Policy Formulation

My policy is called the Psychiatric Treatment of Low Income People’s Act. The purpose of this policy is to require every state, with a certain percentage or higher of low income and homeless people, to create an institution that offers free psychiatric treatment for those who do not have adequate insurance to get treatment otherwise. The policies goal is to address the most pressing reason for homelessness, mental disability. By providing free facilities that address mental disability, their will be lower numbers of people living on the street and those who can recover will return to the work force. As a result, the work force will be bigger, therefore making society more productive and efficient, and those who need long term care will get treatment. Creating these government funded institutions would ensure that patients get the proper and most effective care. Employees of these institutions would receive government benefits and compensation to keep them focused and enjoying their job. One sustainability aspect that comes into play is by creating better communities now they can continue to grow and prosper for future generations. Also, it will be hard for the institutions to fail when they will be funded by tax payers money. Lucente Psychiatric Homes would only offer inpatient programs for those who desperately need attention and have severe mental disabilities that could cause them to harm themselves or others. Anyone else that needed a place to live while they were being treated would be transferred to temporary housing nearby. There, would have social workers, job recruiters, and other people who could help the people in need with any other issues they might be facing. Although LPHs should not be privately owned for fear of straying away from their purpose, maybe other companies could get involved in supporting them. Companies could be incentivized to make donations to the Homes by receiving tax breaks. People who get help at the Home could be offered open positions that they are qualified for at those companies. 

This policy applies to all states that hold a certain percent of homeless or low income families or individuals for at least ten years. The reasons why states are held accountable is so they can decide which part of the state to put the facility based on where the biggest population of homeless and low income people is. They have to hold the percentage of homeless and low income people for at least ten years because the goal is to open these facilities in the states that have the biggest homeless population problem. Less than ten years is not enough time to predict whether the state’s numbers will fluctuate over the certain percentage for more years to come. 

The national government checks, predicts, and decides what states are in need of this institution. They are responsible for enforcing the policy. They are required to check the statistics every year to determine if a certain state has upheld the certain percentage of homeless for the previous ten consecutive years. Once the government lets a state know that they need to make the facility, the state has three years to get it build and ready for use. 

Based on the prototypes I made, one way to spread the word about the facility is through advertising campaigns with food chains that are popular with low income people. The point of that is for someone to see the packaging that advertises the facility and realized that they could use the facility, or someone sees it and recommends it to someone else. I chose to collaborate with Panera for my prototypes because their products are not often eaten in cars since they don’t have drive throughs. This concern was associated with low income families who have enough money to own a car. But any other restaurant or fast food chain that caters to homeless and low income people will do. For example, McDonalds, Wendy’s, Popeyes, etc., are all examples of places that could advertise for the Lucente Psychiatric Home on their packaging. Another method of advertising would be by informing nurses and doctors at hospitals around the country of the closest Lucente Psychiatric Home and referring any patients that might need or benefit from it to go there. 

Leave a reply

Skip to toolbar