Expansion Project for Suitable Access Points and Drop-In Locations: South Alamo Regional Alliance for the Homeless (SARAH) Final Report

Summary
    Access to resources and information for homeless youth, as well as those at risk of homelessness in the San Antonio area is not as readily available as it should be. To rectify this problem, this study aims to identify four to five access points and drop-in center locations within Bexar County that have the capability of providing services such as food, water, showers, recreation, and community outreach. Our results consist of a series of maps that portray the most suitable locations. Each map analyzes and displays the distribution of homelessness risk factors that have been weighted proportionally by their impact and significance.

Purpose
  San Antonio, Texas is a rapidly growing metropolitan area in the Central Texas region, and one of multiple major cities experiencing homelessness amongst youth and young adults. This rapid growth has created an increasing need for resources and information regarding homelessness. The South Alamo Regional Alliance for the Homeless (SARAH) is an organization that looks to combat this problem by establishing access points that provide food, showers, recreation, and community outreach to the displaced youth of Bexar County. Along with these access points, drop-in centers provide information to not only homeless youth, but also to those who are at-risk of becoming homeless. Texas Location Solutions (TLS) has collaborated with SARAH in an expansion project that will provide four to five potential access point locations (two of which will be drop-in centers) that will provide homeless-based resources and services.

Methods
  To carry out this project, we created maps for each individual risk factor. This consisted of scrubbing data for all factors and making a series of graduated color maps based on our “Bexar_County_Census_Tracts” shapefile. After each map was created, a weighting system was put into place. The weights were determined based on our literature research, with higher weights distributed to more impactful risk factors. In the last stage of our project, all of the risk factors were combined into one map to display areas of Bexar county where risk levels of homelessness are at their highest.LS has located the most suitable areas based on a multitude of data, such as weighted risk factors that include poverty level, race by age, education level, lack of nearby needed services, unsheltered youth locations, and unemployment.

Conclusion
    San Antonio, Texas is a rapidly growing metropolitan area in the Central Texas region, and one of multiple major cities experiencing homelessness amongst youth and young adults. This rapid growth has created an increasing need for resources and information regarding homelessness. The South Alamo Regional Alliance for the Homeless (SARAH) is an organization that looks to combat this problem by establishing access points that provide food, showers, recreation, and community outreach to the displaced youth of Bexar County. Along with these access points, drop-in centers provide information to not only homeless youth, but also to those who are at-risk of becoming homeless. Texas Location Solutions (TLS) has collaborated with SARAH in an expansion project that will provide four to five potential access point locations (two of which will be drop-in centers) that will provide homeless-based resources and services. To assist SARAH with this endeavor, TLS has located the most suitable areas based on a multitude of data, such as weighted risk factors that include poverty level, race by age, education level, lack of nearby needed services, unsheltered youth locations, and unemployment. Originally, we wanted to use people identifying as LGBTQ+, veteran status and cognitive disabilities as risk factors. However, the existing data is insufficient to apply towards our research and risk factor weighting system.