Is housing the homeless a good investment? Hicks on Biz column originally published in Edmonton Sun, Sat. May 12, 2012

Posted @ 5/13/2012 12:48 PM By Graham Hicks

It’s a hopeless economic proposition to prove or debunk.  That the $15 million spent in 2011, to house and support 1,789 formerly homeless Edmontonians within an umbrella of complementary social programs coordinated by The Edmonton Homeless Commission, is money well spent. The idea of this column was to look at the cost/benefit ratio of that $15 million not through compassionate eyes (for who can argue with any social program that relieves the misery, loneliness, mental and physical pain of those reduced to having no place to call home) but through practical eyes. In the third year of its 10 year mandate from city hall to end homelessness in Edmonton, the Homeless Commission announced last week that, over three years, 1,789 individuals who were once homeless are now housed. The “cost avoidance” argument can be easily proved. – before and after arguments are shut-and-dried. The newly housed, with the right social supports, do cost much less for emergency room use, ambulances, incar ...