[h3]Housing B.C. homeless would save $211M: report[/h3]A study says providing shelter for the homeless with severe addictions and mental illness throughout British Columbia could save taxpayers millions of dollars. "Addiction is the most prevalent mental health problem in both the street homeless and at-risk populations, followed by concurrent disorders and, less frequently, mental illness alone,'' says the Simon Fraser University report. [/p] The paper -- entitled "Housing and Support for Adults With Severe Addictions and/or Mental Illnesses in British Columbia'' -- says providing non-housing services for such people costs the public system more than $55,000 per year per person. [/p] It says providing adequate housing and supports could reduce this cost to $37,000 per year. [/p] The team of researchers -- from SFU, the University of British Columbia and the University of Calgary -- says the overall "cost avoidance'' of such a plan is about $211 million per year. [/p] "The costs of providing supported housing and other health services to this population . . . is lower than the cost incurred through the use of emergency departments, the corrections system and emergency shelters when they are homeless,'' the report says.
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[a href="vny!://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080322/homeless_costs_080322/20080322?hub=Canada"]Link[/a]
In a country and fully developed world which preaches that everyone is equal; that goes to other countries and demand equality in the places don't have equality, we sure like treating our own well. When will we as a society realize we're stronger as a whole if everyone is truly "created equal". Homeless people aren't some pest of society, they're Canadians and people just like the rest of us.
