Hmmm…

SEATTLE—Emergency social and health programs are saving an estimated $3.2 million a year because about 160 of Seattle’s homeless alcoholics and drug addicts have been taken off the street and put into supportive housing, two new studies show.

The statistics released Wednesday by Mayor Greg Nickels show two programs using the “housing first” model are making a difference in the lives of chronically homeless adults as well as saving money.

“Instead of letting people fall through the cracks, this program helps to stabilize and rebuild lives while taking a costly strain off our social safety net,” Nickels said in a statement.

The “housing first” approach calls for putting homeless people in permanent homes with supportive services instead of requiring them to stop drinking and taking drugs to earn their shelter.

Taxpayer and privately donated money was used to build a $11.2 million building to house homeless alcoholics at the edge of downtown Seattle. The nonprofit Downtown Emergency Services Center spends about $11,000 per resident a year to operate the building, which opened at the end of 2005.

The money saved from fewer emergency room visits, nights in jail and other social service interventions - more than $1.7 million - has not reached the total cost of the program, but preliminary results from a study by University of Washington researchers indicate it is making progress.

Obviously there’s a level of pragmatism here that’s appealing.  Some addicts aren’t ever going to get past their addictions and/or won’t do anything to help get ahead in life, so just getting them out of the way probably does save money in the long run.

Of course, it’d probably be even cheaper to just leave them in the street and quit offering them any access to care or entitlements what-so-ever.  That’s harsh, I know, but I’ve never felt like taxpayers have any duty to help those who won’t help themselves.