Ask Lemmy

A 100 bed (or so, idk what number it would actually come out to) hostel / shelter / halfway house for chronically institutionalized people who don't know how to function in normal transitional housing. Instead of a larger number of beds they might also be split into multiple smaller buildings.

Each unit would have one small room with

• a twin bed
• a closet with a storage compartment on the bottom that takes a standard lock
• a desk
• a few of those bars on the wall you can slide posters and papers into to hang
• a single-unit sink-toilet-shower stall with groutless faux tile and a detachable shower head (so that to clean it you just cover it in bleach and use the showerhead to hose it down).
• an electric kettle
• WiFi
• a locking door that the staff have a copy of the key to but have received specialized education on renters rights and education on what specifically constitutes a safety concern.

Public facilities include:

• cafeteria that provides 3 hot meals as well as a vending machine with reconstitutable MRE style meals that can be made with hot water
• laundry
• library / public access computers
• meeting rooms that are reservable but also host supportive and educational group therapies
• a large public chalkboard wall with 7 sections that are wiped down one at a time in sequence throughout the week with additional discretion of the staff to erase hatespeech
• a non-denominational / non-religion-specific "chapel" that any religious leader may rent for one hour a week in exchange for some minimum monetary donation. They also receive a listing on an updatable placard posted just outside or near the entrance on the inside listing their contributions publicly in addition to being listed on the monthly accounting posting. It is designed so that vestments can be interchangeably hung and they may also rent a closet to store them in.

Residents do pay rent but it's only enough to keep the facility running and the accounting books are publicly available on a monthly basis. If the model does well enough and receives enough outside support, rent may be a symbolic amount like $5-10 just to legally maintain the facility as a transitional public service as opposed to a long term housing solution (although that would be another great thing to donate this money to, but my personal focus would be the people that would struggle to function in that environment without some sort of actual rehabilitation).

They can get a discount by performing tasks to run, clean, and maintain the facilities including both the public areas and turning over rooms between residents or maintaining the rooms of disabled residents (while those residents are elsewhere for the day). Their names are not listed on the public books, just the number of people contributing in this manner. Any money they make for tasks performed outside the facility is theirs to keep.

There are no drug tests but no drugs (or weapons) are allowed on the premises. Any paid staff are background checked and any 24-hr safety staff (so not kitchen / EVS) who do not already have a license or advanced degree in health and human services receive somewhere between a 2-week to 1-month 8hr per day classroom education on human rights, nonviolent crisis deescalation, CPR, safety and sanitation, and policy training on how to assess and what to do if they suspect drugs or weapons have been brought on the premises (probably some other stuff too but idk. I'd make the class longer if I thought it would be financially possible / likely to get enough people to attend). Would also probably help to have 1 hour of monthly continuing education on a bunch of those topics but also to help them contextualize their experiences with this population.

The floors are sex segregated with the exception of one floor (or a smaller proportion) that is co-ed and allows persons of any gender presentation provided they have no history of sex or gender targeted charges.

If I think of anything else I'll add it, but these are my thoughts having worked with this population and wishing there were more services focused on helping them reenter society.

Also tbph I'd probably actually live there myself, eat in the cafeteria, have a weekly movie night in one of the public meeting rooms, etc, the only thing I'd be missing is a workshop, but I could do with maybe a slightly larger permanent suite in the basement or on the roof or something. The tradeoff would be dealing with the bullshit that would necessarily arise on a 24/7 basis, LOL. I might also want a bigger bed if my husband wanted to live there with me, which he might because his 5b idea is almost definitely a free or low cost cafeteria (I'm a nurse, he's a cook) but he's also much more misanthropic than me and might want more privacy / emotional distance.