Across the nation – from Philadelphia to Boston, Seattle to San Diego, and indeed Salt Lake – Housing First initiatives have proven dramatically successful in rehabilitating the chronically homeless.
Housing First works
Housing First is a revolutionary program that places people with long histories of homelessness into permanent, supportive housing. The strategy gets people into affordable housing, and then into jobs and treatment so they can stay housed. One-time chronically homeless individuals pay a percentage of their income as rent for accommodations with on-site counselors and services that enable them to rebuild their lives. Housing First has been embraced across the country as the most efficient and effective approach to combat chronic homelessness.
Housing First saves tax payer dollars
Numerous studies have demonstrated the cost effectiveness of permanent supportive housing for people with long histories of homelessness. Housing First costs less than having this population regularly utilize emergency medical care and community shelters.
In Portland, Ore., Housing First cut in half the amount of public money spent on homeless. Cities from Chicago to Norfolk, Va. have reported two-year declines in overall homelessness form 12 to 25 percent. And, in Seattle, the 1811 Eastlake study documented cost savings of nearly $30,000 per person per year.
Success in Utah has proven equally dramatic.
Learn more:
Supportive Housing Works
Corporation for Supportive Housing
The Housing First Model
Pathways to Housing
Housing First Programs Studied
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
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