NCJ Number
238878
Date Published
February 2012
Length
4 pages
Annotation
Using data that describe 196 "frequent users" of public crisis systems identified by the District of Columbia Frequent Users Service Enhancement (FUSE) pilot program, this study determined the characteristics, needs, and jail-and-shelter-use costs of "frequent users" in order to assess the potential cost savings of reducing jail and shelter use through supportive housing similar to a successful program in another large city.
Abstract
From the perspective of the Corporation for Supportive Housing and its partners, "frequent users" are individuals who cycle in an out of public systems such as jails and/or prisons, hospitals, and shelters due to long histories of housing instability and disabilities. This study concludes that permanent supportive housing and the housing-first approach has the potential to break the costly cycle of incarceration, homelessness, and emergency-service use among frequent users. The Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH) launched its first frequent-user reentry pilot program in New York City. This program targeted individuals released from the Rikers Island Jail to New York City who had multiple stays in the shelter and jail system. Preliminary evaluation findings were promising. A quasi-experimental evaluation found that the program reduced days in shelter by 18 percent and days in jail by 33 percent in the first year after program enrollment. Using this evaluation as a model, the DC study estimated that an anticipated reduction of 19 days as the average estimated decrease in jail use by program participants would save DC $2,511 per program participant per year. This estimate is driven only by reduced days in jail and shelter. The estimate does not include the potentially significant cost savings that would result from reduced emergency health and psychiatric service use. 1 figure and 23 notes