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Utah is Ending Homelessness by Giving People Homes
Nation of Change ^ | 23 January 2014 | Terrance Heath

Posted on 01/24/2014 4:01:53 PM PST by Lorianne

In eight years, Utah has quietly reduced homelessness by 78 percent, and is on track to end homelessness by 2015.

How did Utah accomplish this? Simple. Utah solved homelessness by giving people homes. In 2005, Utah figured out that the annual cost of E.R. visits and jail stays for homeless people was about $16,670 per person, compared to $11,000 to provide each homeless person with an apartment and a social worker. So, the state began giving away apartments, with no strings attached. Each participant in Utah’s Housing First program also gets a caseworker to help them become self-sufficient, but they keep the apartment even if they fail. The program has been so successful that other states are hoping to achieve similar results with programs modeled on Utah’s.

It sounds like Utah borrowed a page from Homes Not Handcuffs, the 2009 report by The National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty and The National Coalition for the Homeless. Using a 2004 survey and anecdotal evidence from activists, the report concluded that permanent housing for the homeless is cheaper than criminalization. Housing is not only more human, it’s economical.

(Excerpt) Read more at nationofchange.org ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; US: Utah
KEYWORDS:
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To: Lorianne
What is to keep homeless people from all over moving there and getting a free apartment?

For the sake of the rest of the country, hopefully nothing. LOL
21 posted on 01/24/2014 4:21:35 PM PST by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
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To: Lorianne

Ever see how people treat “free” homes?


22 posted on 01/24/2014 4:22:48 PM PST by Rides_A_Red_Horse (Why do you need a fire extinguisher when you can call the fire department?)
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To: Lorianne

So the assumption is that if they have an apartment they won’t have any ER visits and not ever commit a crime to go to jail?

I think Utah will soon be paying for all three and end up costing twice as much as they were saving.


23 posted on 01/24/2014 4:23:48 PM PST by Domandred (Fdisk, format, and reinstall the entire .gov system.)
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To: Lorianne

If it does exist, this must be some kind of misguided “program” pushed by the LIBs up in SLC near the university. LIBs...Squash them like bugs.


24 posted on 01/24/2014 4:28:15 PM PST by hal ogen (First Amendment or Reeducation Camp?)
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To: arderkrag

San Francisco could share their experience with attracting the homeless, if you’d like.


25 posted on 01/24/2014 4:28:44 PM PST by 9YearLurker
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To: Lorianne

provide each homeless person with an apartment and a social worker

Hmmm what does the social worker look like,might take them up on the free offer.


26 posted on 01/24/2014 4:29:23 PM PST by bikerman (Obama! if his lips are moving he's lying.)
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To: Lorianne

I want to hear what has happened to all these “homes” two years from now.


27 posted on 01/24/2014 4:29:55 PM PST by ElkGroveDan (My tagline is in the shop.)
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To: RoosterRedux

Well, technically, if you give someone a home they are no longer homeless. So, I guess you can solve a lot of homelessness by doing this ... if it was financially sustainable for the State to do this


28 posted on 01/24/2014 4:31:59 PM PST by Lorianne (fedgov, taxporkmoney)
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To: Lorianne

Send them to detroit


29 posted on 01/24/2014 4:36:50 PM PST by huldah1776
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To: Lorianne; All

Kudos to Utah for taking care of its homeless!

I don’t know how Utah financed this project, possibly federal funds involved, but the states uniquely have the government power to tax and spend for such things, such powers protected by the 10th Amendment.

On the other hand, the states have never delegated to Congress, via the Constitution, the specific power to tax and spend on behalf of the homeless, Congress’s power to lay taxes limited to the specific powers that the states have delegated to it via the Constitution. In other words, you will not find the terms poor, poverty, homeless in the Constitution.

Probably the main reason that corrupt federal lawmakers tax and spend on behalf of the poor is to win votes from economically struggling voters who likely have never been taught about the federal government’s constitutionally limited powers.


30 posted on 01/24/2014 4:37:40 PM PST by Amendment10
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To: Lorianne

I’m guessing that they inflated their “homeless” numbers to include responsible law-abiding families who were in some kind of transition during temporary economic hardship. Those kinds of people would benefit from “a home” but are not the people most of us think of when we consider the “homeless” problem — but most importantly it would APPEAR that a large percentage were helped. A lot of this comes from the liberals’ never ending bastardization of the English language.


31 posted on 01/24/2014 4:38:44 PM PST by ElkGroveDan (My tagline is in the shop.)
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To: Rides_A_Red_Horse

Almost every week. Absolutely no pride in “ownership”.


32 posted on 01/24/2014 4:41:40 PM PST by jughandle
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To: Lorianne
Liberals want to solve programs theoretically. Their world is all on paper.

If you are homeless, they give you a house.

They never consider the practical reality of why you don't have a home.

Liberals are mostly professors and theoreticians and unicorn lovers. Practical issues are beside the point.

Being right is all about the classroom and research. And the world of pretend.

What is amazing is that when one generation of liberals dies without proof...another generation of fools is born to replace them.

33 posted on 01/24/2014 4:45:10 PM PST by RoosterRedux (The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing -- Socrates)
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To: Lorianne
Every thing will be fine . . . until the stench can no longer be ignored.

Don’t Worry . . . Be Happy.

34 posted on 01/24/2014 4:46:54 PM PST by YHAOS
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To: Lorianne

Who pays for the utilities, groceries and transportation? Or is that also “free?”

I have to pay my own bills. I’d love to be where I can live my life without having to figure out how to make ends meet.

It sounds too good to be true. Its like winning the lottery and ka-ching, one goes from rags to riches overnight.


35 posted on 01/24/2014 4:55:30 PM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: ully2

Ohh tell the Somalis there is FREE HOUSING in Utah! Get ready for the rush!


36 posted on 01/24/2014 5:04:03 PM PST by Ruy Dias de Bivar (Sometimes you need 7+ more ammo. LOTS MORE.)
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To: Lorianne
What is to keep homeless people from all over moving there and getting a free apartment?

The program doesn't have to be run stupidly, and it doesn't have to be automatic for everyone.

I think its a very good idea. First things, first, get them off the streets and out of jails and shelters.

The sheer cost alone - of tax money down the drain - of the present methods is a thundering support of this strategy.

Sometimes you have to deal with problems one step at a time. I think this is the right first step - at least conceptually. But like anything else, it has to be run right.

I know, I know, what, anywhere, is run right by the government? Still, what we now do is an abject failure.

37 posted on 01/24/2014 5:08:16 PM PST by Talisker (One who commands, must obey.)
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To: ObamahatesPACoal

“What about homeless illegals? Do they self deport them into another state or deport them home?”

Well the Mormon Church has been at the forefront of bringing “our Hispanic brethren” here from Mexico and points south. The home my grandparents owned in Provo Utah 30 years ago now houses five (5) non-English speaking Hispanic families. Isn’ that just wonderful. And here I though California had the lock on Hispanic immigration! It’s a disgrace and the Mormons and the Catholics are in cahoots to bring Mexico into our country whether we like it or not.


38 posted on 01/24/2014 5:23:29 PM PST by vette6387
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To: ElkGroveDan
I want to hear what has happened to all these “homes” two years from now.

My thought exactly. In human nature, there's usually an inverse relationship between the effort expended in acquiring an item of value and the degree to which the recipient foists responsibility for the item onto others.

I'd say that two years from now, those homes will be judged uninhabitable and condemned.

39 posted on 01/24/2014 5:52:14 PM PST by COBOL2Java (I'm a Christian, pro-life, pro-gun, Reaganite. The GOP hates me. Why should I vote for them?)
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To: Lorianne

They’d best get ready for the stampede of the other half of the deposed middle class then. The remainder of them will be unemployed and along shortly.


40 posted on 01/24/2014 6:21:55 PM PST by familyop (We Baby Boomers are croaking in an avalanche of corruption smelled around the planet.)
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