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Estimated Cost to End Homelessness

Slide presentation on the scope of services and cost to end homelessness in Los Angeles

September 1, 2005 / By Daniel Flaming
Underwriter: Bring LA Home

Policy Questions Covered:Estimated_Cost_to_end_Homelessness_img_01

  1. How many people are homeless?
  2. What services are needed?
  3. How much spendable resources do homeless people have?
  4. How are housing needs met?

Summary of Findings:

  • More effective efforts to help homeless residents re-enter the labor force and obtain public benefits will reduce costs by an estimated 16 percent (cautious to semi-optimistic scenario).
  • Reducing the flow of people being cared for by major social institutions into homelessness will reduce costs by an estimated 47 percent (semi-optimistic to optimistic scenario).
  • Providing housing is by far the greatest cost in ending homelessness – accounting for two-thirds to three-quarters of total costs.
  • Requiring households with modest but still significant spendable resources (single adults with $7,000 to $11,999 and families with $10,000 to $15,999) to increase their contribution to rent costs by 5 percent each year will reduce costs by an estimated 37 percent (optimistic to modified-optimistic scenario).
  • The lowest cost scenario (modified optimistic) is estimated to cost roughly double what is currently being spent on homelessness.
Photograph by Helen Taylor (aka scribbletaylor), "19th Jan: Shelter: Having a home is about more than just having a roof over your head." uploaded to Flickr Creative Commons on January 19, 2009, taken on January 19, 2009. Protected under the CC BY-NC 2.0 DEED license.

Photograph by Helen Taylor (aka scribbletaylor), “19th Jan: Shelter: Having a home is about more than just having a roof over your head.” uploaded to Flickr Creative Commons on January 19, 2009, taken on January 19, 2009. Protected under the CC BY-NC 2.0 DEED license.

 

Area of Work: Economy, People
Tags: Homelessness, Los Angeles