Figure 13. Number of Chronic Physical Health Conditions Reported by Street/Shelter Homeless, by Length of Time on the Street 100% 90%
15%
80%
35%
70%
23% 44%
38%
60% PERCENT
33%
50%
50%
40% 30%
33%
20%
29%
10% 0%
0-12 Months 0- Conditions
1-2 Years 1-2 Conditions
3+ Years
3 or More Conditions
Note: Chronic physical health conditions include arthritis, asthma, cancer, cardiovascular disease, chronic bronchitis, chronic obstructive lung disease, cirrhosis or severe liver damage, diabetes, emphysema, epilepsy or other seizure disorder, HIV/AIDS, hypertension, leukemia and lymphoma.
double that of those in permanent supportive housing ($43,184). The health costs estimated for those in rapid re-housing and bridge housing are also lower than those estimated for both the non-chronically and chronically homeless on the streets and in emergency shelters. Figure 13 provides some context for these findings by showing the concentration of poor health among the chronically homeless. While 50% of individuals on the street for under a year report no chronic physical health conditions, this drops to 29% among individuals on the street for three or more years. Similarly, the proportion of individuals with three or more health conditions is 15% for those on the street for under a year, jumping to 33% for those on the street for more than three years. These patterns make unequivocally clear the temporal relationship between homelessness and health: whatever health conditions one brings with them when they become homeless will be exacerbated the longer they are living on the streets or in shelters, and the longer one is homeless, the greater the odds of being encumbered with new health conditions. f RETURN TO CONTENTS
Overall, then, the findings presented in this section provide a consistent and compelling pattern: costs are markedly lower among the formerly homeless who are now housed. Potential cost savings from providing housing are suggested for both the chronically and nonchronically homeless.
Chronicity, Housing and Potential Cost Savings In the Cost of Services Used by Category of Homelessness section (pages 40-42), based on findings presented in Figure 10, we noted that the estimated mean annual cost of services and criminal justice contacts is 40% lower for permanent supportive housing clients relative to the chronically homeless living on the streets and in emergency shelters ($51,587 versus $85,631). From this difference in costs, we can derive an estimate of the potential cost savings from placing all of the Orange County chronically homeless into permanent supportive housing. The 2015 Point-in-Time (PIT) survey indicated that there were 3,126 homeless on the streets or in emergency shelters in
42 | Cost and Demographic/Biographic Comparisons By Category of Homelessness
Homelessness in Orange County: The Costs to Our Community
