Designing a 100-Day Plan to Head Off a Surge in US Homelessness
Company: Google
Role: Product Manager
Category: Product Design & Strategy
Difficulty: medium
Interview Round: Other
A forecast warns that a very large number of people in the United States could lose their homes over the next five years. You have 100 days to come up with a plan or a product that would end homelessness in the country, or at least ease it. Where do you start, and what would you propose?
```hint Choose a stage
People who are about to lose housing, people who have just lost it, and people who have been without it for years need different help. Decide which group the five-year warning and the 100-day window point you toward.
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### Clarifying Questions
- In what role am I answering: a product manager building a technology product, or someone drafting a broader plan with government and nonprofit partners?
- Do the 100 days cover only producing the plan, or must something be launched or piloted within that time?
- What resources come with the mandate: budget, engineers, data access, partnerships with cities or agencies?
- What is expected to drive the rise, and is it concentrated in particular regions or groups?
### What a Strong Answer Covers
- A scoping decision about whom the plan serves first, justified by the forecast and the 100-day window.
- An understanding of how people fall into homelessness and where a product or program can realistically intervene.
- Concrete solutions that are honest about what technology can and cannot fix, with the partners each one depends on.
- A 100-day execution plan with milestones and a pilot.
- Outcome metrics, such as households that stay housed, plus guardrails for privacy, equity and misuse of data.
### Follow-up Questions
- How would you show that your plan prevented homelessness rather than helping people who would have stayed housed anyway?
- A city asks to use your risk data for enforcement rather than help. How do you respond?
- How would the plan grow from a pilot in a few cities to the whole country?
Overview: A product sense question asking where to begin on a 100-day plan to end or ease homelessness in the US before a forecast surge over the next five years. It tests problem scoping, choosing which group to serve first, realistic product and partnership ideas, an execution timeline, and outcome metrics with privacy and equity guardrails.