I've been saying for years now that for what we spend each year on a single person experiencing homelessness, we could put them up in a fancy hotel, buy all their meals and purchase their incidentals for them as well.
The New York Times
May 2, 2001 Wednesday
Late Edition - Final
Housing Mentally Ill People Is Cost-Effective, Study FindsBYLINE: By NINA BERNSTEIN
SECTION: Section B; Column 5; Metropolitan Desk; Pg. 4
It costs more than $40,000 in public money for a mentally ill person to be homeless for a year in New York City, nearly as much as it costs for the same person to live in supportive housing, said a University of Pennsylvania study to be released today.
The long-awaited study used computer records from eight New York State and city agencies, including hospitals, jails, shelters and Medicaid offices, to review the histories of almost 5,000 homeless people in supportive housing. They were then compared with a matched control group of 5,000 other homeless people who were not placed in such housing.
Those left to fend for themselves consumed an average of $40,449 each year in public services during a two-year study period, the researchers found, the bulk of it in acute-care hospitals and homeless shelters.
But for each person in supportive housing under a joint city and state program known as New York/New York, costs in such public services were reduced by an average of $16,282 year round. The net cost of the supportive-housing program was $744 per placement, or $995 a year per unit constructed and run at an annual outlay of $17,277.
The study has important national policy implications, said Dennis P. Culhane, an authority on homelessness who conducted the study with Stephen Metreaux and Trevor Hadley. In many other cities, the homeless problem among the mentally ill has grown worse, Mr. Culhane said, but in New York City, the number of deranged people on the streets has declined since the 1980's, in part through the development of New York/New York housing.
"Homelessness among the mentally ill is a finite problem, and we have an opportunity to solve it," Mr. Culhane said. "This shows it won't cost us anything; we just have to move the dollars around."
Research by the Urban Institute, a group based in Washington, suggests that on any given day, as many as 110,000 single adults with severe mental illness are homeless in the United States, and as many as 260,000 single adults are chronically homeless. If, as in New York City, a significant proportion of these people are extensive users of acute-care health services, public shelters and the criminal justice system, "an aggressive investment in supportive housing is warranted," the University of Pennsylvania study said.
The real challenge is that the budget of each agency involved is a separate fief, said Carla Javits, president of the Corporation for Supportive Housing, a nonprofit organization that helped sponsor the study with the university's Center for Mental Health Policy and Services Research and a number of foundations.
"The savings clearly accrue to systems like health care, shelters and correctional systems, whereas the costs are incurred on the housing and mental health side of the ledger," Ms. Javits said."Unfortunately there are different administrative agencies and even different legislative committees eventually responsible. It is crucial to have the interest of the chief executive -- mayor, governor or president -- to make it happen."
Mr. Culhane said it took years just getting the various state and city agencies to cooperate in the study, which was paid for in part by the Fannie Mae Foundation and the United Hospital Fund of New York.
The annual savings associated with each supportive-housing unit included an $8,260 reduction in state psychiatric hospital costs, a $3,779 reduction in costs to the city shelters, a $1,771 reduction in costs to the city's Health and Hospitals Corporation, and a $3,787 decrease in inpatient Medicaid costs. Smaller savings were found in veterans' hospitals ($595), the state prison system ($418) and the city jails ($328).
Though outpatient Medicaid costs increased by a yearly average of $2,656 per unit in the two years after placement, the study said, that figure included the high initial cost of stabilizing the health of homeless people who had long been living on the street, and was more than offset by the decline in inpatient stays.
In many respects, the study was conservative in estimating savings. It did not count court costs, or the expense of soup kitchens and outreach programs, for example.
Advocates of supportive housing have long made a case for the cost-effectiveness of the approach, which combines housing subsidies with on-site services, but this was the first comprehensive evaluation.
Advocates in New York contend that the 1,500 new supportive-housing units projected in the current budget should be increased to 10,000. Nationally, 150,000 units are being sought. "This study says, 'Look, it's really worth it,' " Ms. Javits said. "It's not cost-free, but it's worth it because the public's paying anyway.
URL: http://www.nytimes.com
Remember, this was back in early 2001 and you can bet your sweet bippy that the cost has gone up significantly since then.
That's more money than I made in a year while working to assist the folks on the street when I first came to Nashville, and I was able to rent an apartment, make a car payment - along with all the other expenses associated with owning a vehicle - get my groceries, take a vacation and generally enjoy life more than I ever did during the days of my addiction.
For the cost of one homeless person in New York each year, we could rent 61 apartments for a month, or we could pay the rent for a full year on about 5 apartments, thereby saving the taxpayers a bundle with each individual housed.
I know, I know, "they oughta jis pull themselves up by their bootstraps and get a job."
Unfortunately, the boots have long since been walked off their feet; the jobs are now in China, India and Taiwan, and the straps are used to stake down their tents at the local homeless camp.
Study: Homeless shelters stays can cost more than rent
| Updated 1h 42m ago | |
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By Marisol Bello, USA TODAY
Cities, states and the federal government pay more to provide the homeless with short-term shelter and services than what it would cost to rent permanent housing, the U.S. government reports.
A study of 9,000 families and individuals being released today by the Department of Housing and Urban Development finds that costs to house the newly homeless vary widely, depending on the type of shelter and social services provided by the six cities in the report.
Emergency shelter for families was the most costly. In Washington, D.C., the average bill for a month in an emergency shelter ranges from $2,500 to $3,700. In Houston, the average is $1,391.
Many communities probably don't know that they are spending as much "to maintain a cot in a gymnasium with 100 other cots" as it would cost to rent an efficiency apartment, says Dennis Culhane, a University of Pennsylvania professor who studies housing policies. "We are paying for a form of housing that is largely substandard, and we are paying as much, if not more, than standard conventional housing."
He says the report bolsters a move by the Obama administration to focus on helping the homeless get permanent housing. The federal stimulus act last year set aside $1.5 billion to prevent homelessness by helping people pay rent, utility bills, moving costs or security deposits.
Nationwide, 1.6 million homeless people received shelter in 2008, according to government figures.
The new study does not look at the cost-effectiveness or quality of the programs. Costs to shelter first-time homeless people varied based on the type of shelter and other services provided, how long they stayed and overhead. Shelters may offer drug and alcohol treatment, mental health care, family counseling and help obtaining government benefits.
Mark Johnston, deputy assistant secretary of HUD, says the report should prompt communities to lower costs by targeting people with only the services they need and to improve aid for those who repeatedly become homeless.
"We saw higher costs and longer lengths of stay than expected," he says. The longest average stay for individuals was 73 days in Des Moines. The longest average stay for families was 309 days in Washington.
"We do not want people to languish in emergency shelter," Johnston says.
Neil Donovan of the National Coalition for the Homeless says the report is limited because it covered 2004 through 2006. It doesn't include families who became homeless in the recession.
"A lot of things have become very different in the last couple of years," he says. "If it's used to a greater degree than a conversation starter, it will be used to a greater degree than it's worth."
HOUSING THE HOMELESS
A study by the Department of Housing and Urban Development finds that the average monthly cost to house the homeless varies widely.
Individuals:
| Houston | Kalamazoo, Mich. | Greenville, S.C. | Washington | |
| Emergency shelter | $1,391 | $1,614 | $2,269 | $3,530 |
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| Transitional housing | $3,340 | $813 | $1,209 | $2,170 |
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| Market-rate rent, two-bedroom apt. | $743 | $612 | $599 | $1,225 |
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Families:
| Houston | Kalamazoo, Mich. | Greenville, S.C. | Washington | |
| Emergency shelter | $1,391 | $1,614 | $2,269 | $3,530 |
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| Transitional housing | $3,340 | $813 | $1,209 | $2,170 |
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| Market-rate rent, two-bedroom apt. | $743 | $612 | $599 | $1,225 |
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Source: HUD
