A new study from Urban Institute, “Policing Doesn’t End Homelessness. Supportive Housing Does,” analyzes the impacts of the Denver Supportive Housing Social Impact Bond Initiative (Denver SIB), which provides supportive housing to people without homes who have been repeatedly arrested. The report also details the amount of time spent by police making arrests for minor offenses related to homelessness among members of the Denver SIB target population not receiving supportive housing. The study finds that people without homes are significantly more likely to be arrested for minor offenses than members of the general population and that police spend large amounts of time and resources arresting unhoused people for these minor offenses. Moreover, the study finds that people receiving supportive housing services experienced significant decreases in arrests for minor offenses.
The Denver SIB target population included individuals who had been arrested at least eight times in three years and who did not have a permanent address during at least three of those arrests. Using 2018 arrest data from the Denver Police Department, the researchers identified a group of minor offenses associated with homelessness – including criminal trespassing, loitering, and littering – and compared arrests for minor offenses among the general population to the Denver SIB target population. The report also includes the results of a study in which some members of the SIB target population were randomly assigned to receive supportive housing.
The researchers found that people in the Denver SIB target population were significantly more likely to be arrested for minor offenses than people in Denver’s general population. For example, among all offenses by members of the Denver SIB target population, 21% were for criminal trespassing, compared to only 3% of offenses for the general population. Similarly, 61% of all offenses among the target population were associated with homelessness, such as trespassing, public-order crimes, and liquor possession, compared to a rate of 14% among the general population. Members of the Denver SIB target population, however, were not overrepresented among more serious offenses, such as assault, theft, burglary, and robbery. The research also finds the Denver Police Department spent roughly 2,789 hours arresting people in the Denver SIB target population for minor offenses in 2018.
Among residents who received supportive housing through the Denver SIB program, minor offense arrests dropped significantly. Two years after the program began, 52% fewer arrests were made among individuals who were randomly assigned to receive supportive housing compared to members of the target population receiving standard housing services. Given these results, the study concludes that providing supportive housing to all members of the Denver SIB target population would result in police spending 1,450 fewer hours annually arresting people experiencing homelessness for minor offenses.
In addition to demonstrating that police spend significant time and resources arresting unhoused people for minor offenses and that supportive housing programs like Denver SIB help reduce arrests, the researchers argue that punitive measures are not successful in reducing homelessness and that policymakers should instead enact permanent housing solutions that address the root causes of homelessness.
Read the article at: http://bit.ly/3WKUp2f