This infographic demonstrates the cost of permanent housing versus an emergency shelter bed. While an emergency shelter bed does cost significantly more to build and operate than a permanent housing unit, the real cost is the personal space.

What is personal space worth? What does it mean to a person to be housed versus sheltered? Safety. Security. An opportunity to recover from crisis.

Community partners believe that while shelters are important, they are really only a crisis response and not a solution. Their very name demonstrates what they are for. They are emergency shelters.

The long term solution to homelessness lies in creating more permanent housing units. The costs, both financial and human, are evident. We have worked tirelessly together to research and develop short term and long term solutions for homelessness.  We need to continue our efforts to make these solutions a reality.