Home Is The Cheapest Place To Be… If You’re Homeless In Los Angeles
I grew up here in Southern California and know how real estate has been a major factor in the life of this coastal region. During the economic ups and downs, people constantly talk about real estate.
Conversations are always the same: How much equity do you have in your home, we ask. It takes practically a mortgage to get enough first and last month’s rent for an apartment, we complain. When you’ve figured out that the housing market has bottomed, it’s too late, we expertly state.
Is housing really about: location, location, location? When it comes to homelessness, the answer is no.
Yesterday, here in Los Angeles, we learned that the mere fact that a homeless person is housed reaps significant financial benefits. For taxpayers, as well as the person who is housed.
The United Way of Greater Los Angeles released an important study showing that L.A. County taxpayers save money when a homeless person is housed. Why? Because otherwise if these people are still on the streets, we are paying for public services like: emergency room hospital visits, fire department transports, jails, and law enforcement.
Last July, in Long Beach, stakeholders there discovered that the 350 homeless people in the civic center utilized about $4 million in health and emergency services in the past year. Clearly, that money could’ve been used to house these people instead.
So the next time you’re talking about real estate at Happy Hour in Los Angeles, you can confidently say, “Home is the cheapest place to be.”
(Pic from http://elements6.superlativestudio.com)
Conversations are always the same: How much equity do you have in your home, we ask. It takes practically a mortgage to get enough first and last month’s rent for an apartment, we complain. When you’ve figured out that the housing market has bottomed, it’s too late, we expertly state.
Is housing really about: location, location, location? When it comes to homelessness, the answer is no.
Yesterday, here in Los Angeles, we learned that the mere fact that a homeless person is housed reaps significant financial benefits. For taxpayers, as well as the person who is housed.
The United Way of Greater Los Angeles released an important study showing that L.A. County taxpayers save money when a homeless person is housed. Why? Because otherwise if these people are still on the streets, we are paying for public services like: emergency room hospital visits, fire department transports, jails, and law enforcement.
Last July, in Long Beach, stakeholders there discovered that the 350 homeless people in the civic center utilized about $4 million in health and emergency services in the past year. Clearly, that money could’ve been used to house these people instead.
So the next time you’re talking about real estate at Happy Hour in Los Angeles, you can confidently say, “Home is the cheapest place to be.”
(Pic from http://elements6.superlativestudio.com)
posted by LA's Homeless Blog at
6:06 AM
1 Comments:
Absolutely right. It astounds me how in this civilized age "homelessness" is allowed to exist by any government. In fact it annoys me to distraction (so that it doesn't depress me) and I don't get annoyed.
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