Housing First for Homeless Alcoholics
A recent study concludes that giving shelter to homeless alcoholics without making them quit drinking can save taxpayers millions of dollars. People staying at the shelter were also found to drink 2% less per month that they stayed with the program.
The study involved 95 people from 2005 to 2007 , those people were compared to those still on the street waiting to get into a program. This program is called Housing First and can help these people to stayout of jails and emergency rooms, which saves a lot of money right there. It’s also found that those with this program drink less and less, the longer they stay in the program.
The researchers say that after only 12 months in the program the 95 people in the study cut costs by more than 4 million dollars, compared to the prior year.
During the prior year they cost more than 4000 dollars each in costs for things like
- detox centers
- jails
- alcohol programs
- emergency room
- hospital costs
and that’s per month. However after they started the program the monthly costs for an individual dropped to $1,492 after about six months, and to $ 958 each after 12 months, for a total of over 4 million. Without the program the average cost per person is about $86,062 compared to a cost of $13,440 each for the program per individual. Add in the factor that these people are drinking less the longer they stay, this sounds like a wonderful type of program all around.
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