Permanent Supportive Housing for Homeless People — Reframing the Debate

Advocates claim that providing permanent supportive housing to chronically homeless people will deliver net savings by reducing the use of jails, shelters, and hospitals. It won't. Rather than focus on costs, we should consider the best way to meet this population's needs. The persistence of homelessness in the United States has increased interest in providing permanent housing with supportive services to people with disabling conditions who have been homeless for more than a year. Skeptical about achieving political consensus on providing housing solely on humanitarian grounds, advocates for ending homelessness have increasingly turned to a financial argument, claiming that permanent supportive housing will deliver net cost savings to society by reducing the use of jails, shelters, and hospitals. But as researchers and clinicians who endorse such permanent supportive housing, we believe the cost-savings argument is problematic and that it would be better . . .