Seattle Saves $4 million/year

by housing chronic alcoholics without requiring them to give up the booze as a condition of receiving housing: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008957119_webalcoholics01m.html

Interesting!

Help May be on the Way!

This just in!

Obama Administration Awards Nearly $1.6 Billion in Homeless Grants to Thousand of Local Housing and Service Programs Nationwide

Source: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

Hundreds of thousands of homeless individuals and families will find a stable home and be offered critically needed services as a result of nearly $1.6 billion in homeless assistance announced today by U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan. This week, President Obama also signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 into law, which will provide an additional $1.5 billion in funding for homeless prevention.

The grants announced today are being awarded through HUD’s Continuum of Care programs and will assist approximately 6,300 local homeless assistance projects throughout the U.S., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. For a local summary of the grant funding announced today, visit HUD’s website.

“With the foreclosure and unemployment crisis looming, millions of families - both homeowners and renters - are in danger of losing their homes so we must focus substantial resources to help those families find stable housing,” said Donovan. “The grants being awarded today, along with the recovery plan’s additional $1.5 billion, will offer a critical lifeline to those persons and families who, after a foreclosure or job loss, might otherwise be faced with homelessness. Today we are announcing an unprecedented commitment to fund programs that have a proven track record of providing real housing solutions for our most vulnerable neighbors.”

Thanks!

Hey all.

If you feel so inclined, a quick note of thanks to Mayor Verner and the Spokane City Council may be in order as they somehow managed to increase the 2009 Human Services budget from ~$820,000 to an even $1,000,000.  Given the economic climate we find ourselves in, this feat is just plain astounding.

Also, Joe Shogan, the City Council President, announced that he would forego 10% of his 2009 salary and divert it to the Human  Services budget for distribution to the 2nd Harvest Food Bank.  Thank you, Mr. Shogan.

An item of interest...

Hi all --

I just came across the following report from the National Coalition for the Homeless that has to do with the voting rights of the homeless. In short, you don't need a home to vote. That said, there are plenty of obstacles for the homeless to overcome should they would want exercise their right to vote...

This guide provides a nice state-by-state rundown of the voter registration requirements, how to conduct a voter registration drive, how to host a forum on housing and homelessness, etc. Very nicely done.

More research...

Regarding the benefits of housing the homeless, here's a snippet of an article from Esquire magazine:

Dennis Culhane collects data. Mounds of it. More of it in his areas of interest--primarily urban homelessness--than anybody has collected before. And what he has learned has created a revolution.

Among the truths he has drawn from his data on the homeless:

* About 40 percent of the people entering the shelter system in New York for example, have passed through other major institutions--jails, hospitals, detox centers, or foster care.

* Many, in turn, are recycled back through those same institutions; e.g., in Philadelphia 25 percent of those admitted to city jails are homeless.

* The chronically homeless represent as little as 10 to 15 percent of the total homeless population in New York but cost about $40,000 per person per year in public resources, far greater than anyone imagined.

"I think that some people thought it was cheap for society to ignore poor people and, if they had to, let them starve on the streets," Culhane says. "But it turns out that having people live on the street isn't cheap after all."

Interesting stuff. It is largely because of Culhane's research that the Bush Administration's focus on homelessness has shifted from temporary shelter-based care to permanent, supportive housing.

Are you on Facebook?

Hey all.

If you have a facebook profile, (or if you don't, set one up!) I wanted to let you know that I started a group there that may make it easier for folks to freely share thoughts as we move through the budgeting process. Here it is!

Let's save some money...

and adequately fund human services. For a three paragraph description of how the Spokane area could save, see below.

From the Jan.-Feb., 2008 issue of This Magazine:

Calgary journalist Gordon Laird pointed out this past summer in his report, Homelessness in a Growth Economy: Canada’s 21st Century Paradox, that Canada is spending between $4.5 and $6 billion a year funding its homeless. Laird reached this figure by examining a 2001 British Columbia government study that found the average homeless person uses $30,000 to $40,000 annually in frontline emergency services such as hospital care, jail time and shelters, and applying this formula to the National Homelessness Initiative’s estimate that 150,000 Canadians are homeless.

“It’s a complete double standard that we should attack debt and deficit with such fervour,” says Laird, “but when it comes to the cost of homelessness, we’ve really chosen to neglect it.”

What’s worse is that the B.C. study showed that it’s cheaper to house people—at $22,000 to $28,000 per individual—than have them live on the streets.

$30,000 - $40,000 per person per year burden on frontline services. Ugh.

So here's the question: Do we need to replicate Laird's research here? Can we legitimately assume that the same situation would apply here in Spokane? Thoughts?

Ooh... If you're of the mind, don't forget to shoot the City Council a quick message and let them know how you see the issue.