July 27, 2010

Tools for Identifying High-Cost, High-Need Homeless Persons

A study that provides tools for identifying homeless individuals with acute needs, the highest public costs when homeless, and the greatest reduction in public costs when housed has been released by the Economic Roundtable. There are compelling humanitarian and public balance sheet reasons for providing permanent supportive housing for these most vulnerable homeless residents. The most expensive ten percent of homeless residents:

*Have average public costs of $8,083 per month, compared to $710 for the other 90 percent, because of extensive use of hospitals and medical and mental health jails; *Account for 56 percent of all public costs for homeless single adults; and *Have average cost reductions of $5,731 per month, or 71 percent, when in supportive housing.

The report provides two tools for screening and identifying high need individuals. The first is a look-up table. The second is a calculating tool in the form of a downloadable spreadsheet that was derived from statistical analysis and uses sixteen pieces of information to determine the probability that an individual is in the highest cost decile.

Detailed recommendations are provided for using the screening tools in hospitals and jails to identify homeless residents who are likely to have acute needs and high public costs and give them high priority for admission to supportive housing.

The report, Tools for Identifying High-Cost, High-Need Homeless Persons, and the calculating tool can be downloaded from the Economic Roundtable website: www.economicrt.org