There are many halfway houses in Austin, and there is an argument that they exploit the homeless, or unemployable and are often unsafe. I would like to look into laws about them and perhaps get an interview with someone about it from one of these private shelters.
This would mostly be a piece on the laws about it which can be found online and I could just explain those. Multimedia element would be video. interviews from city shelters and community organizers, churches could explain the issues (if they feel there are issues) with these types of shelters. For instance, the one by my house charges $500 a month for a bed. There are up to 4 beds in a room. They don’t provide food, or any type of rehabilitation services and are making $2000 per room a month.
November 16, 2016 at 12:38 am
This has a lot of potential to shape up to be a strong story. As we discussed in class, start with specific questions:
1. What sort of home is the one in your neighborhood? A halfway house? A treatment center?
2. Who/what entity runs it?
3. Who/what entity licenses it? City of Austin? A state agency like Health and Human Services?
4. Then branch out once you have the info above. How many of these types of facilities are there in Austin? Are they all privately funded or do taxpayers help foot the bill in whole or in part?
Go from the specific to the general. Remember that you need four human sources (i.e. interviews)
Let me know how I can help.