1. The Costs of Homelessness
Nicholas Pleace

2. The Costs of Homelessness
This research focuses on the costs of single homelessness
Undertaken in the context of legislative reform to enhance homelessness prevention in England
Commissioned by Crisis to further its campaign for enhancing preventative duty
Crisis wanted to make a point and this research helped them do it

3. The Costs of Homelessness
This research applied what might be called the kind of ‘million dollar Murray’ thesis to the British context
Homelessness is financially cheaper to prevent and rapidly solve

4. Method Cannot merge large scale administrative data sets in the UK
So it must be a sample
Not enough money for longitudinal/tracking
Or a large scale exercise
Which meant relying on memory
In a relatively small group

5. Method Talk to 100 single homeless people
Ask them about service use in last 90 days
People can remember with reasonable accuracy for 90 days
Lose track of time after that
Using tested American methods
Working with Professor Dennis P. Culhane from University of Pennsylvania

6. Fieldwork Got 86 single homeless people to participate
Around minutes each
Sat with a researcher, filling in a questionnaire
Anonymized at point of collection
London, Birmingham, York
23% women
Mainly UK origin

7. Health

8. Homelessness
Although selected on the basis of 90 days minimum homelessness
Most homeless for much longer
High cost, high risk group
Sustained and recurrent homelessness
Median of 14 months, average 30 months
46% homeless more than once

9. Use of Homelessness Services

10. Use of Homelessness Services

11. Costs of Homelessness Services

12. Health

13. Mental Health

14. Criminal Justice

15. 90 Days of Public Spending

16. Euros

17. Costs € Cost Total Eqv. average Drug/alcohol services £28,396 £330
€387
Mental health
£45,140
£525
€616
NHS
£92,415
£1,075
€1,261
Criminal justice
£257,818
£2,998
€3,520
Homeless services
£318,372
£3,702
€4,346
£742,141
£8,630
€10,129

18. So… Long term and repeatedly homeless people
Not everyone falls into this category
But a group of 1,000 of individuals with similar patterns of service use
And similar characteristics
€10,000 every three months, per person, on average
€40,000 per year, on average

19. Prevention Data on what prevention costs are not brilliant
Neither are data on how effective prevention is
We know statutory figures have plummeted
But are less confident that this is necessarily because homelessness has been resolved

20. Prevention Asked them what would have helped Attached a cost to that
As best we could
Calculated difference between estimated prevention cost
And what had been spent (estimated)

21. Estimated Difference Would have saved about £290k €340k
Half of them would have cost less
Some more, where not using many/any services

22. Other costs Statutory system processing costs
Not an issue for most of the 86 people in the research
Had not tried to get assistance
But, for others seeking help…
£558 per failed application
£826 per successful application
€655 and €970

23. Acceptances - England

24. Other costs Statutory homeless people in temporary accommodation
£3.5 billion in five years
Estimated spend in London in excess of £600 million per annum
€4.1 billion and €704 billion
55,000 London, 75,000 households overall

25. Incentives to cut costs
Reduce traffic in statutory system for immediate savings
Incentive to reduce single homelessness at least where recurrent and sustained
But savings are less immediate, less cashable
NHS
Criminal Justice
Worry that money will be cut, not redirected
Not like Finland…

26. Thanks for Listening Nicholas Pleace
Centre for Housing Policy, University of York
European Observatory on Homelessness