Medicine Hat, Alberta is home to more than 60,000 individuals and since this new initiative has been put into place, everyone within the city has a place to sleep tonight.
It took six years to institute the policy known as “Housing First”, but it has done a great job at turning the status quo of homelessness on its head.
It all started in 2009, when Mayor Ted Clugston was actively opposed to the policy. According to the terms of “Housing First”, every individual who spent at least 10 days on the street would be provided with a home. He realizes now that he was in error, as this program truly works!
Studies have shown that individuals who live on the streets and are told to get clean just continue to fall into a cycle of poverty, drug abuse and homelessness. It didn’t do anything to solve the problem but rather, caused more difficulties because they would end up in shelters, hospitals and detention centers. This costs the taxpayers money.
It has been estimated that it costs approximately $20,000 to house a homeless person for a year but it costs $100,000 if they remain on the street. That math is indisputable, and it really shows the benefits of what is being done.
Now, the Housing First policy provides homes to individuals who would otherwise be costing much more money to the taxpayer. It also provides them with some dignity and it makes it much easier for them to break the cycle of addiction that is sometimes a problem for these individuals.
The benefits of this program are easy to see. In Medicine Hat, the number of visits to the emergency rooms have been dropping but court appearances have been on the rise. This is due to the fact that many of these individuals who are now living in a home have begun to own up to their past lives.
In Utah, a similar policy was put into place and homelessness was reduced by 91%. In fact, there are so few individuals who are homeless in the state of Utah that they are all known by name.