The Cost of Homelessness

Article by Claudia Kittock, photos by Rick Kittock

Every week I talk with people experiencing homelessness. Often these people are teenagers, and I hear the stories of life without a place to live.  Imagine spending part of every night wedged into a space underneath an overpass.  Imagine spending part of every night hoping no one will assault you, no police officer will come to roust you out of that space underneath an overpass, and then imagine doing that with no hope of a better future.  That is the daily reality for too many of our neighbors in this city.

 

 

The people who have experienced homelessness in our neighborhood are real.  They are people from every walk of life and over 80% have jobs, with 40% of those working two or more jobs. There is Phillip who worked for Wells Fargo, Randy who worked for Fox TV for 15 years before being laid off, Jennifer who ran the housekeeping department for the downtown Hilton Hotel, Jeremiah who owned three farms until a farming accident made that impossible. All of them, like you and I, want a place to sleep at night, good food to eat, and a place for their families to grow and flourish.

 

If the impact of that type of existence is not enough to engage you in this conversation, let’s consider the economic facts of homelessness. Shaun Donovan, former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development explained, "The thing we finally figured out is that it’s actually, not only better for people, but cheaper to solve homelessness than it is to put a band-aid on it. Because, at the end of the day, between shelters and emergency rooms and jails, it costs about $40,000 a year for a homeless person to be on the streets."

 

"We learned that you could either sustain people in homelessness for $35,000 to $150,000 a year, or you could literally end their homelessness for $13,000 to $25,000 a year."

 

A study done at the University of Pennsylvania analyzed the costs of 4,679 mentally ill homeless people in New York City who were placed in supportive housing that also provided social services. Those costs were compared to data on people who relied on public shelters, public and private hospitals and correctional facilities. The study found that "persons placed in supportive housing experience marked reductions in shelter use, hospitalizations, length of stay per hospitalization and time incarcerated. Before placement, homeless people with severe mental illness used about $40,451 per person per year in services (1999 dollars). Placement was associated with a reduction in services use of $16,281 per housing unit per year.”

 

Philip Mangano, former homelessness policy czar under President George W. Bush, compiled data from 65 cities of all different sizes and demographics and found that the cost of keeping people on the street added up to between $35,000 and $150,000 per person per year.

 

Conversely, after the housing-first programs had been established, Mangano said, he looked at the cost of keeping formerly homeless people housed. That range: $13,000 to $25,000 per person per year.

 

"We learned that you could either sustain people in homelessness for $35,000 to $150,000 a year, or you could literally end their homelessness for $13,000 to $25,000 a year," he said.

 

Housing First is an assistance approach for people experiencing homelessness.  It prioritizes providing people with permanent housing as quickly as possible.  Once housed, providing supportive services becomes easier, less expensive, and more efficient. The vast majority of people experiencing homelessness fall into homelessness after a housing or personal crisis. For these households, the Housing First approach provides them with short-term assistance to find permanent housing quickly and without conditions. In turn, such households often require only brief, if any, support or assistance to achieve housing stability and individual well-being.

 

Heading Home Hennepin is the City of Minneapolis and Hennepin County community’s 10-year plan to end homelessness by 2016. The plan was developed over the course of 100 days in 2006 by a commission of representatives from federal, state, and local governments; business, nonprofit, faith and philanthropic communities; and homeless and formerly homeless citizens.  Information about this program and the progress that has been made in Minneapolis can be found at http://www.hennepin.us/headinghomehennepin.

 

Who are the people experiencing homelessness in Minneapolis? In 2013, Hennepin County observed that 25% of families in emergency shelter had been there before, double the rate of 5 years earlier. These families that returned to shelter were younger, with less education and work experience. They were disproportionately African American or Native American. Preventing these families’ return to shelter could have saved the community $1.5 million in shelter costs per year, in addition to the trauma that homelessness causes.

 

The Wilder Foundation conducts one night statewide surveys of homeless people in Minnesota, with the most recent one being October 22, 2015.  On the night of that survey, 9,312 homeless adults, youth, and children were counted, down 9% from 2012. The 9% decrease between 2012 and 2015 follows a jump of 32% between 2006 and 2012.

 

A look at the numbers:
• The number of homeless children decreased 7% between 2012 and 2015. However, children still represent 35% of the overall homeless population, and young people age 24 or younger are the most likely to be homeless.
• There was an 8% decrease in the Twin Cities metro, and a 13% decrease in greater Minnesota.
• 77% of homeless adults age 18 or older have been in Minnesota for longer than 2 years.
• Youth on their own age 24 and younger make up 16% of the homeless population.
• Homeless adults age 22-54 decreased 13% since 2012 to 4,108 people in 2015.
• The number of homeless adults age 55 or older increased 8% since 2012 to 843 in 2015. The percentage increase is similar to the overall population growth for this age group. Older adults remain a small proportion of the overall homeless population, and the group least likely to be homeless.
• The number of people in emergency shelters dropped 8 percent and the number of people in transitional shelters dropped 5 percent, while the number of people in domestic violence shelters increased 15 percent.

 

The numbers reflect homeless people counted on the night of the study. The count should be considered a minimum, since many homeless people outside the shelter system are not found on the night of the study, especially people in rural areas and youth. Estimates of the total homeless population will be released when additional analyses are completed.

 

Please consider not only the personal side of homelessness, but the economic.  Making sure people have a place to sleep is good business for a city.  The economic payback is huge. This problem can and needs to be fixed, for the sheer humanity of making sure every person can go to sleep in their own bed every night.

 

Claudia can be reached at claudia@millcitymedia.org