Homelessness costs more from budgets than social housing

Martin Freund: 'I believe that housing is a right of every human being.'

Prague - Homelessness costs public budgets more than social housing. Research in the USA showed that for homeless individuals, the total costs for emergency shelters, ambulance services, healthcare, or incarceration are higher than when people in crisis live in social housing. These results were presented today at a seminar in Prague by American housing expert Dennis Culhane, who previously served as an advisor to President Barack Obama on social issues. Social housing does not officially exist in the Czech Republic. Some cities and organizations are trying to implement it.

American experts based their findings on data from registries. It turned out that about one-tenth of homeless individuals lived on the streets long-term. Those in emergency shelters stayed the longest, averaging 252 days. For others who found themselves without a roof over their heads in a crisis, the average was 20 days. For people with occasional issues, the time spent in shelters was 73 days. Data from New York indicated that the costs for shelters, ambulance services, treatment, incarceration, and other expenses amounted to approximately $40,000 (897,700 CZK) per year. In contrast, expenses for someone living in social housing were around $16,000 (359,050 CZK) per year.

"Public budgets are being spent, and people are still sleeping outside. Every three days, they utilize some form of shelter for considerable amounts of money," Culhane stated. He pointed out that when people had housing, expenditure was lower.

To address chronic homelessness, President George Bush's administration allocated money and had tens of thousands of apartments built. Expenditures further increased under President Obama, whose administration focused on ending homelessness among veterans. Ten thousands of apartments were created for them as well. From 2007 to 2015, the number of chronically homeless individuals decreased by nearly 31 percent. Among veterans, the decrease was 35 percent.

Thanks to the rapid housing assistance program, the number of single homeless adults was reduced by 16 percent in one year, and family homelessness decreased by ten percent. Prevention efforts also helped curb the number of homeless adults by 11 percent and families by seven percent. "These programs work incredibly well," Culhane said.

In 2014, there were 278,700 homeless people in the USA. About 13 percent of them were chronically homeless. Many of them ended up on the streets after leaving treatment centers, hospitals, prisons, or foster care.

According to Linda Sokačová, the acting head of the family policy department at the Ministry of Labor, the only way to address homelessness issues in the Czech Republic is through housing. The law on social housing was intended to be pushed by the Sobotka government in the previous electoral term, but there was no consensus on the norm.

The current cabinet also disagrees on the approach, even though the social housing law is included in the program declaration. Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) recently stated that the government is unlikely to prepare a separate law, focusing instead on an investment program for apartment construction. Minister of Labor Jana Maláčová (ČSSD) then informed about 15 measures, such as setting the number of people per housing area or maximum rent. Politicians mainly discussed steps "against swindlers" who charge exorbitant rents.

According to Vít Lesák, the director of the Platform for Social Housing, 15 measures will not solve homelessness in the Czech Republic. The social housing project in Brno has shown that the vast majority of people managed to maintain their apartments after a year, and their situations improved, Lesák added. He stated that a similar nationwide program with secured funding is necessary.

Experts say that a barrier to the implementation of solutions in the Czech Republic is the lack of accessible data on people in crisis. Only smaller studies are conducted. The situation is also complicated by the large number of municipal governments in the country, as each can approach the issue differently.