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Houses and the Homeless

The homeless population in New York City is large, and the solution to the problem cannot be easily found. There have been attempts, as shown by the evidence of shelters and other programs to help those in need get on their feet. However, it is not a perfect system, especially so for the disabled homeless population. Shelters are generally one size fits all, but that does not work when certain people have special needs that others might consider not important.

This article relates to the concept of perfect matching, as discussed in class. Certain rooms in shelters hold more value to certain people with special needs, while others do not care. Is there a way for all of these people to live in a place that suits their needs? The main problem is that there is no way a perfect match can happen, simply because there might not be enough rooms in those shelters to house all these people. Even if there were, is it worth figuring out a method to properly house these people in ways that accommodate them? In an ideal world, there would be a concrete way to provide incentives and price rooms to match everyone to their ideal room, but the concept of perfect matching can only go so far, with so many different values and accommodations that need to be considered. Even while the number of shelters increase and more rooms are available, there doesn’t seem to be a way to match people with their needs.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/17/nyregion/as-residents-surge-in-new-york-shelters-housing-for-disabled-comes-up-short.html

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