Call 888-647-0579 to speak with an alcohol or drug abuse counselor.

Who Answers?

Study: Seattle housing for alcoholics saves money

A program that gives homeless alcoholics a place to live and drink is saving taxpayers more than $4 million a year, according to a study released Tuesday.

The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, endorses a “housing first” approach that calls for putting homeless people in permanent homes with supportive services instead of requiring them to stop drinking and taking drugs to earn their shelter.

But in some cases, the safe living situation helped residents to decrease their drinking or quit altogether, said lead researcher Mary Larimer, professor of psychiatry and behavior sciences at the University of Washington.

The University of Washington study followed 95 chronic alcoholics before and after they moved into an apartment building in downtown Seattle, as well as a control group on the waiting list for the building.

Researchers, who were not affiliated with the program, found the average monthly cost on taxpayers was $4,832 when each resident still lived on the street. Six months after residents moved into supportive housing, those costs dropped to $1,492 per person per month.

Even with the cost of the $11.2 million building, which was paid for by taxpayers and private donations, and the Downtown Emergency Service Center program itself, the program saves money, said Larimer.

Bill Hobson, executive director of the nonprofit center, said the finding has inspired his agency to look deeper into what could be done to encourage residents to sober up.

Clinical studies say a chronic alcoholic past the age of 45 has a 5 percent chance of recovery but given the early success of the program, “maybe the prognosis is not as bleak as we all thought,” Hobson said.

The city has invested more in other “housing first” projects, including helping to pay for more than 200 units in buildings for homeless people who frequently use emergency services.

A program to house homeless Native Americans who have chronic drinking problems serves a similar population in Minneapolis.

Similar projects were being considered in New York, Atlanta, Fort Worth, Phoenix and Los Angeles, Hobson said.

source: Associated Press

More Treatment & Detox Articles

Narcotics Anonymous

Narcotic anonymous was started in the late 1940’s, which sprang up from the “Alcoholics Anonymous Program”. Narcotics Anonymous is an “international community-based association”, whose prime goal is of “recovering drug addicts”. The narcotics anonymous is spread across “127 countries worldwide” and has conducted more than “43,900 weekly meetings”. This association is based on a “non….

Are There Free Alcohol Treatment Centers for Teens?

All parents want what’s best for their kids, but very few parents are able to afford acting out on their wants. The parents of alcoholic teenagers are all too familiar with this situation. Many feel that a professional rehab center is out of their financial reach. However, there are many free alcohol treatment centers and….

Is alcoholism a problem of the poor?

The government’s fierce war against alcohol has taken a different dimension. When they started, the government said alcohol drinking was a vice that perpetuates social moral turpitude. That was then, but now they have raised the pitch, zoning in on the face of poverty, a feature that continues to define a significant section of our….

How do You Get a Loved One to Go into Drug Treatment?

Getting a loved one to seek help and accept treatment for a drug addiction can be all but an easy task to complete, especially when the addict thinks that there “isn’t anything wrong.” It’s the telltale sign, the always heard excuse of an addict—there’s nothing wrong, they aren’t addicted, they don’t NEED help, etc. So….

1 in 8 combat troops needs alcohol counseling

One in eight troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan from 2006 to 2008 were referred for counseling for alcohol problems after their post-deployment health assessments, according to data from the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center. Service members complete their initial health assessments within 30 days of returning home. The authors of the study, published in….