60 Minutes and Planetizen recently reported on state and local programs that permanently place chronically homeless people in free or subsidized apartments with no strings attached. Why provide housing for these people regardless of their efforts to become self-sufficient? Because it appears that chronically homeless people, many of whom have medical conditions or substance abuse problems, are more likely to require emergency room care or spend time in jail than those who were chronically homeless and now reside in permanent apartments where social workers check up on them.
Utah, for example, calculated that chronically homeless persons cost taxpayers on average $16,670 a year in emergency room visits and jails stays. But, the average cost of providing an apartment and social worker for such individuals is only $11,000 a year. So, the state began putting the homeless in apartments and connecting them with social workers and caseworkers. In nine years, Utah has reduced the chronically homeless population by 74% and is on track to completely eradicate chronic homelessness by 2015.
