Homeless Cost Essay

Cost is a big factor in care for the homeless. Not just in shelter costs but in paying law-enforcement officers who arrest individuals for things like trespassing, public intoxication or sleeping in parks. (In these regards I am shifting away from family homelessness towards individuals.) Then jail stays along with hospitalization for physical or mental issues really heighten the price a city pays per homeless person. Two years ago, the Central Florida Commission on Homelessness conducted a study of 107 homeless living in Orange, Seminole or Osceola counties and the city of Orlando. They recorded their jail records and hospital stays to come up with a yearly cost. It costs the region an average of $31,065 per person a year. Then, multiply that by 1,577—the number of chronically homeless in the three counties—and it costs the counties about $49 million a year. This research does not include any data on how much they pay for homeless shelters or money spent by nonprofits which may radically
‘Opening Doors: Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness’ was an initiative presented to the Obama administration in June of 2010. It included Housing First as the most effective strategy in ending homelessness (USICH). Housing first consists of two strategies: rapid re-housing and supportive housing. Rapid re-housing is intended to get people and families off the street and in an apartment without any preconditions. These ‘preconditions’ refer to things like sobriety, criminal record or employment. Homeless programs in the past have used preconditions like this to favor housing some people over others. Then, supportive housing includes services to help people get a job and become stable (USICH). Because, what is the point in teaching someone to better themselves when they don’t have basic needs. As an alternative to the old saying: Give a man a fish, then teach him