The Way HCOA Will Work

At this stage, this blog is just a planning tool, a forum for my vision of HCOA. Any ideas, comments, or suggestions from site visitors are welcome. As I have no funding at all yet, I want to take this time to refine this idea and make it truly viable. I'm tired of waiting for the Public Officials to fix glaring community issues. They don't. HCOA is grassroots.

Basically I envision every major city (starting with Miami-Dade), will have an HCOA clubhouse. This clubhouse will be a 15,000 to 30,000 square foot building which will house administration offices and offer member services. The space in this clubhouse will be divided into three sections.

The first section is the services area. This will be located up forward with all offices, classrooms, computer rooms, kitchen area, recreation areas, showers area, etc. The back of the clubhouse will be divded into two areas. On one side will be rows and rows of large lockers for Basic clubhouse members. On the other side will be a similiar matrix of lockable closest (at least 3 times larger than the lockers) for Premium members.

To join HCOA, any homeless person can come to the clubhouse and get a membership card. There will be a list of member services at no cost. Membership is free.

However, to maintain the club financially, there will be two usage plans available. These plans will allow the members access to either lockers or closets to store their items securely.

The Basic Plan will cost $5.00 per month. It will give the member access to a regular locker from 5AM - 11PM daily. Access to shower 2 times per week. Access to laundry 1 per month. Access to computer room and recreation room anytime during their posted hours for 2 hours per day.

The Premium Plan will cost $20.00 per month. This plan will be geared to members wiith regular employment or steady income. Members of this plan with have access to a storage closet 24 hours per day. Access to showers daily. Access to laundry 2 times per month. Unlimited access to the recreation and computer room during posted hours.

Both plans will have grace periods. A person can come in, get storage space, and under the Basic plan run a tab for $30 (6 months grace). The Premium member can run a tab for $60 (3 months grace). This will allow avenues for income to be worked out, while the person has a secure place to maintain their personal items and clothing.

All of this is to aid the homeless person while they job search or save money for future housing and/or transportation.

This is my basic idea for HCOA. I forsee offering classes, inexpensive bag lunches, and many other services that will help the homeless person maintain and improve themselves while living on the streets or searching for a job. I want prospective employers to have no idea the person he or she is considering for a position is homeless at the time.

In my opinion, this is the smart way to help homeless people transition back into the mainstream.