Housing homeless could save taxpayers hundreds of millions
The Canadian Press points out the obvious
A study says providing shelter for the homeless with severe addictions and mental illness throughout British Columbia could save taxpayers millions of dollars.
"Addiction is the most prevalent mental health problem in both the street homeless and at-risk populations, followed by concurrent disorders and, less frequently, mental illness alone," says the Simon Fraser University report.
The paper - entitled "Housing and Support for Adults With Severe Addictions and/or Mental Illnesses in British Columbia" - says providing non-housing services for such people costs the public system more than $55,000 per year per person.
It says providing adequate housing and supports could reduce this cost to $37,000 per year.
The same idea was previously written about by Malcolm Gladwell in his article Million Dollar Murray.
1:57 PM ::
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2 Comments:
shane claiborne's dream is something i believe we should all seriously consider alongside the professional services for those with medical and mental illness.
"It just makes sense not to have families on the street or in abandoned houses, especially when we have a spare bedroom."
community...
there really is enough for all of us.
In NB most of the unattached people at our center live on $539.47 (that's with the GST/HST rebate added in) although you only get that check once a quarter.
if housing and heat are $400 (and that's scary living spaces in 10 or 12 degrees C for 5 months) you've got $140.00 a month for everything else.
For those who are counting that's $1.51 per meal - if you don't spend it on anything other than food.
Living on assistance is a causes a deterioration of mental health, because it isn't living - it's surviving.
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