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12-04-2015, 09:49 PM
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"It's a win-win: Government funds are freed up to be invested in housing and Medicaid saves money on acute and inpatient care of the homeless."
The United States is some 7 million units short of having enough rental housing affordable to low-income people. In some of the highest-cost housing markets, this gap drives homelessness up. According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, in the past year, even as homelessness decreased nationally, it increased by 11 percent in New York City, 20 percent in Los Angeles and 8 percent in Chicago.
Creating more affordable housing is expensive. But not housing homeless people with disabilities is also costly. A landmark study from 2002 showed that, in New York City, homeless people with mental illness cost hospitals, jails and shelters more than $40,000 per person per year -- and that's in 1999 dollars. Housing the homeless, and giving them access to services through supportive housing, can cost less and produces a far better outcome.
Medicaid is one tool that may help high-cost rental markets address the housing crisis for homeless people with disabilities. According to guidance released this past June, Medicaid funds can be structured to cover the cost of supportive housing services, freeing up the support services funds to be used for housing. Though Medicaid dollars can't go toward housing itself, it can cover housing search and application, landlord negotiation, eviction prevention and treatment that people with disabilities may need to stay housed. In other words, Medicaid can help vulnerable people secure a place to live, and help them stay there.
This is a win-win for state and local governments, and for Medicaid. Government funds are freed up to be invested in housing and Medicaid saves money on acute and inpatient care because once housed, homeless people's health improves.
But this smart use of resources is not automatic. The states must design their Medicaid programs to incorporate these services. And states and localities need to commit to shift the savings from services into housing.
People who are housed are not homeless. Medicaid can help, but until federal, state and local policy makers get serious about creating more affordable housing, millions of vulnerable people with disabilities will continue to face homelessness every year.
Remember -- we all need each other.
Jeff Woodward
auravivid@outlook.com
---
Jeff is passionate about creative grassroots reform, adaptation, and change for those most fragile individuals across the U.S. Now a professional Disability, Mental Illness, and Homeless Advocate, Jeff speaks publicly in front of audiences of his life's journey from reaching the summit of Mt Everest, to the suicide of his wife of 12 years. -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. (http://start.westnet.ca/newstempch.php?article=terms.html/) It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
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"It's a win-win: Government funds are freed up to be invested in housing and Medicaid saves money on acute and inpatient care of the homeless."
The United States is some 7 million units short of having enough rental housing affordable to low-income people. In some of the highest-cost housing markets, this gap drives homelessness up. According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, in the past year, even as homelessness decreased nationally, it increased by 11 percent in New York City, 20 percent in Los Angeles and 8 percent in Chicago.
Creating more affordable housing is expensive. But not housing homeless people with disabilities is also costly. A landmark study from 2002 showed that, in New York City, homeless people with mental illness cost hospitals, jails and shelters more than $40,000 per person per year -- and that's in 1999 dollars. Housing the homeless, and giving them access to services through supportive housing, can cost less and produces a far better outcome.
Medicaid is one tool that may help high-cost rental markets address the housing crisis for homeless people with disabilities. According to guidance released this past June, Medicaid funds can be structured to cover the cost of supportive housing services, freeing up the support services funds to be used for housing. Though Medicaid dollars can't go toward housing itself, it can cover housing search and application, landlord negotiation, eviction prevention and treatment that people with disabilities may need to stay housed. In other words, Medicaid can help vulnerable people secure a place to live, and help them stay there.
This is a win-win for state and local governments, and for Medicaid. Government funds are freed up to be invested in housing and Medicaid saves money on acute and inpatient care because once housed, homeless people's health improves.
But this smart use of resources is not automatic. The states must design their Medicaid programs to incorporate these services. And states and localities need to commit to shift the savings from services into housing.
People who are housed are not homeless. Medicaid can help, but until federal, state and local policy makers get serious about creating more affordable housing, millions of vulnerable people with disabilities will continue to face homelessness every year.
Remember -- we all need each other.
Jeff Woodward
auravivid@outlook.com
---
Jeff is passionate about creative grassroots reform, adaptation, and change for those most fragile individuals across the U.S. Now a professional Disability, Mental Illness, and Homeless Advocate, Jeff speaks publicly in front of audiences of his life's journey from reaching the summit of Mt Everest, to the suicide of his wife of 12 years. -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. (http://start.westnet.ca/newstempch.php?article=terms.html/) It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
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