Apartments cheaper than shelters in Kazoo

A new federal study brings into question the best use of resources for bringing newly homeless persons back into the fight for Michigan's economic growth.

The report from the Department of Housing and Urban Development found that many cities and states pay more to provide the homeless with short-term shelter and services that what it would cost to rent permanent housing. A total of 9,000 families and individuals were studied in six cities, including Kalamazoo. While it was not the widest discrepancy uncovered, officials found the average monthly cost for emergency shelter in Kalamazoo was $1,614, compared with $813 for transitional housing and $881 for permanent housing.

The highest emergency shelter costs were noted in Washington, DC, at $3,530 and Upstate, S.C., at $2,269. The cites to be studied were selected based on their track record for providing services to the homeless. Apples-to-apples comparisons are difficult, however, because of the wide range of services that might be provided in the shelter costs. Those services sometimes include drug and alcohol treatment, mental health care, family counseling and help obtaining government benefits. Other cities reviewed were Des Moines, Iowa, Jacksonville, FL, and Houston, Texas.

"These studies expand our knowledge of the true cost of homelessness and raise other questions far beyond dollars and cents," said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan. "Now we need to have a serious discussion over what strategies are not only the most cost effective, but how we can help individuals and families fall into homelessness in the first place."

Targeting an appropriate level of service delivery is considered essential for keeping the first-time homeless off a slippery downward slope into shame, despair and chronic need for assistance. It's also vital for retaining the talent and productivity of workers who have fallen into homelessness amid the economic recession -- and those who remain but a paycheck or two away from losing their homes.

Toward those ends the 2009 federal stimulus package provided $1.5 billion in funding to help prevent individuals and families from becoming homeless, and to help those experiencing homelessness to be quickly re-housed and stabilized. From the fall of 2008 to 2009, the interagency Kalamazoo Affordable Housing Partnership obtained nearly $400,000 in support of those goals as one of 23 HUD pilot projects.