Why is PSH particularly cost effective?
Permanent Supportive Housing reduces the amount of money a community spends to serve homeless people. Several studies support this statement, and their number is growing. Here’s a link to one from Portland, Maine. This study leads off with an especially good executive summary, but the whole thing is worth reading. What this and studies like it demonstrate is that people in permanent supportive housing dramatically reduce their need for, and consumption of, psychiatric inpatient services, and other emergency services, such as emergency rooms, jails, and emergency shelters. In communities in which the model has been applied, the cost of Permanent Supportive Housing is offset by savings in emergency services, jails, and law enforcement.
