When I was writing an early Fountain book, I had a friend ask "What would happen if everyone gave $5 each to homelessness?" I took that idea, and I started building on the answer.
Locally, our population is 100,000 people. If we gathered $5 from every person, that's $500,000. If done on a monthly basis, it's $6 million per year.
If rent costs about $850 in town, and we want to give $350/month groceries, that's $1,200. $500,000 divided by $1,200 is about 416 people. If a recent homeless count held 300-400 homeless, $5 from each person towards housing and food could literally cover everyone currently without a home.
I've been working the $5 idea further in my books, though the main principle holds. Since we can't expect EVERY person to give $5/month, even if 20% of the population gave $25/month (as much as two volunteer hours per month at minimum wage), we could house everyone.
Though starting with a basic question "what if?" it can lead to wonderful things. What ideas would you like to activate?