Cost Analysis of Child Homelessness in Pennsylvania

Posted by on July 02, 2012

PEC releases study on cost of child homelessness

The People’s Emergency Center and Dr. Staci Perlman of Kutztown University have released their Cost Analysis of Child Homelessness in Pennsylvania.

The report concludes that child homelessness is expensive and impacts everyone, and that there are costs far beyond basic housing.

It also noted that many costs could be lowered.  For example, chronic health problems could be better managed prior to the homelessness event rather than have the homeless system reacting to what is chronic problem. Early development and education costs could be addressed now to lower future and higher costs.  Parenting support provided in the early years could lower future costs.

The report also noted that many homeless families have complex challenges that cannot be solved by one social services system, and that improved collaboration between multiple human service systems could reduce costs.

The full policy brief can be found here.

http://works.bepress.com/staci_perlman/