Study: Seattle housing for (homeless) alcoholics saves money

[depakid]

Source: The Oregonian

An innovative program that takes homeless alcoholics off the street and gives them a place to live without requiring them to stop drinking is saving taxpayers more than $4 million a year in emergency social and health programs, according to a study released Tuesday. The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, endorses the "housing first" approach that calls for putting homeless people in permanent homes with supportive services instead of requiring them to stop drinking and taking drugs to earn their shelter.

Researchers at the University of Washington followed 95 chronic alcoholics before and after they moved into supportive housing at the edge of downtown Seattle. They also kept tabs on a control group who were on the waiting list for the apartment building. They found the average cost of alcohol-related hospital emergency services, the nonprofit "sobering center" where police bring alcoholics to dry out, and the King County jail was $4,832 per person per month while the 95 were living on the street.

Six months after moving into the apartment building, the average cost for these services dropped to $1,492 per person per month. Taxpayer and privately donated money was used to build the $11.2 million apartment building. The nonprofit Downtown Emergency Service Center spends about $11,000 per resident a year to operate the building, which opened at the end of 2005.

Even with the cost of the building and the program taken into consideration, the program saves money, said lead research Mary Larimer, professor of psychiatry and behavior sciences at the University of Washington. The study also looked at what happened to alcohol use for the people who moved into the building, where residents are allowed to drink in their apartments. Contrary to expectations, the residents of the 1811 Eastlake building decreased their drinking after moving in. Some even stopped entirely, Larimer said.


Read more: http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/03/study_seattle_housing_for_alco.html

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There's a win/win piece of public policy-

[Demeter]

1. Who Would Have Thought It? Certainly Not Reagan!

[globalvillage]

2. I heard an interview with one of the residents

on NPR this afternoon. He said when he was on the street, he'd drink to fall asleep so he wouldn't have to worry about getting hit in the head with a brick and robbed. Now, he says he rarely drinks and when he does, not excessively.

This sounds like a great program.

[globalvillage]

3. Link to the NPR audio

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102563819

[Warpy]

4. THIS is what needs to be done!

Thank you for providing a story with hard numbers to back it up.

I don't think you can expect anybody living on the street to get clean and sober. Not making it a requirement for shelter is the only thing that does work.

That it's cheaper than simply ignoring the problem is icing on the cake.

[harmonicon]

8. I just wish that people didn't have to get to that point before shelter is offered

I'm poor. I'm probably always going to be poor. I'd worry a lot less about that if I thought I would be guaranteed at least some modest shelter if I couldn't make ends meet. This should be a basic human right, like health care, for all people.

[KT2000]

5. Throwing people overboard,

a favorite right-wing pastime is very expensive. They believe that people just disappear if they do not accept them into society. What really happens is that parallel societies are established that operate with different rules.

Accepting the fact that not everyone is perfect is the intelligent and humane thing to do. Its amazing how people actually change when they are not thrown to the streets to exist in survival mode year after year.

[Hannah Bell]

6. k/r

[bemildred]

7. Why you could just knock me over with a feather. nt

[ShareTheWoods]

9. A national program like this for rural homeless would be great

Instead of the county, state or feds throwing those unfortunate enough to fall on hard times
out on the rural road when they can't afford their property tax, bank payments etc for their home,
it would be nice if they could remain in their home until they get their feet back under them.

Maybe someday.

[stevedeshazer]

10. If citizens at every level took this approach, we'd be way ahead.

Good one.

:thumbsup:

[depakid]

15. So true- and People do work hard on this

And get called lots of names and such.

Win/win public policy and win/win private business plans? They really aren't so hard- yet they take a bit of doing.

[EFerrari]

11. Someone figured out that people drink more when they're stressed out?!

lol

I'm so happy someone did.

[keopeli]

12. Hoorah Seattle! Home of Compassion! She treats her people with respect!

I'm so proud! I have several friends who work in this program and have since the beginning! I have met people who have benefited from this program. I'm so honored to have been touched by these souls.

Thanks for sharing this wonderful news.

Go and do likewise, friends...


peace

[Vidar]

13. Bravo Seattle!

[Gormy Cuss]

14. Supportive housing programs are great ways to address the needs of those with multiple barriers

It's true that most directed at substance abusers require the participants to stop using as a condition. While that stipulation has made it easier for some to stay clean and sober it also has excluded many who for whatever reasons weren't at that point yet. I'd rather have housing for those still using than leave them with no other choice than the streets, but historically there was considerable opposition to funding such programs with public dollars. It's the same little brained people who think that all welfare applicants should pass drug tests.

[gratuitous]

16. Won't somebody please think of the convenience stores?

Oh sure, you libruls think it’s all about lowering costs and helping people out and redeeming drunks and alkies so that they can return to being productive members of society. But I’ll bet none of you is concerned about the impact on fortified wine sales! Thunderbird and Night Train need love, too!