PUBLISHED 6/24/08 ----

To most of us, the spectre of homelessness only rears its head on occasion. We’ll see ragged people digging through trash bins or pushing shopping carts piled high with odds and ends. We might notice people sleeping in parks or asking for spare change outside convenience stores.

Beyond those sporadic sightings of apparent homelessness, however, is a deep-seated problem with vast implications for the chronically homeless and non-homeless alike.
Homelessness is self-perpetuating. It unnecessarily endangers the lives of the displaced and their children, and it places a burden on government agencies, taxpayers and private business. Solving it won’t be easy.

That’s why it will take a concerted effort by many players.

Metro Bakersfield took an important step in that direction last week, officially kicking off Kern County’s 10-Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness. The plan, a blueprint for action specific to the needs and resources of this community, is based on concepts developed by the National Alliance to End Homelessness. More than 300 cities and states have adopted their own 10-year plans.

Kern County got on board in late 2005 when Bakersfield Mayor Harvey Hall brought together a committee of 35 local government officials, business leaders and service providers, led by the United Way of Kern County and the Kern County Homeless Collaborative. Working groups attacked different aspects of the problem to lay out the plan.
The committee adopted a “Housing First” approach, intended to help people find housing as quickly as possible by putting a roof over their heads — a permanent roof — with all due haste. Part two is promptly getting services to those people — an easier task once they’re housed.

A chronically homeless person is one who has been alone, disabled, and homeless for a year or more, or at least four times in the past three years. About 10 percent of the homeless population qualifies; most have mental health issues, physical illness or substance abuse problems.  They tend to be the most visible and draw more on resources within the homeless service system than others.

Kern County has more than 1,500 homeless people at any given time, including almost 200 children — and at least 300 are chronically homeless. Each homeless person is thought to cost taxpayers $40,000 to $50,000 per year for assorted services.

Law enforcement response calls involving the chronically homeless in metro Bakersfield in 2005 cost an estimated $123,420. Ambulance transport for the homeless over a two-year period came to $416,000 (including $171,000 for one chronically homeless individual alone). And 151 homeless individuals spent 1,397 days in the hospital at a cost of almost $1.4 million to the county. Little of those costs are reimbursable.

Housing stability is an important first step, not only because it’s cost effective, but because it’s the logical and compassionate thing to do. Housing puts the chronically homeless in touch with services, and it puts many of them, and certainly their children, on the path to recovery. It won’t be cheap — $106 million over 10 years — but the evidence suggests that the long-range savings for the community could come to as much as $18,000 per year per chronically homeless person, according to one study.

And the benefits extend well beyond the mere financial savings.

Now that we’ve got a plan, we need the will.