It seems like a no-brainer that ending homelessness would be an amazing feat to accomplish. Can you imagine a community void of the homeless? What an amazing place. No one needing housing because there are enough resources to supply the demand to solve the problem. A place where people are not forced to sleep and camp outside or in places never intended to be dwelled in.
The moral and ethical implications are reason enough, right? It is the right thing to do. It smacks of compassion and empathy. Sometimes people need a cause to rally around and I cannot think of many other issues worthy of time, effort, resources, and financial commitment. We would all sleep more soundly at night knowing that everyone is sleeping indoors. Even the meanest Mr. Grinch would be hard-pressed not to shed a tear or two if homelessness was eradicated. Obviously.
However, some people are moved more by pragmatism than they are by emotion. For those out there who are more prone to be practical, eliminating homelessness should also make sense. Or, perhpas I should say it makes cents. A lot of it.
According to an article by Dreamofanation.org, studies have shown that providing housing for a homeless individual, even for a brief period, saves the community about $3,500. If a quarter of the 1.6 million who are homeless at some point in the year were housed, that’d save the economy $1.4 billion. This is not an attempt to sway the bleeding hearts or overly emotional people who tear up during those Sarah MacLachlan animal commercials. Rather, this is an appeal to those who might be (undeservedly, mind you) labeled as professionaly frugal or not keen to part with money unless its absolutely necessary.
Can you imagine saving this economy almost a billion and a half dollars? There must be some kind of award for that. Probably a big, shiny one. We don't care about winning awards at Samaritan House. Our hope is offer practical soultions to end homelessness because it makes sense and cents.
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