How Providing Housing For Unhoused Americans Can Save Taxpayers Money

 

 

According to a 2021 report from the National Alliance to End Homelessness, there are an estimated 580,466 Americans experiencing homelessness. Of those, an estimated 84,000 are experiencing chronic homelessness – these are individuals and families who are experiencing long term homelessness due to chronic, difficult, and debilitating health conditions such as mental, substance abuse and medical conditions. Without stable access to shelter or dedicated care facilities, many chronically unhoused individuals have little recourse but to make regular rotations through emergency rooms, short term stays in hospital inpatient and mental health wards, detox and rehabilitation centers, as well as jails and prison. These practices are unsustainable, however, as they put a significant strain on the budgets of local municipalities while the short-term nature of these services and institutions makes them incapable of leading to better health or material outcomes for the individuals who cycle between them.

A solution that has been proven to both reduce taxpayer cost and result in better health and material outcomes for unhoused individuals is Permanent Supportive Housing. Permanent Supportive Housing means not only providing individuals experiencing chronic homelessness with stable, affordable places to live permanently, but crucially, case management and access to supportive care. A number of studie have compared the cost of living in major US cities and average cost of the aforementioned taxpayer funded services for each chronically unhoused individual (est. $35,000 per year per person) with the estimated cost of providing permanent housing as well as case management and dedicated services. On average, the studies have found that Permanent Supportive Housing would cost an estimated $12,800 per person, per year – with an average reduction in spending by 49.5%.

A map outlining the estimated costs of permanent supportive house by the National Alliance to End Homelessness is available below:

 

- Brian Reynoso Espinsoa 

Source:

https://endhomelessness.org/resource/ending-chronic-homelessness-saves-taxpayers-money-2/