Health Care and Public Service Use and Costs Before and After Provision of Housing for Chronically Homeless Persons with Severe Alcohol Problems: Larimer ME, Malone DK, Garner MD, et al. JAMA 2009;301:1349–57

Abstract

This observational study based in Washington evaluated the impact on public services usage and public cost data over a 1-year period after providing housing to homeless individuals with alcohol abuse problems. It also compared self-reported severity and frequency of alcohol usage for these individuals during this time. There were 126 subjects identified from a rank-ordered list of chronically homeless people that had incurred the highest total costs in 2004 for the area. All identified individuals were offered housing on a first-come-first-served basis in a “Housing First” (HF) program, which provides housing without any regulations requiring subjects to abstain from substance abuse or participate in substance abuse education.