnoticed or covered up with some shiny paint that doesnt help anyone in the long run.
These little things are creating an unsafe environment for our community. People who
pass by the homeless shelter are afraid to be alone and are afraid that they will attacked for
money. This problem is critically affecting the safety of our community, when there is an
abundance of homelessness, it is bringing more violence and drug abuse. When more people

become homeless, the more drug dealers we have because some of these homeless result to drugs
to solve their problems. Having illegal drugs being distributed is creating an environment that is
becoming dangerous for our community especially for our young children who are easily
influenced. The safety of our community is at stake as homelessness is increasing in our state of
Utah.
Policy and Politics
The Intergenerational Poverty Mitigation Act, passed in Utah in 2012 had the aim to end
poverty by focusing on children. To prevent poverty being passed from parent to children this act
requires The Utah Department of Workforce Services to collect data with the purpose of
identifying the problem. With that information they then help create programs to help break the
cycle of poverty.
WIC is a nutritional program that helps low income pregnant women and children five
years or younger by providing healthy foods and other services. However Utah has the lowest
WIC benefits of any state in the country. Housing First is another government program that
provides a permanent residence to the homeless. Since it was introduced in 2005 it has greatly
helped get homeless off the street and has helped some integrate back into society.

Resources
Salt Lake City has a website dedicated to helping the Homeless. You can find it at
www.slcmayor.com/homeless-services. This website was formed in 2015 because of the
Collective Impact process that was designed to help the issue of the homelessness in Salt Lake
City.
The primary goal of the website is to find 2 individual sites in SLC for the resources that
will each serve up to 250 homeless citizens. The process to find these two new sites have not
been completed yet, but will be in full review by November 1st. This is just one of the resources
that the Salt Lake County Mayors office has available for the public in helping out the homeless
citizens.
Problem and Solutions

Our problem is that there are too many homeless on the street and that the programs that
we have now can only help to a certain point, we want to come up with a solution that will help
the people in the long run and not the short run. We plan our solution to effect every state and be
obtainable for every state. Our plan will be permanent, will get every person off the street and
prevent anyone else from becoming homeless.
One of the solutions we came up with for the problem of homelessness in Utah was to
raise income for people, since everything in the world is increasing in price and income is
staying the same it is getting harder and harder for people to support themselves. We want to
make a plan to get Utah to raise the minimum wage, to ensure that people can support their basic
needs.
Another solution to the problem of homelessness in Utah is to get other states to develop
the same program as Utah has. Utah has made a program to get the chronically homeless off the
streets because it cost them less to do that then to leave them on the streets. Now other homeless
people from other states are coming to Utah to get off the streets. If all the states try to develop
the same program, less homeless people will travel to Utah and Utah can make an even stronger
program for their current homeless.
Another of our proposed solution is to follow up with the solutions that others have tried
to implement. While doing research on homelessness on the web we came across several
advocators and that even in 2015, the former Mayor of Salt Lake City (Ralph Becker) launched
a war on the homeless problems. Some of the questions that we have are: Are these solutions
being truly implemented and are they working? Why or why not? Is providing these solutions
making homelessness a bigger problem as people see that it is very easy to get help here in Utah?
These and many more questions could help us determine where more help is needed.
Furthermore to fully eliminate the root causes of poverty the solution is education.
Having a good education at a young age can later set children up for success in adulthood.
Students who drop out of high school rank among the highest in unemployment and earn less on
average. That is because education is almost directly related to income. Unlike food stamps or
any other program, education is empowerment. To have a better outlook on the future and end

poverty here in Utah we must invest in the children's education. We as citizens have to play our
part also by volunteering, tutoring, and being involved in our communities.

Conclusion
Finally, homelessness in Utah is an increasing problem. With the increase of
homelessness, it is creating an unsafe environment to the communities in Utah. The main points
we found in our research was that homelessness brings fear to our communities, it brings drugs,
and it brings a low moral to the homeless. To beat these things homelessness brings to our
communities we came up with goals that we thought would obliterate homelessness. With these
goals in mind we came up with multiple solutions. Our main goals were to provide jobs for
homeless, a solution that would work in every state, a long term solution, and a solution that can
realistically be accomplished. That is how from the multiple solutions we had we came to one
solution that was the best out of all the other.
The solution we picked was to educate our citizens so that no one would become
homeless and could support themselves their whole lives. This was the best solution because it fit
all the goals we were hoping to achieve. Educating our citizens is a long term solution and can be
done by anyone as long as Utah can make education available for everyone. Education can be
made available for every state so that all homeless people can be taken care of everywhere. The
more people are educated the greater the chance they will get a job and will be
able to keep their job. This solution is very realistic and achievable, education is a big priority for
a majority of people. With this solution, and once it had been implemented, homeless will
hopefully become extinct. Our communities will become safer and will be together again.

Works Cited
Alder, B. Ronald , Elmhorst, M, Jeanne, Lucas, Kristen. Communicating At
Work Strategies for Success in Business and the Professions. 11th ed. McGraw-Hill
Companies, 2013. Print.
Coulam, Brett, Frost, Patrick, Hartvigsen, Alex, Kohler, Tamera, Quackenbush, Karen, Smith,
Michelle, Tolman, Ashley. Comprehensive Report on Homelessness. Utah Housing and
Community Development Division, 2015,
https://jobs.utah.gov/housing/scso/documents/homelessness2015.pdf. Accessed 30
October 2016.
Day, Jayme, Frost, Patrick, Hartvigsen, Alex, Kohler, Tamera, Pendleton, Lloyd, Quackenbush,
Karen, Smith, Michelle, Tolman, Ashley. C
omprehensive Report on Homelessness. Utah
Housing and Community Development Division, 2014,
https://jobs.utah.gov/housing/scso/documents/homelessness2014.pdf. Accessed 30
October 2016.
Good4Utah. Salt Lake City Launches War on Homeless Problems. Good4Utah.com, July, 2015,
http://www.good4utah.com/news/local-wasatch-front-/salt-lake-city-launches-war-on-ho
meless-problems. Accessed 30 October.
Homeless. Digital Image. Fieldhouse for the Homeless. Fieldhouse for the Homeless. Web. 1
November 2016.
Mcevers, Kelly. Theres Shelter, and then theres Housing. Utah Claims Muted Victory. NPR,
December. 2015,
http://www.npr.org/2015/12/14/459674082/lack-of-affordable-housing-dampens-utah-s-s
uccess-with-homelessness. Accessed 1 November 2016.
Mcevers, Kelly. Utah Reduced Chronic Homelessness by 91 Percent; Heres How. NPR,
November. 2016,
http://www.npr.org/2015/12/10/459100751/utah-reduced-chronic-homelessness-by-91-pe
rcent-heres-how. Accessed 1 November 2016.
Winslow, Ben. Advocates for the Homeless say SLCs Rio Grande District more Unsafe than its
ever been. Fox 13, June, 2016,
http://fox13now.com/2016/06/22/advocates-for-the-homeless-say-slcs-rio-grande-district-

more-unsafe-than-its-ever-been/. Accessed 30 October 2016.

Appendix : Group 3 Team Contract

Class: Communications 1010
Semester: Fall 2016
Date: November 2, 2016
Team Members: Jorge Falcon, Emina Hadrovic, Monica Smith, Jesse Winslow
Team Contract
Group Norms:
Each member agrees to conduct themselves in a polite and productive way that benefits
the team.
Everyone agrees to act like an adult and make time to accomplish their individual tasks.
No one will lie as to why they are unable to accomplish their individual goals.
Everyone will voice their opinion and concerns in a polite and cordial manner.
If there is a problem, address it, and if need be, involve the team leader or the professor.
Relational Norms:
Refrain from whining.
Include quiet participants in the project.
Try to not interrupt others when they are talking, or try to out-do them.
If you are uncomfortable with the topic that is discussed, or the way in which the
meetings take place, please inform the team leader.
Attendance is mandatory for team meetings.
Task Norms:
Meetings will be conducted in an orderly fashion, and will be less than 60 minutes long.
Come to the meetings prepared with the ability to research topics that are discussed.

 If necessary bring materials discussed in previous meetings or that were communicated

via email, text or through Facebook.
Be prompt to meetings, and give ample notice if unable to attend.
Do not lie to team leader about the reason why you are unable to attend the meeting.
If you are not able to accomplish the assigned homework, please contact the team leader
before the scheduled due date.
Consequences:
Verbal Warning
Teacher gets involved
Failing grade
Relational Roles:
Team leader will make sure that everyone has a fair chance to express themselves.
Team leader will also make sure that there is harmony between the group. If the team
leader is part of the issue, please email the professor.
If you have a problem with a specific team member, inform the team leader. If you feel
more comfortable texting, or emailing the problem, please feel free to do so.
Task Roles:
Editor- Jesse
Agenda- Monica
Time Keeper- Emina
Proof reader- Jesse
Facilitator- Jorge
Procedural Monitor- Monica
Initiator- Monica
Devils advocate- Jorge
Research- Emina

Appendix : Solution Analysis Chart

Brainstorming
Solutions
1. Raise minimum income wages
2. Get other states to adopt the same programs as Utah
3. Follow up with other solutions that others have implemented
4. Education at a young age
Choose the best solution
1. Start education at a young age
2. Get other states to adopt the same programs as Utah
3. Follow up with other solution that others have implemented
4. Raise minimum wages
Criterion
1. Long term solution
2. Effective in every state
3. Will provide homeless jobs
4. Realistical solution

Start

States adopt the

Follow up on

Raise Minimum

education at a

same programs

others solutions

Wage

young age

as Utah

Realistic

Total:

19

11

12

Long-term
solution
Effective
everywhere
Provides
jobs