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P.O. Box 871
Fort Worth, Texas 76101
Phone 817-810-9797
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A Special Annoucement from the DRC

Challenges & Solutions

Community Impacts

Community Impacts of Homelessness

A look at the financial and social impacts of homelessness in Tarrant County

Financial Impacts

All of Us

The economics of homelessness affect everyone. Tangible costs to taxpayers include over-use of community services such as healthcare systems (JPS), law enforcement, first responders/EMS, public libraries, code compliance, and more. In all of these areas, public resources are spent mitigating homelessness instead of solving it.

In 2022, Fort Worth Policed HOPE Unit responded to 1,612 camping complaints and worked 5,613 calls just in the East Lancaster area. City of Fort Worth Code Compliance cleaned up 516 camps and discarded 1,291,435 lbs of trash—nearly 646 tons. When camps are cleaned up but people have no place else to go, they simply find another place to camp, and the cycle starts again.

With the lifting of pandemic-era eviction moratoria, people began to lose their housing. By December 31, 2022, almost 5,000 households had been without a permanent place to live at some point during the year, up 38% over 2019. While Tarrant County is making great strides housing the chronically homeless; simultaneously, new households are becoming homeless at an alarming rate.
 

Businesses

Consider a business with even one person experiencing homelessness lingering. Maybe this person is camped out behind the building. Maybe this person regularly approaches customers and staff. The mere presence of this individual can have a negative effect through loss of property value, loss of clients/customers, and employee turnover.

The Costs of Simply Managing the Issue

A 2008 study by the City of Fort Worth Planning and Development Department found that costs associated with managing homelessness made the current system inefficient. Consider:

  • The annual cost of homelessness in Fort Worth and Tarrant County had been estimated at $30 million in public and private spending.
  • Two-thirds of those dollars were spent for reactive services that only manage—not end—homelessness.
  • The concentration of homeless services in Fort Worth’s East Lancaster Avenue corridor cost the city an estimated $45 to $779 million in lost taxable property value increases.

Social Impacts

Man standing in front of tent with a lunch sack

Social Isolation

Without social support systems, people experiencing homelessness live in the shadowy edges of society. Homelessness puts people a higher risks for victimization, poor health, loneliness, and depression, which can lead to chemical dependency, crime, and a host of other issues.

Lower Life Expectancy

The average life expectancy for a housed individual in the United States is 78 years. For a person living without a home, it is 50 years. 

The Solution: Housing Ends Homelessness

At Issue: NIMBY

Humans are by nature suspicious of the unknown or unfamiliar. This leads to the phenomenon known as “Not In My Back Yard”, or NIMBY. Many proponents of NIMBY cite people experiencing homelessness as nuisances in their communities as a reason to oppose housing. This is a bit like opposing a parking garage because cars are parked on the street.
 
Homelessness is already in our backyards and on our streets. Tarrant County Homeless Coalition’s annual Point in Time Homeless Count consistently finds that there are people experiencing homelessness in all areas of Tarrant County. Yes, wherever you’re thinking of, even there. 

A study by the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy at NYU found that property values within 500 feet of supportive housing tend to increase more than those in the surrounding area in the years following a supportive housing development’s completion. Houses a bit further away, between 500 and 1000 feet from supportive housing, initially dropped in value during construction, but then rose after completion.

Housing Costs Less

The Tarrant County Homeless Coalition’s “2019 State of the Homeless Report” cites the following cost to taxpayers for each person experiencing homelessness for one night spent:

•In jail: $70 
•In a shelter: $48 
•In a home: $25

Housing returns a savings of $13 over shelters, and $45 over jail per—person, per night. 

According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, providing access to housing generally results in cost savings for communities because housed people are less likely to use emergency services, including hospitals, jails, and emergency shelter, than those who are homeless.

One study found an average cost savings on emergency services of $31,545 per person housed in a Housing First program over the course of two years.

Evidence suggests that as much as $1 million in public money is saved annually for every 100 chronically homeless individuals housed, based on reduced use of hospital care and emergency services. 

For every 100 individuals housed after short-term homelessness, $630,000 is saved per year.

Do the Math

According to Tarrant County Homeless Coalition, between 1/1/23 and 2/28/23, 3,517 people experienced homelessness in Tarrant County. Spending $13 less to house each person instead of shelter them for just one night would save $45,721. 

Over one year, the cost savings would be $16,688,165

And this doesn’t even take into account cost burdens to taxpayer funded services like police, fire, ambulance, county hospitals, code compliance, etc.

Our Impact This Year

  • People Helped

    1000

  • Volunteer Hours

    250

  • Dollars Raised

    $10000

  • Program Participants

    1000

  • First Last * Location
    First Last * Location

    [Testimonial] We exist to raise awareness for our cause and bring change to the lives of those we serve in our community. With your help we can make a difference.

DRC Community Solutions to End Homelessness
Location
P.O. Box 871
Fort Worth, Texas 76101
Phone 817-810-9797
Contact
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