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benefits to formerly homeless individuals. Reducing the cost of A 2013 Californian study found once people were housed, with
non-shelter services also saved the public money. appropriate support services, police contacts fell by 99%. Health
costs fell by 85%.
Stable housing generally came through a Housing First model.
The first priority is to find people a safe and permanent home, Another two-year Canadian study of 2,000 people across five
with no strings attached. Wraparound support services are cities found, unsurprisingly, a major drop-off in public nuisance
provided, which are critical in helping them adjust to a new life offences such as sleeping in public places, urinating in public
in a stable and permanent home. and washing in public bathrooms.

The savings start with health All 19 studies measuring cost-effectiveness found housing
The most researched measure was health. Almost all the research people produced savings across a broad range of areas –
found positive changes when people moved into permanent, including crisis accommodation, the justice system, sobering
secure housing. Almost one-third of the studies looked at the clinics and hospitals. Even after deducting the cost of housing,
fall in use of hospital wards and emergency services once people a 2011 Australian study of 268 participants found savings of
were housed. $2,182 per person after 12 months.

Our review found a clear economic case for governments to
take a systematic approach to ending homelessness. While this
argument might be seen as a capitulation to the “financialisation
of everything”, the darkening economic cloud of the pandemic
might provide just the right cover for government decision-
makers to act on the catastrophe of homelessness.

Written by: Vivienne Skinner, Industry/Professional Fellow, School of
the Built Environment, University of Technology Sydney;
Phillippa Carnemolla, Senior Research Fellow, School of the Built
Environment, University of Technology Sydney
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons
license. Read the original article: https://bit.ly/3g3Qw2C

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As one Australian study found, people sleeping rough are
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October 2020 www.bestoflocal.com.au 13