"Lots of one-way greyhound tickets would be cheaper than the current status quo and we could probably get a bulk purchase discount."

The piece below is really run of the mill, but I'd like to point you to a few of the comments at the end. I don't usually put comments here, but these are....well, they show the utter ignorance and callousness of people who really ought to spend some time educating themselves to the realities of homelessness before they open their mouths, or sit down at their keyboards, as it were, and remove all doubt of their unbelievable stupidity. By the way, Jason1212 - the "author" of the post title above - is a real winner; a racist xenophobe with just enough brains to make him dangerous. Woodrow Wilson hit the nail on the head when he wrote that "the bulk of mankind is rigidly unphilosophical and nowadays, the bulk of mankind votes." And we wonder why this country is in such trouble..... Leaders from 5 Western states share ideas on ending homelessness

9:16 a.m. March 12, 2008

PHOENIX – Government leaders from several Western states met here to discuss their plan to end chronic homelessness over the next decade and help the homeless toward self-sufficiency.

The leaders from Arizona, Nevada, Utah, California and Hawaii suggest focusing on providing more affordable and permanent housing as opposed to managing homelessness. “What we're really trying to do is move the system from focusing on emergency response to permanent housing,” said Fred Karnas, director of the Arizona Department of Housing and co-chair of the state's Interagency & Community Council on Homelessness.

Karnas and others gathered at the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Western Regional Meeting for States to share ideas.

Philip Mangano, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Interagency Council, said the goal was to discuss what's working and what's not.

The most recent figures show there are more than 14,500 homeless people in Arizona, with 60 percent of them in Maricopa County, said Jacki Taylor, executive director of the Arizona Coalition to End Homelessness.

Chronic homelessness refers to people who are often homeless because of mental illness or other issues requiring intense support.

Arizona has received more than $100 million in federal money over the past five years to help decrease that number, according to Mangano.

Putting most of the state's resources in emergency housing costs more than attempting to create a more permanent situation for the homeless, expert say.

It's cheaper to sustain them in permanent, affordable housing than it is to sustain them on the streets, Taylor said.

The cost to provide permanent housing for one chronically homeless person ranges between $13,000 and $25,000 annually, according to the national Interagency Council. The cost of not providing permanent affordable housing ranges from $35,000 to $150,000 per year.

As more state and nonprofit leaders discuss issues at a national Interagency Council meeting next month in Washington, leaders hope to move even closer to coming up with more specific solutions.

Comments:

By crash on 03/12/2008 at 11:34 a.m. There are some who CHOSE to homeless, and there are others that really belong in an institution. Giving out permanent homes to the chronically homeless is not the solution. Getting them commited or motivated to help themselves IS the answer. y ghoward79 on 03/12/2008 at 11:44 a.m. There are some people who will always follow the path of least resistance (that's how rivers and streams become crooked). By storm226 on 03/12/2008 at 11:52 a.m. I question that statistic. The biggest cost of homeless is medical costs. So, how does permanent shelter help that? And now that you've provided permanent shelter for them, how are you going to police the drug use and social problems stemming from mental illness. If you are going to cram a bunch of homeless pepole into one housing arena, call it what it is: an institution. And then go about funding for it based on it being an institution. By jason1212 on 03/12/2008 at 4:04 p.m. Simple solution...every time we give an illegal immigrant free health care, we send them a homeless american. Lots of one-way greyhound tickets would be cheaper than the current status quo and we could probably get a bulk purchase discount.