How to prevent loss of a home

As the cost of housing in Colorado continues to skyrocket, it is inevitable that our homelessness problem will escalate. More people, including older adults and families with children, are being priced out of the market and out of their homes. For many, it’s a situational issue like the loss of a job or a medical crisis that can put a family on the street. Once homeless, it’s much more difficult—and costly—to get people back into secure, affordable housing.

Instead of treating the problem after it happens, what if we prevent homelessness from happening in the first place?

The cost of homelessness is staggering. The Colorado Coalition for the Homeless estimates that taxpayers spend $43,240 per homeless individual in Colorado each year on services, including emergency health care, police intervention, incarceration, emergency response, and legal issues. The social cost of related problems like mental illness, drug use, and physical abuse are equally devastating to our community.

Homelessness is impacting our business community, as well. It has a negative impact on key industries in Colorado, including tourism, retail sales, restaurants, and real estate, especially in urban areas. Solving the problem makes business sense.

According to the latest count by the U.S. Department of Housing, there are 10,940 homeless people in Colorado. Of those, 7,081 live in shelters or transitional housing and 3,859 are on the street.

There are many wonderful organizations and dedicated individuals working to support those who are already homeless, and we applaud those efforts. At Jewish Family Service, we’re complementing those efforts in a very special and meaningful way: we’re focused on preventing homelessness before it happens.

From our experience, keeping families in their homes is the best path to self-sufficiency and stability. The cost to help someone get back on track from a crisis is a fraction of what it costs to support them on the street. The end results are healthier, happier, and more productive people who can take care of themselves and their families.

With the rising cost of housing in Colorado, it has become next to impossible to find affordable housing for a homeless family, further compounding the problem.

Our goal is to keep people in their homes. We work to get people through the immediate crisis and back on the path to self-sufficiency. Through thoughtful case management and counseling, we help people to resolve root problems, whatever they may be.

It might mean covering rent for a couple of months while we focus on longer-term solutions. We teach people how better manage their finances. We help them find sustainable employment. We provide food and help them find housing they can afford. We help families in need access resources, such as food benefits and Medicaid.

We’re seeing terrific results. Last year, the agency provided financial aid to 294 families, preventing homelessness for 711 individuals. We helped 171 people with job counseling and jobsearch services. We referred 1,538 people in need to other resources.

The average cost for our Family Safety Net program to work with a family in crisis and prevent them from losing their home is $6,000, including staff time. That’s 14 percent of $43,240 each homeless person is costing taxpayers. But the real benefit is giving people the tools they need to

be self-sufficient.

Shelly Hines is the director of Family Safety Net Services at the Jewish Family Service of Colorado.