By Brad Durham
Three alarming facts about the high cost of homelessness have been discussed recently in a local McMinnville group of homeless service providers and volunteers. Number one: the homeless live about 30 years less than Americans who live in a home. Number two: It cost the taxpayers less to place a homeless person into permanent housing than to keep a person in the Warren County jail for a year. Number three: The homeless are a portion of the self-pay patients who are uninsured or underinsured, costing Ascension Saint Thomas River Park Hospital several million dollars a year in charitable health care.
Dale Humphrey, President and CEO of Saint Thomas River Park Hospital, informed the group earlier this month that homeless men die about 30 years earlier than their peers who live in a home. Clearly, anyone who lives on the street, under a bridge or in a tent for an extended period of time pays the highest price of homelessness. Being homeless without proper housing is not healthy. While the homeless’ illnesses may not be much different than the non-homeless population, the homeless illnesses are usually much more severe and typically managed worse due to difficulty in cleanliness, nutrition, access to follow up care, and access to proper medication. Humphrey stated that stress is obviously a contributing factor.
Dale Humphrey also informed the group that the hospital has $7 million in charitable health care per month, and a significant portion of that charitable health care is contributed to the McMinnville homeless population.
Left to right, President and CEO, Dale Humphrey and Sheriff Jackie Matheny, Jr.
During the February meeting, Sheriff Jackie Matheny, Jr. spoke to the group and stated that at least 12 of the 258 inmates in the Warren County Jail were homeless. Sheriff Matheny also confirmed that the minimal cost to the taxpayers to keep someone in the local jail is $41 dollars a day. Taxpayers pay more to keep someone in the Warren County jail than taxpayers pay to keep someone in subsidized, affordable housing. See the image below for a detailed illustration.
* The cost of arrest, investigation and legal fees are estimated.
SUBSIDIZED PERMANENT SUPPORTIVE HOUSING…A COST-EFFECTIVE SOLUTION
A local nonprofit or city/county government can apply for HUD funding to provide permanent supportive housing for the homeless. HUD offers rental assistance that pays 70% of the rent on privately-owned apartments. The subsidy for an $800 apartment would be $560 a month. That is $18.60 per day, which is 45% of the cost to keep someone in the Warren County jail.
Common themes from both Sheriff Jackie Matheny. Jr. and Dale Humphrey were the high rates of recidivism and recycling of the same homeless population through the jail and hospital. Placing people who are experiencing homelessness into permanent supportive housing can extend lives — in addition to saving taxpayers and the local hospital a lot of money. All of this begs the question of how to develop a cost-effective solution to homelessness in McMinnville.
BEYOND THE BRIDGE: A POSITIVE SOLUTION TO HOMELESSNESS PROMO
Readers of this newsletter are encouraged to see the film, Beyond The Bridge. The film is a documentary about solutions to homelessness. The filmmakers traveled over 40,000 miles and studied positive solutions to homelessness. The film highlights solutions in two cities. Beyond The Bridge is showing at Otter Creek Church on West End in Nashville at 6:00 PM on Thursday, April 3. Tickets are free and must be reserved online. This is a link to information about the film and tickets:https://asolutiontohomelessness.com
Full disclosure, I have been promoting a plan to create affordable housing for 10 homeless people in McMinnville. I am personally looking forward to learning more about positive solutions to homelessness from Beyond the Bridge and the discussion after the film. Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell and the filmmakers will be at the event.
For more information, please attend the monthly homeless meetings in McMinnville. The next meeting will be Friday, April 25, at 11:00 AM, at St. Matthews Episcopal Church.
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