By putting housing first, LA’s homeless housing program lowers health care use and costs, research finds [centerforhealthjournalism.org]

Homelessness is often seen as a persistent and intractable problem. According to the latest statistics, over 553,000 people experience homelessness on any given night in the U.S. The problem is especially acute in California, where approximately 24 percent of those experiencing homelessness live, and especially in Los Angeles County, where on an average night, an estimated 55,000 people — almost 10 percent of the national total — are homeless. In addition, LA County has the highest population of unsheltered homeless, or individuals living in places not meant for human habitation.

Permanent supportive housing for LA’s homeless

In 2012, Los Angeles County’s Department of Health Services launched a program to address homelessness among the population they served. Called Housing for Health, the program targets homeless individuals who were identified by their frequent use of county health care services. The program aims to provide long-term, affordable rental housing coupled with intensive case management services that link individuals with the kind of health and social services needed to sustain independent living. Unlike some programs that make people undergo treatment or receive services first, the LA program offers housing first in an attempt to give participants stability, which in turn helps them benefit more from services. Such programs have been implemented elsewhere — San Francisco, for instance — and have led to greater housing stability and oftentimes lower use of intensive health care services.

In 2014, my colleagues and I at the RAND Corporation began studying the impact of the Housing for Health program on participants’ health and the use and costs of county services. Our study examined the first 890 participants who were enrolled during the first 2-1/2 years of the program. We examined participants’ use of county services in the year prior to housing and compared it to the use of services one year after being housed. Information from six county service departments, including health, mental health, substance use, jail and probation services were examined.

[For more on this story by Sarah Hunter, go to https://www.centerforhealthjou...h-care-use-and-costs]