The Cost of Homelessness in Oklahoma City April 1, 2009 to March ...

Oklahoma City Cost of Homelessness Study 2009‐2010
PORTRAIT OF ONE HOMELESS MAN
Cost for Study Period
Police/Jail $7,855.92
EMSA $110,248.00
Emergency Room $42,175.57
Total $160,279.49
Many homeless individuals and families access mainstream resources through their
homeless system case manager, shelter or housing program. Most homeless people are
eligible for one or more mainstream resource, and accessing those resources can lead to the
ability to acquire and maintain stable housing. Others, however, do not access the homeless
system at all and instead rely solely
on the mainstream system for help.
Malcolm Gladwell described a
chronically homeless man in Phoenix
who, over the course of time, had
cost the mainstream system more
than $1 million. Gladwell’s
conclusion: some problems are
cheaper to solve than to manage
(The New Yorker, Issues 2006‐02‐13
and 20).
One Chronically Homeless Man
Study Period Total $160,279
Police/Jail
$7,856
Hospital
$42,176
We found a good example of this in
EMSA
Oklahoma City. In an interview
$110,248
room at the County Jail, we met a
65‐year‐old white man who has
lived near downtown Oklahoma City Fig. 14 Total Cost of EMSA, OKC Police and Jail, and
his entire life. He had been staying the OKC Fire Department during Study Period
in the jail for several days, withdrawing from alcohol. Bruises and sores were evident on his
thin arms; his wrist was shackled to a metal table; and he maintained an expression of
confusion during much of the conversation.
The County Jail keeps records of arrests from the time the system was computerized in 1989.
Since then, the man had been arrested 434 times. In the past ten years (April 2000 to April
2010), he was arrested 369 times, 95% of the time for public intoxication or trespassing on
public or private property. During our study period, this man was arrested 24 times, costing
the City of Oklahoma City $7,856.
Spangler & Associates, Inc. Page 33