It’s a startling number: $520 million. That’s the annual cost of homelessness in Santa Clara County, according to a newly released study sponsored by Destination: Home.
What does that number account for? More than $300 Million is for health care…every year. $131 million in costs related to the justice system…every year, and social services run more than $77 million…every year. More than 104,000 people experienced homelessness in the five year period that was examined. Most of them find housing relatively quickly and with little help. It comes as no surprise that most of the $520 million spent on the homeless every year goes toward just 10% of the homeless population.
The study does, however, yield some real surprises. While the national rate of homelessness is three times higher for men than women, in Santa Clara County the numbers are about equal. In addition, most of the chronically homeless are women. Once again, Silicon Valley adds an ugly chapter to the story of the feminization of poverty in this Country.
One surprising silver lining in the study’s findings is that immigrants make up a lower percentage of the chronically homeless population than the general population.
The study, which looked at statistics over a 5 year period between 2007 and 2012, suggests that it could cost a lot less to house the homeless than to have them live on the streets. Now that we have the numbers, it should be easier to make decisions needed to create more affordable housing.
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