Utah
Is Ending Homelessness by Giving People Homes
January
22nd, 2014
In
eight years, Utah has quietly reduced homelessness by 78 percent, and
is on track to end homelessness by 2015.
How
did Utah accomplish this? Simple. Utah solved homelessness by giving
people homes. In 2005, Utah figured out that the annual cost of E.R.
visits and jail says for homeless people was about $16,670 per
person, compared to $11,000 to provide each homeless person with an
apartment and a social worker. So, the state began giving away
apartments, with no strings attached. Each participant in Utah’s
Housing First program also gets a caseworker to help them become
self-sufficient, but the keep the apartment even if they fail.
The
program has been so successful that other states are hoping to
achieve similar results with programs modeled on Utah’s.
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