Cost Studies/Evaluation Details
Public Services Utilization Cost Study
CHIP contracted with Dr. Eric Wright of the School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Center for Health Policy, IUPUI, to complete a cost study that would estimate public health care and criminal justice-related expenditures for serving homeless individuals who are “frequent users” of public services. Many of these individuals are also persons with significant mental health and/or substance use-related challenges. The study included 96 individuals over 3 years (1/03 – 1/06). The study concluded that Marion County and the City of Indianapolis expends $5,912 - $15,560 in the public health and criminal justice systems to respond to needs of the average homeless person with mental illness and/or substance abuse issues. The homeless census estimates approximately 500 individuals fit into this category annually in our community, suggesting an annual expenditure of between $3 – 7.8 million to Marion County and the City of Indianapolis. These are only costs associated with public health and criminal justice related expenditures and do not include shelter and other emergency services.
In 2009, the Public Services Utilization Cost Study was updated to reflect the health services and criminal justice costs using 2008 dollars and extrapolating based on July 2009 count results. The updated report estimates that Marion County and the City of Indianapolis are spending between $3.7 million and and $11.1 million annually to respond to the needs of the average homeless person with mental illness and/or substance abuse issues.
Download the July 2007 report Public Services Utilization Cost Study.
Download the November 2009 report Health and Criminal Justice Expenditures of Chronically Homeless in Indianapolis: An Update.
ACES Cost Analysis
CHIP contracted with Dr. Eric Wright of the School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Center for Health Policy, IUPUI, to study the impact of the Action Coalition to Ensure Stability (ACES) program. ACES served chronically homeless individuals with co-occurring mental illness and substance abuse disorders. The analysis of the ACES program demonstrated a 75% reduction in public healthcare costs when comparing participants’ pre- and post-enrollment medical charges. These charges accounted for a $9,000 per-person reduction for the 49 ACES clients who were studied. When extrapolated to the entire 121 clients disenrolled from the project after September 1, 2004, the result is an estimated savings of over $1 million. This data, combined with the Public Services Utilization Cost Study results, is used to support additional funding for housing first/housing plus programs in the community.
Download a copy of the ACES Impact on Costs Issue Brief.
Transition In Place (TIP)
TIP is a permanent housing program model in which homeless families obtain housing in the community through a lease in their own name while receiving supportive services and rental assistance for a specified duration of time. TIP families have limited barriers to self-sufficiency and generally need six months to two years of support; however, they do not need the more intensive setting of group living or facility based transitional housing. Unlike the traditional transitional housing model which requires individuals to move after two years, TIP has been shown to be a better, more cost effective approach for some families to achieve housing stability.
Sustainable Support Services Model (SSSM)
The sustainable support services model proposes to create dedicated supportive housing units utilizing local capital in partnership with established national, municipal and state funding sources. These units would link to traditional rental assistance in order to stabilize operating income for the housing. Once permanently funded, the model calculates that the units will render an operating profit which then can be dedicated to funding the support services so critical to the success of permanent housing. By utilizing the revenues from rental income, both subsidized and un-subsidized, the SSSM provides continuous funding for the support services needed by residents in these newly created housing units.
