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Is marriage the solution to poverty or is it the cause of poverty? Saturday, February, 6, 2010
Book on homeless man and Los Angeles journalist is highlighted by Long Beach Book Week Thursday, February, 4, 2010
Why homelessness is decreasing while hunger and poverty is increasing Tuesday, February, 2, 2010
Is public housing dead? Monday, February, 1, 2010
Is helping homeless Haitian kids, child-trafficking or a Christian rescue attempt? Saturday, January, 30, 2010
The biggest fear in suburbia is poverty and homelessness, not crime Thursday, January, 28, 2010
IPad: A Magical and Revolutionary Device… To Find Housing Tuesday, January, 26, 2010
Sometimes I Feel I’m Earning A Graduate Degree in Homelessness Monday, January, 25, 2010
Sometimes Preventing Homeless Deaths Don’t Work Friday, January, 22, 2010
What’s Next For LA’s Infamous Skid Row? Is It On The Skids?
Friday, November, 20, 2009
Does Solving Homelessness Really Save Money?, Does 1 + 1 = 4?
I’ve been working the front lines and in executive suites of homelessness for more than 13 years now. We sometimes joke in the office that working in the world of homelessness is like taking a “Jaded 101” course. We’ve gone through numerous government programs to address homelessness, heard promise after promise that homelessness will be solved, encountered neighborhood groups who think we are out to get them, and seen private and public funding come and go. Can’t blame us for being jaded once in a while.
But if you think we have suspicious perspectives, just talk to a reporter. My perception is that journalists have been pitched story after story so many times, that cynicism is part of their job description.
So when a study on cost avoidance was released a few weeks ago, I spoke to a local journalist about it. I explained how placing a homeless person into a supportive housing unit saves money since people living on the streets are high users of emergency rooms, law enforcement, and emergency services.
He didn’t buy it. Real simple, he said. If that paramedic is not helping Joe Smith, who is formerly homeless and now living in an apartment, the medic would be helping someone else. It’s not like the city can cut emergency service staff because you just placed someone in an apartment. Same for law enforcement.
I explained to him how in Long Beach, California we documented that the 350 people we surveyed on the streets utilized $4 million worth of medical services in the past year. If we helped these people get off the streets, the hospitals and emergency services wouldn’t be spending that much money on them.
His response… they would spend the same amount on other people.
Yesterday, a new Homeless Cost Avoidance Study was released by the Economic Roundtable and the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. Like similar earlier studies, the results showed how public costs for “impaired homeless adults” decreased by 79% when a person was housed. Same arguments, same results.
I still agree with these cost avoidance studies. Housing people who are homeless is cheaper than keeping them on the streets. It is the most cost effective approach to resolving homelessness in the long run.
But cities are not going to be balancing their budgets if homelessness is lowered. I don’t think they will cut the number of police officers or emergency response workers on the streets.
Instead, emergency response workers and law enforcement officers would not have to be homeless social workers anymore.
And that’s a good result.
(Pic from www.excellentmanagementsystems.com)
Lisa: I thought the font here was kind of small too... Have you tried using your browser to increase your text size or zoom level? You can do this through the "View" button on the toolbar of your browser. One shortcut to do this is Ctrl+'+' (as in holding the "Ctrl" button and pressing the "+" button).
Posted 2009-11-22 04:19:42
Posted 2009-11-20 17:31:06
I look forward to reading your blog each day. You write so beautifully and express the dilemna of homelessness very clearly and thoughfully. Please be assured your words are inspirational and informative. My only other comment at this time is that the print is too small for us middle-aged folk. Can it be made larger?
Thank you.
Posted 2009-11-20 13:18:28
Should Communities Force Homeless People Into Shelters? Monday, February 8, 2010
Is marriage the solution to poverty or is it the cause of poverty? Thursday, October 4, 2007
Architecture for the Homeless Monday, October 15, 2007
Fire Used To Kill Homeless Man Thursday, October 1, 2009
Every Homeless Person Should Become A Millionaire and Have A Porn Star Hang On His Arm
Alvidrez, Nelson & Watson As permanent supportive housing providers in Skid Row, we at the Skid Row Housing Trust, SRO Housing Corporation and the Downtown Women’s Center were deeply disheartened by Rev. Andy Bales’ attack on permanent housing linked to support services. When we heard he had concerns, signers of the letter sent to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa called to meet with Rev. Bales but, unfortunately, he has not answered our calls. We still hope we can find common ground. We believe that the best outcome for Skid Row will only occur if we join together in respectful dialogue. That said, we feel we must correct some errors in Rev. Bales post. The claim that “housing groups actually dissuade their employees from reporting the crimes or....
Andrew J. Bales, M.A.T. I received the letter sent to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, and declined the offer to sign it. I believe it is yet another attempt by some to remove the helpful police presence from Skid Row, which would return this downtown neighborhood to the tragic scenes featured in The Soloist. Statements were made in the letter that stated “crime has been reduced by 33% on Skid Row, therefore it is time to move police away from Skid Row and to more dangerous parts of our city.” The fact is, the police presence is the reason for this crime reduction and an absence of police would be followed by a return to lawlessness. As it is, there is still far too much crime and violence on Skid Row, especially against women. And some of the crime..
Doug Schenkelberg Just over 60 years ago, a document called the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was born. This declaration says that all people, regardless of where they are born, the color of their skin or their station in life, have the same fundamental rights. We are talking about the right to vote, the right to live a life without torture, the right to live without discrimination, the right to work and the right to take a break, among others. Included in this is the right to housing – the simple belief that no one should have to be homeless. Everyone has the right to a home. The United States helped write this list of universal rights. Eleanor Roosevelt was one of its primary authors. Not only that, but the United States was one of the...
Lawrence Mishel Homelessness, long viewed as a condition of urban poverty, is now affecting growing numbers of families in not only urban, but suburban and rural America as well. While homelessness has many contributing factors, the primary symptom of individuals and families who lack permanent shelter is the absence of adequate wages. Through last summer, this recession had already seen an explosion in shelter stays by individuals—and in increasing numbers—families—in urban centers like New York City, wealthy suburbs like Montgomery County in Maryland, and rural areas like Shreveport, Louisiana. As the recession deepened and job losses rapidly accelerated from the fourth quarter of 2008 through the first quarter of 2009, there is every expectation...
Nan Roman In 2000, the National Alliance to End Homelessness unveiled the aptly titled, “A Plan, Not a Dream: How to End Homelessness in Ten Years.” The “Ten Year Plan,” as it came to be called, presented a fresh, comprehensive, and multi-system approach to ending homelessness. It utilized data, leveraged existing support systems, promoted outreach, and focused on housing. It integrated all we knew about the most promising and proven practices to end homelessness. Now, ten years after the launch, we pause to take stock of our progress. There are now 234 completed plans to end homelessness. Of these, 185 are city or county plans, 25 are state plans, 24 are regional plans. Along the way, we’ve encountered some challenges....
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