Housing homeless could save taxpayers millions: SFU report.

This is from the Canadian Press. Besides being a saving for taxpayers surely a good reason for housing the homeless is that the homeless would be better off with a good roof over their head. The study makes it clear that they studied not just the homeless but those inadequately housed. No doubt proper housing would also relieve pressures on the police and medical personnel as well.


Housing homeless could save taxpayers hundreds of millions, SFU report says
2 days ago

VANCOUVER — A study says providing shelter for the homeless with severe addictions and mental illness throughout British Columbia could save taxpayers millions of dollars.

"Addiction is the most prevalent mental health problem in both the street homeless and at-risk populations, followed by concurrent disorders and, less frequently, mental illness alone," says the Simon Fraser University report.

The paper - entitled "Housing and Support for Adults With Severe Addictions and/or Mental Illnesses in British Columbia" - says providing non-housing services for such people costs the public system more than $55,000 per year per person.

It says providing adequate housing and supports could reduce this cost to $37,000 per year.

The team of researchers - from SFU, the University of British Columbia and the University of Calgary - says the overall "cost avoidance" of such a plan is about $211 million per year.

"The costs of providing supported housing and other health services to this population . . . is lower than the cost incurred through the use of emergency departments, the corrections system and emergency shelters when they are homeless," the report says.

Health Minister George Abbott was unavailable for comment but a ministry spokeswoman said the government is working to provide necessary supports for those with mental health and addiction challenges.

Michelle Stewart said that as part of that work, various stakeholders have been asked for input and research work on a new 10-year Mental Health Plan.

The report notes the problem is not just one found in the province's big cities. Results were similar in 28 smaller B.C. communities researchers visited.

Further, it concludes, people who fall under the auspices of the report are not unreachable and difficult to serve as has so long been believed.

It says they can accept and benefit from mental health and substance use services and can remain in stable housing with the appropriate supports.

"It's is time to implement these evidence-based solutions for British Columbians in need," the report says.

However, it says, for that to happen, certain challenges must be addressed.

The report supports better integration between municipalities and inter-ministry service providers such as corrections, housing, health and employment.

Another challenge is the lack of housing.

The report notes the drop in the number of rooming houses due to gentrification, and that combined with rent increases, has caused increased homelessness.

These developments have literally left people out in the cold since the 1980s, it says.

And, the report says, inadequate attention is paid to preventing homelessness among those who have both addictions and mental illnesses.

"Little funding has been directed to addressing underlying causes," it says. "Managers and service providers understandably focus on stop-gap solutions to immediate crises."

The report from SFU's Centre for Applied Research in Mental Health and Addiction was commissioned in 2006 by the Mental Health and Addictions Branch of the B.C. Ministry of Health.

The aim of the work was to determine numbers, associated costs and solutions for helping adults with addictions or mental illnesses in the province.

The report says 130,000 people in B.C. meet the criteria for having severe addictions and/or mental illness.

Of those, it says, 39,000 people are inadequately housed with almost 19,000 at risk of being homeless.

Those figures are on top of the staggering 12,000 who are considered "absolutely homeless."

But, says the report, there are currently only 7,741 beds available in the province for those at risk.

The SFU study comes two months after a disturbing report by the Vancouver Police Department.

It said up to half the calls police get in some areas of the city are related to mentally ill people.

The police department report suggested officers were spending huge amounts of time dealing with severely mentally ill and drug-addicted people on the streets, when they weren't specifically trained for that type of intervention.

That was followed in late February by an announcement by Premier Gordon Campbell of the opening of a psychiatric hospital to treat those affected by the most severe mental health issues that were compounded by addictions.

Campbell and Health Minister George Abbott touted the new Burnaby Centre for Mental Health and Addictions as not only unique in B.C., but in Canada.

The Willingdon centre in Burnaby will open with 30 beds and expand to 100 by the end of the year, offering medical, nursing and psychiatric care as well as addiction care, counselling and trauma support.

Many of the people who will be treated are in and out of the courts or end up in hospital emergency rooms, said Campbell.

The centre, which will cost $3.5 million to get up and running and $14 million a year to operate, will provide treatment programs lasting anywhere from a month to nine months or longer.

The facility will be used for only about five years while the government plans a replacement centre, either at the same Burnaby site or at the Riverview hospital in Coquitlam - a psychiatric facility largely shut down in the 1990s.