Program Reengineering
Running head: The Concept of Program Reengineering
The Concept of Program Reengineering
PAD 500 – Modern Public Administration
May 19, 2012
1. Analyze four policy choices of Mayor Schell that were made as part of the strategy for the homeless. Making policy is just one of the many roles of a public administrator. The homelessness in Seattle-King County was so bad, that on June 2, 1988, Schell made a pledge that by December 25, 1998, there would be no homeless families with children or homeless single women on the streets (Norton, 2006). Four of the policy choices that Mayor Schell made as part of the strategy for the homeless, were as follows: • Although thousands of people seeking shelter are turned away each year, due to lack of space, he wanted to maintain the shelter capacity space. Because increasing shelter capacity is expensive, by maintaining the capacity, it would allow additional resources to flow to other needed services and housing, like improving the condition of the existing shelters and programs to assist homeless people. • Because families or individuals staying in a homeless shelter is only a temporary solution, he wanted people to take advantage of the housing and services that help people regain long-term stability and address the causes of homelessness (Norton, 2006). This strategy helped to emphasize the services to homeless people, like transitional housing, employment services, and assistance in transition into permanent housing, whether than just providing a bed. • Once people enter permanent housing, he also emphasized the need to follow clients as they get situated into their permanent housing. This is important because, surveys of homeless people show rates of drug and alcohol addiction at about 65 percent (Norton, 2006) and you don’t want people to get too comfortable and then get back into what got them homeless. • Being more proactive in preventing
The Concept of Program Reengineering
PAD 500 – Modern Public Administration
May 19, 2012
1. Analyze four policy choices of Mayor Schell that were made as part of the strategy for the homeless. Making policy is just one of the many roles of a public administrator. The homelessness in Seattle-King County was so bad, that on June 2, 1988, Schell made a pledge that by December 25, 1998, there would be no homeless families with children or homeless single women on the streets (Norton, 2006). Four of the policy choices that Mayor Schell made as part of the strategy for the homeless, were as follows: • Although thousands of people seeking shelter are turned away each year, due to lack of space, he wanted to maintain the shelter capacity space. Because increasing shelter capacity is expensive, by maintaining the capacity, it would allow additional resources to flow to other needed services and housing, like improving the condition of the existing shelters and programs to assist homeless people. • Because families or individuals staying in a homeless shelter is only a temporary solution, he wanted people to take advantage of the housing and services that help people regain long-term stability and address the causes of homelessness (Norton, 2006). This strategy helped to emphasize the services to homeless people, like transitional housing, employment services, and assistance in transition into permanent housing, whether than just providing a bed. • Once people enter permanent housing, he also emphasized the need to follow clients as they get situated into their permanent housing. This is important because, surveys of homeless people show rates of drug and alcohol addiction at about 65 percent (Norton, 2006) and you don’t want people to get too comfortable and then get back into what got them homeless. • Being more proactive in preventing
References: Burkhalter, Aaron (2012). “Homeless service providers must meet new standards for city funding.” Real Change: Vol: 19 No:20 Early, Dirk W. and Olsen, Edgar O. (2002). "Subsidized Housing, Emergency Shelters, Homelessness: An Empirical Investigation Using Data from the 1990 Census.” Advances in Economic Analysis & Policy: Vol 2. Retrieved on May 18, 2012 from www.bepress.com/bejeap/advances/vol2/iss1/art2. Larimer, M. E. (2009). Housing Intervention For Homeless Alcoholics Leads To Cost Savings Norton, Eileen J.D. (2006). Mayor Schell’s Zero Homeless Family Pledge. The Electronic Hallway, Case Teaching Resources from The Evans School of Public Affairs (pdf). O’toole Jr, Laurence (2000). Research on Policy Implementation: Assessment and Prospects. Stillman, R.J. III (2010). Public administration: Concepts and cases: 2010 custom edition.