Housing is exponentially more expensive than shelter. Sure, in an ideal world, housing should come first, but we don’t live in that world. We live in a world of budget constraints. We need to practice harm reduction.
Some others here have highlighted that “shelter services” is not the same thing as an actual shelter. People can’t stay as long as they want, they don’t have a secure place to store their belongings, and they can be dangerous. Here is a post with sources that outlines why permanent supportive housing is more cost effective than temporary overnight shelters
Sure, overall. But the cost of someone living partially or fully on the streets is spread between public and private. The cost to the State is typically less.
I can’t follow the links to any of the sources in that post, btw.
Yeah, not sure what’s up with that. Here are the working links as best I can tell:
“A recent HUD study found that the cost of providing emergency shelter to families is generally as much or more than the cost of placing them in transitional or permanent housing”
“All the residents at this Housing First styled residence…”
“A cost study of rural homelessness from Portland ME found significant cost reductions when providing permanent supportive housing as opposed to serving the people while they remain homeless”
“A study from Los Angeles CA… found that placing four chronically homeless people into permanent supportive housing saved the city more than $80,000 per year”
Lastly this link did seem to work but I thought the statistics and the FAQ were helpful.–
Housing is exponentially more expensive than shelter. Sure, in an ideal world, housing should come first, but we don’t live in that world. We live in a world of budget constraints. We need to practice harm reduction.
Some others here have highlighted that “shelter services” is not the same thing as an actual shelter. People can’t stay as long as they want, they don’t have a secure place to store their belongings, and they can be dangerous. Here is a post with sources that outlines why permanent supportive housing is more cost effective than temporary overnight shelters
Sure, overall. But the cost of someone living partially or fully on the streets is spread between public and private. The cost to the State is typically less.
I can’t follow the links to any of the sources in that post, btw.
Yeah, not sure what’s up with that. Here are the working links as best I can tell:
Lastly this link did seem to work but I thought the statistics and the FAQ were helpful.–