Deloitte report finds supported housing saves $17.5k for every homeless person

The government would save half a million dollars per person, every decade, if it funded “supported’’ accommodation for the homeless a damning new report released says.

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The state government would save half a million dollars per homeless person, per decade, if it properly funded “supported’’ housing according to a Deloitte Access Economics report released on Thursday, February 13.

It concluded that supported housing resulted in $203,700 lifetime savings, per tenant, on avoided health, safety and “social cohesion’’ costs.

Savings due to lower use of public services, including hospitals and courts, were as high as $455,800 over a 10-year period.

The report, Supportive Housing: A Case for Change, concluded that it was actually cheaper to help the homeless through models such as that used by non-government agency Brisbane Common Ground than to do nothing.

BCG, which opened Queensland’s first supported housing facility 12 years ago in South Brisbane, commissioned the report in response to the growing homelessness crisis.

It said the number of Queenslanders without stable housing had jumped 22 per cent in just five years as affordability and cost of living drove more people to the brink.

BCG assisted up to 146 people at its South Brisbane facility, plus 20 families across Brisbane, not only with secure accommodation but help accessing government services and other support.

It said that without help homeless people were at high risk of returning to the streets.

But those living in supported housing were 25 per cent more likely to sustain their tenancy, after four years, than people in standard social housing.

Common Ground Queensland board chair Michael Ryall urged politicians and bureaucrats to act quickly.

Tents in a park opposite the supreme and district courts in Brisbane. Picture: John Gass

“Over the last five years we have seen homelessness numbers grow by more than 20 per cent in Queensland,” Mr Ryall said.

He said the Deloitte report added to other evidence about the cost effectiveness of “housing first’’ models such as those provided by Common Ground.

Most other models put treatment of health, drug abuse and other problems ahead of placing the homeless in accommodation.

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Brisbane Common Ground CEO Sue Pope.

“Not only do we know that supportive housing models end homelessness for individuals and prevent re-entry into homelessness, we know that they save governments money, meaning it’s cheaper to provide supportive housing than it is to leave people homeless and sleeping rough,” he said.

Common Ground CEO Sue Pope said the new report found that, over a 10-year period, supported housing resulted in a $455,000 benefit to the community.

“That’s a result of fewer hospital admissions, fewer emergency department presentations, less appearances in court and other benefits,’’ she said.

“We know supported housing is a solution to homelessness and prevents re-entry to homelessness.’’

Ms Pope said the government owned the South Brisbane site and was currently constructing another facility on the Gold Coast.

Originally published as Deloitte report finds supported housing saves $17.5k for every homeless person