The Cost of the American Homeless

There is an astonishing number of American homeless.

Most people are well aware of the existence of a homeless
population in the United States. It is hard to ignore in some areas
where every street corner has a different homeless man or woman
holding their cardboard sign up asking for some kind of help. But,
even for those who have been exposed to a larger homeless
population, the actual numbers of how many are out there just trying to survive are staggering.

In January 2012,The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development conducted an annual pointin-time count found that 633,782 people across America were homeless (USDHUD).That is more than
three times the current population of Salt Lake City. Figure 1 depicts an estimation of the number of
homeless per state persons per state. Despite the awareness of this large homeless population in
America, very few people have any clue of how much money is spent annually to provide shelter and
other services to the less fortunate.
The federal government alone
spends billions of dollars. This
doesn't include the hundreds of
millions a year in donations from
private as well as public parties.

Figure 1.
USDHUD Annual Homeless Assessment Report 2013

A homeless population is expensive.

A Central Florida Commission conducted a

study on Homelessness and its financial costs to several of its counties in 2013.This particular study
followed 107 long-term-homeless residents living in Orange, Osceola or Seminole Counties(The
Orange County Sentinel).Pan-handling and sleeping outdoors are illegal activities in counties like
Osceola, making it very easy for a homeless person to be arrested in these areas. The study concluded
that around $31,000 is spent a year
per individual homeless person to
cover things like the salaries of lawenforcement officers to arrest and
transport homeless individuals.
These arrests were made for mostly
for nonviolent offenses such as
trespassing, public intoxication or
sleeping in parks, as well as the

Sleeping in public is illegal in Osceola County

costs of time spent in jails, visits to the emergency room and hospitalization for medical and mental
issues. This did not include money spent by nonprofit agencies to feed, clothe as well as sometimes
provide shelter for these individuals.

In contrast, the report estimated the cost of permanent supportive housing at "$10,051 per person per
year" and concluded that housing even half of the region's chronically homeless population would save
taxpayers $149 million during over the next ten years. This number even allowed for 10 percent to end
up back on the streets again. There are similar studies showing large financial savings in Charlotte and
Southeastern Colorado from focusing on simply housing the homeless.

The United States Government is footing the bill, and so are you.
There are many nonprofit organizations around the
nation that provide assistance to the homeless
population. It is common knowledge that these
organizations receive donations from certain individuals and investment groups to help fund them. But
did you know that in 2013, the U.S. Government proposed the allotment of over $4.7 billion in grants
to organizations that provide aid to the homeless? This was a $700 million increase from what was
allotted the previous year. Figure 2 shows the
annual increase in budget over the last seven
years.

When you pay taxes, you are indirectly

providing help to the homeless. According to a
fact sheet published by the United States
Interagency Council on Homelessness, here is
a break down of how some of the United
States tax payers money was being proposed

Figure 2

to be used in the aid of the homeless in the 2013 fiscal year.

The Department of Education was proposed to receive $65 million in FY 2013 for aid in providing
an opportunity for the homeless youth of the nation to receive public education. The Department of
Education received $65 million for homeless aid from the government the previous year.
The Department of Health and Human Services was proposed to receive $257 million in FY 2013
to help provide health care, emergency care and substance abuse treatment programs for the homeless

as well as assistance in establishing eligibility for services.

The Street Outreach Program proposed to receive $115 million in FY 2013 to help American youth
who are homeless runaways or have been sexually abused with prevention and education aids. This
program was created to help get youth off of the streets and keep them off of the streets.

These are just three of almost twenty federally funded and that receive millions of dollars a year to
provide help of all kinds to the homeless population of America.

Billions a year just isn't enough. The fact of the matter is that despite all of the
money currently being provided, it just isn't enough to solve the problem. States like California with an
estimated homeless population of over 130,000 and New York with over 70,000 spend hundreds of
millions a year just on simply providing temporary shelter alone.(Colvin)

The homeless population is only growing and the demographic is changing. The fastest increasing
demographic in the homeless population is whole families with children. Many of these families are
forced out their homes when unable to pay their rent or mortgage. With no other family or friends that
they can turn to for help, they are forced on to the street. Providing aid to an entire homeless family can
be extremely costly to an organization and many families are only provided temporary relief before
they are turned out onto the streets again.

According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, families across the country would need to
earn a "housing wage" of $15.37 an hour, nearly three times the current minimum wage, to afford a
two-bedroom apartment at the average fair market rent. Even in West Virginia, the least expensive

rental state in the country, a full-time wage earner would have to earn over $8.78/hour-$3 higher than
the federal minimum wage-in order to afford a two bedroom apartment.( National Student Campaign
against Homelessness and Hunger)

It is estimated that up to 1.5 million people homeless for at least a short period of time during each
year costing the government over $4.5 billion dollars. This does not include the hundreds of millions of
dollars that are donated by private parties every year and these huge numbers are only growing.

Works Cited.

Cochran, Tom. "Hunger and Homelessness Survey."Www.usmayors.com. 1 Dec. 2014. Web. 25 Feb.
2015. <http://www.usmayors.org/pressreleases/uploads/2014/1211-report-hh.pdf>.
Wihbey, John. "Homelessness in the United States: Trends and Demographics." Journalists Resource
RSS. 4 Dec. 2014. Web. 25 Feb. 2015.
<http://journalistsresource.org/studies/government/health-care/homelessness-u-s-trendsdemographics>.
Santich, Kate. "Cost of Homelessness in Central Florida: $31K per Person Each Year."Orlando
Sentinel. 21 May 2014. Web. 25 Feb. 2015. <http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2014-05->
21/news/os-cost-of-homelessness-orlando-20140521_1_homeless-individuals-central-floridacommission-tulsa.
Wright, Mackenzie. "Guess How Much This Florida County Spent Jailing Homeless
People."Http://www.newsiosity.com/. 2 Mar. 2014. Web. 25 Feb. 2015.
<http://www.newsiosity.com/articles/politics/guess-how-much-florida-county-spent-jailinghomeless-people>.
Colvin, Jill. "City Spending on Homeless Shelters to Soar to $800 Million - New York City DNAinfo.com New York."DNAinfo New York. 7 Mar. 2013. Web. 25 Feb. 2015.
<http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20130307/new-york-city/city-spending-on-homelessshelters-soar-800-million>.
"Fiscal Year 2013 Federal Government Homelessness Budget Fact Sheet." Usich.gov. U.S. Interagency
Council on Homelessness, 1 Jan. 2013. Web. 25 Feb. 2015.
<http://usich.gov/resources/uploads/asset_library/FY13_Budget_Fact_Sheet_final.pdf>.
"Overview of Homelessness In America."Homelessness In America. National Student Campaign
against Homelessness and Hunger, 1 Jan. 2014. Web. 25 Feb. 2015.
<http://www.studentsagainsthunger.org/page/hhp/overview-homelessness-america>.