the Answer To Homelessness..."Housing First" (hopefull)

[VWFringe]

something i heard on NPR about Housing First, made it sound like the answer to the homeless problem in LA, and everywhere...the idea is to put them into housing right away, some place of their own, and then offer the programs that they used to have to complete first.



They said the homeless start over each day, carrying everything they own, so have difficulty moving around on busses to different locations without a place to store their stuff and get clean and just have as personal space.

They anticipate saving the county of LA over $65,000,000 if they can just get the chronic homeless, 12,000 souls, off of the streets and into their own apartments.

I think that's the best news i've heard all year.

i was especially curious to hear that they've already figured out this problem in many of the major cities around the country, is this true?

 

[HighSti]

sounds interesting and provides hope to those without homes. Although, im curious where the funding would come from to support all of these "apartments" or living spaces. Charity? government?

I mean, the idea sounds wonderful but the logistics seem to be too good to be true. what if some of these people cant support themselves even after they have been given a living space?

Im curious to hear what everyone else has to say because I dont know to much about the topic but it defiantly got me thinking.

 

[VWFringe]

in a way it sounds totally rediculous, putting homeless people in a place of their own with no rent due. But when they started talking about how those 12,000 (of the 82,000 on any given night in LA) are costing 65 million a year in police, fire and emergency room visits, and how when they've done this in other cities it's worked. interesting, and hopeful...

the police are getting on the same page too, since homelessness has been somewhat criminalized over the years, but that doesn't serve the needs of those people, so the police say they'll partner with the program and try to educate their officers

i'm just so hopefull since finding this out, i'd thought they were doomed to a dis-enfranchised life of drug addiction, but they actually think they have a handle on it and hope to house 250 a month or something

here's a link to the NPR page - they apparently did a year long thing on it, (when i click on something like this i don't know where to go, it's not too inviting, but i'll try to dig up the radio recording, it was easy to listen to)...


http://www.npr.org/news/specials/housingfirst/

 

[Purple-Days]

$450 a month per person to give them an apartment and of course that includes utilities cause you can't expect them to pay those. Oh, and they will need a phone and internet access too, don't laugh, those are modern 'rights' too.

And giving them that apartment means they no longer need police, fire or emergency services? . . . well, you can't count those savings, unless it were true, right?

I have been fucking homeless! I have lived in the fucking National Forest in a fucking tent! Cat holes and gas station sink showers... I got up everyday at 3 AM to trek to a Rent-A-Bum job depot and saved and scrimped till I could get a 10' 1967 travel trailer and worked , worked , worked my way up-up-up. That doesn't describe the average homeless person you/they want to give a hand out (not a hand up).

These homeless that you want to help out with an apartment are not going to get jobs and become a productive portion of society, they are the refugees of the mental institutions that we closed down. We tossed these people on the street. What did we expect them to do, work their way out of a bad situation? Not gonna happen.

Do you/we really think $450 a month (including administration costs, and utilities) for a roof (in LA) is going to solve the problem? It's like putting frosting on a turd.

I feel sorry for the homeless (the mentally ill ones). But this is just a band-aid on a cut that needs many stiches.

 

[aesthyrian]

Yeah here in America we lets people die on the street. It is the American way.. because in the end money is all that matters. And as long as giant corporations get their tax cuts, on the zero taxes they paid to the government then it seems the average American stays happy?

How about we spend some of the waste on real people who could use real help. Tell me why the Dept' of Defense and Exxon Mobil deserve more rights and help than a struggling American? You know, a real human being.

 

[VWFringe]

i was googling a link for you and saw this...

here's that link: Amend the U.S. Constitution to ensure the government has the authority to limit corporate influence in elections.

http://site.pfaw.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Amend&autologin=true

 

[aero18]

i was googling a link for you and saw this...
http://bks0.books.google.com/books?...zoom=1&sig=ACfU3U1yVqD9CTW89Axf5JVgb_g4BcHwLQ

here's that link: Amend the U.S. Constitution to ensure the government has the authority to limit corporate influence in elections.

http://site.pfaw.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Amend&autologin=true

Several of my close friends at a near university have started up a club raising awareness about this very issue. They call themselves ACT (American Campaign Transparency) and they organize protests about the rise of corporate "rights" in American politics.

 

[aesthyrian]

i was googling a link for you and saw this...
http://bks0.books.google.com/books?...zoom=1&sig=ACfU3U1yVqD9CTW89Axf5JVgb_g4BcHwLQ

here's that link: Amend the U.S. Constitution to ensure the government has the authority to limit corporate influence in elections.

http://site.pfaw.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Amend&autologin=true

Thom Hartmann is an amazing writer and his radio program and television show are amazing as well. I have yet to read unequal protection but have heard him explain many of the points in the book on his radio show and like most things he says, they just make too much sense.

You can read his latest book for free http://www.truth-out.org/thom-hartmann-rebooting-american-dream65183

 

[VWFringe]

so, they did a study and it saves 53% per person even if they keep getting high or drinking

Results Housing First participants had total costs of $8 175 922 in the year prior to the study, or median costs of $4066 per person per month (interquartile range [IQR], $2067-$8264). Median monthly costs decreased to $1492 (IQR, $337-$5709) and $958 (IQR, $98-$3200) after 6 and 12 months in housing, respectively. Poisson generalized estimating equation regressions using propensity score adjustments showed total cost rate reduction of 53% for housed participants relative to wait-list controls (rate ratio, 0.47; 95% confidence interval, 0.25-0.88) over the first 6 months. Total cost offsets for Housing First participants relative to controls averaged $2449 per person per month after accounting for housing program costs.

Full quote below from JAMA website http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/301/13/1349.short

Health Care and Public Service Use and Costs Before and After Provision of Housing for Chronically Homeless Persons With Severe Alcohol Problems Mary E. Larimer, PhD; Daniel K. Malone, MPH; Michelle D. Garner, MSW, PhD; David C. Atkins, PhD; Bonnie Burlingham, MPH; Heather S. Lonczak, PhD; Kenneth Tanzer, BA; Joshua Ginzler, PhD; Seema L. Clifasefi, PhD; William G. Hobson, MA; G. Alan Marlatt, PhD
[+] Author Affiliations

Author Affiliations: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (Drs Larimer and Atkins), Addictive Behaviors Research Center (Ms Burlingham and Drs Clifasefi and Marlatt), and Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute (Drs Lonczak and Ginzler), University of Washington, Seattle; Social Work Program, University of Washington, Tacoma (Dr Garner); and Downtown Emergency Service Center, Seattle, Washington (Messrs Malone, Tanzer, and Hobson).
AbstractContext Chronically homeless individuals with severe alcohol problems often have multiple medical and psychiatric problems and use costly health and criminal justice services at high rates.

Objective To evaluate association of a Housing First intervention for chronically homeless individuals with severe alcohol problems with health care use and costs.

Design, Setting, and Participants Quasi-experimental design comparing 95 housed participants (with drinking permitted) with 39 wait-list control participants enrolled between November 2005 and March 2007 in Seattle, Washington.

Main Outcome Measures Use and cost of services (jail bookings, days incarcerated, shelter and sobering center use, hospital-based medical services, publicly funded alcohol and drug detoxification and treatment, emergency medical services, and Medicaid-funded services) for Housing First participants relative to wait-list controls.

Results Housing First participants had total costs of $8 175 922 in the year prior to the study, or median costs of $4066 per person per month (interquartile range [IQR], $2067-$8264). Median monthly costs decreased to $1492 (IQR, $337-$5709) and $958 (IQR, $98-$3200) after 6 and 12 months in housing, respectively. Poisson generalized estimating equation regressions using propensity score adjustments showed total cost rate reduction of 53% for housed participants relative to wait-list controls (rate ratio, 0.47; 95% confidence interval, 0.25-0.88) over the first 6 months. Total cost offsets for Housing First participants relative to controls averaged $2449 per person per month after accounting for housing program costs.

Conclusions In this population of chronically homeless individuals with high service use and costs, a Housing First program was associated with a relative decrease in costs after 6 months. These benefits increased to the extent that participants were retained in housing longer.