UK Study on Cash to Homeless

Matthew Yglesias points to an article in The Economist about a pilot program in London to help end homelessness by providing cash to people who are homeless.

Of the 13 people who engaged with the scheme, 11 have moved off the streets. The outlay averaged £794 ($1,277) per person (on top of the project’s staff costs). None wanted their money spent on drink, drugs or bets. Several said they co-operated because they were offered control over their lives rather than being “bullied” into hostels. Howard Sinclair of Broadway explains: “We just said, ‘It’s your life and up to you to do what you want with it, but we are here to help if you want.’”

In a way, this program mirrors the thinking behind Housing First-get people into housing first, & then everything else can follow as needed.  It is very important that the person being assisted "buy in" into the program and services as that often produces the desired results.  The key element in this buy-in is giving the person some control, rather than, as stated above, coercing the person with demands.

The City of Milwaukee and the County of Milwaukee have cooperated closely on providing new Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) units along with using Shelter Plus Care vouchers to provide assistance to the chronic homeless.

Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority also created a new set-aside in their application process for supportive housing units.

The principles of Housing First, as listed in Wikipedia, are:

 1) Move people into housing directly from streets and shelters without preconditions of treatment acceptance or compliance;
2) The provider is obligated to bring robust support services to the housing. These services are predicated on assertive engagement, not coercion;
3) Continued tenancy is not dependent on participation in services;
4) Units targeted to most disabled and vulnerable homeless members of the community;
5) Embraces harm-reduction approach to addictions rather than mandating abstinence. At the same time, the provider must be prepared to support resident commitments to recovery;
6) Residents must have leases and tenant protections under the law;
7) Can be implemented as either a project-based or scattered site mode