AUGUSTA (AP) – Providing housing for Maine’s homeless costs money, but it results in overall savings thanks to the reduced cost of social, medical and other services, according to a study commissioned by the Maine State Housing Authority.

The study is based on interviews with 99 formerly homeless people in the Portland area who have been in supportive housing for at least a year. It includes data from hospitals, clinics, shelters, police and the Cumberland County Jail.

A report released Tuesday concludes that housing people who were homeless cuts the average costs of services they receive in half.

“Whether you are looking at it from a moral, social or cost viewpoint, providing permanent supportive housing to people who are homeless is a winning strategy,” said Dale McCormick, the Maine State Housing Authority director.

Supportive housing programs, in which former homeless people are provided with a range of services in their new roles as tenants, are fairly new in Maine, said Bruce Goodman, operations director for Tedford Shelter in Brunswick.

But in other states where it has been more widely used, supportive housing has saved money because clients are provided with services that move them toward independence and success in their lives, said Goodman. That gradually translates into fewer public costs, he said.

The Maine study found that the greatest savings came from the reduced cost of health care, and mental health care in particular.

By moving to supportive housing, people receiving mental health services shift from expensive emergency and psychiatric inpatient care to less-expensive outpatient mental health services.

While subsidized housing tenants received more mental health services the year after they found their own units, their overall mental health costs declined by 41 percent.

Significant savings also result from a reduced need for emergency services, police intervention and incarceration, says the report.

It cites a 60 percent decrease in ambulance transports, 52 percent fewer emergency room visits and 68 percent fewer police contacts, all of which resulted in reduced costs.

The study says that even with the expense of housing factored in, it still costs less to keep people who have been homeless in supportive housing thanks to the reduced costs of other services.

Before moving into permanent housing, the annual cost of providing services to homeless people averaged $28,045 per person. The average cost dropped to $27,101 per person annually after they moved into housing, says the report. Nearly half the cost total cost – $13,092 – was for the housing itself.

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