United Way’s Michael K. Durkin: House lawmakers should support proposed efforts to end homelessness

BOSTON – Michael K. Durkin, president and chief executive officer of United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley, today commended the House Ways and Means Committee for including a $10 million investment to end homelessness in Massachusetts by focusing on so-called “Housing First” efforts in its proposed fiscal year 2009 state budget. Durkin called the investment a “historic step on behalf of the 20,000 Massachusetts children who will experience homelessness this year.” Durkin is calling upon members of the House of Representatives to approve the measure when their budget deliberations begin April 28 th.

The following is a statement of Michael K. Durkin on the proposed House Ways and Means Budget:

“Homelessness is a chronic issue, and yet never before has Massachusetts been in a better position to solve it. We have the research we need. We have the partnerships necessary. We have government support, and we have a real opportunity to end family homelessness. It’s the right time to come together and act. For the sake of the 20,000 children who are homeless each year in Massachusetts, we have to.

“While shelter systems provide critical emergency support for families, the impact of episodic homelessness on children is profound. Homeless children are far less likely to see primary care doctors, visit dentists, or receive immunizations, but they are far more likely to be hospitalized or need emergency care. Within a year, 41% of homeless children will attend 2 different schools. They are set back academically on average 4 to 6 months with each change of school and are twice as likely to repeat the grade.

“The House Ways and Means Committee’s support of Housing First as an approach to ending homelessness is a critical step in this journey. Housing First is based on research which shows that homeless individuals and families are more responsive to services and support once they are in permanent housing. And that those services are critical to keeping individuals and families from returning again and again to a state of homelessness.

“It’s an approach that is working in communities like Quincy and Weymouth, where providing permanent housing for those who were homeless reduced chronic homelessness by 19 percent between January 2006 and January 2007. According to research by the Center for Social Policy at the UMASS McCormack School, of all Housing First residents who moved during the first year of this program, 86% remained housed a year or more after their move. We’re encouraged by these results for homeless individuals and support efforts to apply the learnings from this approach to support homeless families.

“Not only do we have a moral obligation to end homelessness, we have an economic one. In addition to better outcomes for families served under this framework, Housing First simply costs less. Cost evaluations show that a homeless person living on the street or in a shelter costs taxpayers $60,000 to $120,000 per year, mostly in health care and law enforcement, by comparison, giving the same people housing, a case manager and healthcare costs $13,000 to $25,000. The state’s cost of sheltering a family in Massachusetts averages $19,600 per year; the state’s cost of housing a family averages $8,000 per year.

“This significant investment proposed by House leaders, combined with the recent backing of the Governor and his Administration and the recent recommendations of the Special Commission to End Homelessness that was co-chaired by State Representative Byron Rushing, signifies the potential our Commonwealth truly has to end homelessness. Today we call upon members of the House of Representatives to support this initiative when they begin their budget deliberations at the end of April. Never before has our community been in a better position to tackle homelessness and dramatically change our future.”