Rothman is a proud appropriator
Studies document housing first success
This is a weekly feature that will provide links to news articles and blogs on issues related to ending homelessness. If you have articles you would like to have listed please send us an email [Email address: rbrown #AT# njaneh.org - replace #AT# with @ ].
Bob Braun of the Star-Ledger continued his series on members of Congress with “Proud ‘appropriator’ and talker U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman boasts N. J. earmarks.” The article appeared on May 6, 2009. Talk is his strength. Not speeches, but one-on-one with guests, interviewers or witnesses who appear before him as a member of the House Appropriations Committee and three subcommittees — defense, foreign operations, and homeland security. “I am an appropriator,” says Rothman, 56, the former mayor of Englewood, first elected to public office when he was 30. An odd label, but his visitors use it to explain their presence; they want to talk to someone with access to money. It gives him visibility and clout. “That’s good for my district and good for my state.” To read more click here.
Our friends at NAEH, provided us with the following two articles about the cost savings of housing for the homeless.
The April 1, 2009 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association included the article, “Health Care and Public Service Use and Costs Before and After Provision of Housing for Chronically Homeless Persons with Severe Alcohol Problems,” which reports on the results of a Housing First initiative in Seattle, WA known as “1811 Eastlake”. This study compared 95 Housing First participants, with 39 wait-list control members and found cost reductions of over 50 percent for the Housing First group. While it is not the first published evidence of the service use reductions and cost savings that permanent supportive housing interventions can provide, it is worth highlighting because the level of the cost savings – almost $30,000 per person per year after accounting for housing program costs – are greater than some seminal studies that have shown more modest cost offsets through permanent supportive housing. The study is also noteworthy as one of several recent cost offset studies that have been released already this year. For example, a study of permanent supportive housing in Illinois showed a 39 percent decrease in the total cost of service provision, and a study involving 12 homeless service providers across Massachusetts found a 67 percent decrease in Medicaid costs for Housing First participants. To read more click here.
There is also recent research that directly addresses the well-being of permanent supportive housing residents. The April 2009 issue of the Journal of Community Psychology included an article entitled, “Housing Stability among Homeless Individuals with Severe Mental Illness Participating in Housing First Programs.” The authors of this article reviewed the outcomes of participants in three different Housing First programs in New York City, San Diego, CA and Seattle, WA and found that 84 percent of participants remained stably housed after 12 months. The authors also evaluated level of impairment related to psychiatric symptoms and substance abuse at baseline and 12 months and found no significant improvement in substance abuse or mental health impairment with permanent supportive housing. To read more click here.
