A B.C. study gave 50 homeless people $7,500 each. Here's what they spent it on.

[bnew]

A B.C. study gave 50 homeless people $7,500 each. Here's what they spent it on.

A new B.C.-based study undercuts the persistent stereotype that homeless people can't be trusted with cash, according to the lead researcher who says it also highlights a different way to respond to the crisis.

bc.ctvnews.ca

A B.C. study gave 50 homeless people $7,500 each. Here's what they spent it on.​

Lisa Steacy
CTVNewsVancouver.ca Reporter

Updated Aug. 30, 2023 10:54 p.m. EDT
Published Aug. 29, 2023 5:56 p.m. EDT

A new B.C.-based study undercuts the persistent stereotype that homeless people can't be trusted with cash, according to the lead researcher who says it also highlights a different way to respond to the crisis.

Dr. Jiaying Zhao, an associate professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia, was part of a team that gave 50 homeless people in Vancouver $7,500 and then followed them for a year.

The jumping-off point, Zhao said, was a survey in which respondents estimated that if homeless people were given this amount of money, they would spend four times more than their non-homeless counterparts on so-called "temptation goods."

"People in general don't trust those in homelessness. We think that when we give homeless people money they're going to squander it on drugs and alcohol. That's a deeply ingrained distrust and I think it's unfair and it's not true," Zhao told CTV News.

This distrust – along with stereotypes about who becomes homeless, how and why – is partly why there is widespread resistance to the idea of a potential policy solution that would provide no-strings-attached payments.

"The cash transfer is such a no-brainer. But nobody is willing to try it," Zhao said, explaining why she felt so strongly that it was important to do this particular study of spending.

"We spend billions in a year to manage homelessness and that investment is not getting good returns, because the homelessness crisis is only growing."

So what did the research show?

"When we talk to these people, they know exactly what they need to do to get back to housing and they just don't have the money," Zhao said.

"They did not spend more money on alcohol or drugs, contrary to what people believe, and instead they spent the money on rent, food, housing, transit, furniture, a used car, clothes. It's entirely the opposite of what people think they're going to do with the money."

The participants who were given cash were compared with 65 homeless people who did not get the payment. Those who got the payment did not spend more money on "temptation goods," spent 99 fewer days homeless, increased their savings and spent less time in shelters which "saved society" $777 per person, according to a news release from UBC.

The study did not include people who are street-entrenched or who have serious addictions or mental health issues, Zhao noted, adding people who fit that criteria do not make up the majority of homeless people.

"Homeless people are not that different from us. Something terrible happened and they had nothing to fall back on," she said, citing eviction or the loss of a job due to illness or accident as some examples of how people lose their housing and struggle to find somewhere else to live – particularly in a rental market like Vancouver where prices are sky-high and vacancy rates are low.

The exclusion of people who are most visible and often described as the "hardest to house" is something Zhao says is a weakness of the study, because it means there is no data on how or whether cash transfers would be similarly effective for this population, nor is there any evidence about how they would spend the money if it was provided.

"We don't know, there's no evidence, and this is something to consider," she says.

Still, Zhao says having data on how people who did get the money actually spent it is something she thinks will help counteract stereotypes, increase empathy and potentially get skeptics and the public on board with the idea of providing cash transfers.

Now that the study is complete, the plan is to replicate it and expand it to other cities in Canada and the U.S.

 

[bnew]

Canada study debunks stereotypes of homeless people’s spending habits

Researchers find homeless people more likely to spend lump sum on housing and food and not ‘temptation goods’ such as alcohol

www.theguardian.com

Canada study debunks stereotypes of homeless people’s spending habits​

Researchers find homeless people more likely to spend lump sum on housing and food and not ‘temptation goods’ such as alcohol

Leyland Cecco in Toronto

Wed 30 Aug 2023 12.41 EDT


The widely held stereotype that people experiencing homelessness would be more likely to spend extra cash on drugs, alcohol and “temptation goods” has been upended by a study that found a majority used a $7,500 payment mostly on rent, food, housing, transit and clothes.


The biases punctured by the study highlight the difficulties in developing policies to reduce homelessness, say the Canadian researchers behind it. They said the unconditional cash appeared to reduce homelessness, giving added weight to calls for a guaranteed basic income that would help adults cover essential living expenses.





Researchers at the University of British Columbia described in a report for Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences how they tracked the spending of 50 people experiencing homelessness after they were given C$7,500.

The study built on a previous US survey of 1,114 people that tracked “public mistrust” in unhoused people’s ability to manage money, where participants predicted that recipients of an unconditional $7,500 cash transfer would spend most of it on “temptation goods” such as alcohol, drugs and tobacco.

The Canadian researchers followed up by actually giving that amount to 50 people who were homeless in Vancouver, and compared their spending with a control group of 65 homeless people who did not receive any cash.

They found the cash recipients each spent an average of 99 fewer days homeless than the control group, increased their savings more and also “cost” society less by spending less time in shelters.

“The impact of these biases is detrimental,” Jiaying Zhao, an associate professor of psychology at UBC who led the study, said in a statement. “When people received the cash transfer, they actually spent it on things that you or I would spend it on – housing, clothing, food, transit – and not on drugs and alcohol.”

Researchers ensured the cash was in a lump sum “to enable maximum purchasing freedom and choice” as opposed to small, consistent transfers.

Zhao said the study did not include participants with severe levels of substance use, alcohol use or mental health symptoms, because researchers felt those groups did not reflect the majority of homeless people.

“Rather, they are largely invisible. They sleep in cars or on friends’ couches, and do not abuse substances or alcohol,” said Zhao.

The study comes as lawmakers in Canada are under mounting pressure from advocacy groups to implement a universal basic income project that would help ease a cost-of-living crisis.

In 2017, the most populous province unveiled the Ontario basic income pilot, meant to study the effects of a universal basic income on 4,000 participants. The program was subsequently shut down by the province’s Progressive Conservative party after an electoral victory, with one minister calling the guaranteed funds a “disincentive” to work.

A bill is currently before the country’s senate to require Canada’s minister of finance to examine the idea of a nationwide basic income project and report on possible benefits.

 

[Artificial Intelligence]

I want 7k..
They can follow me around as I spend it in the red light district

 

[Neuromancer]

Solid

 

[bnew]

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2222103120

Unconditional cash transfers reduce homelessness​

Significance​

A core cause of homelessness is a lack of money, yet few services provide immediate cash assistance as a solution. We provided a one-time unconditional CAD$7,500 cash transfer to individuals experiencing homelessness, which reduced homelessness and generated net societal savings over 1 y. Two additional studies revealed public mistrust in homeless individuals’ ability to manage money and the benefit of counter-stereotypical or utilitarian messaging in garnering policy support for cash transfers. This research adds to growing global evidence on cash transfers’ benefits for marginalized populations and strategies to increase policy support. Although not a panacea, cash transfers may hasten housing stability with existing social supports. Together, this research offers a new tool to reduce homelessness to improve homelessness reduction policies.

Abstract​

Homelessness is an economic and social crisis. In a cluster-randomized controlled trial, we address a core cause of homelessness—lack of money—by providing a one-time unconditional cash transfer of CAD$7,500 to each of 50 individuals experiencing homelessness, with another 65 as controls in Vancouver, BC. Exploratory analyses showed that over 1 y, cash recipients spent fewer days homeless, increased savings and spending with no increase in temptation goods spending, and generated societal net savings of $777 per recipient via reduced time in shelters. Additional experiments revealed public mistrust toward the ability of homeless individuals to manage money and demonstrated interventions to increase public support for a cash transfer policy using counter-stereotypical or utilitarian messaging. Together, this research offers a new approach to address homelessness and provides insights into homelessness reduction policies.

https://www.pnas.org/doi/epdf/10.1073/pnas.2222103120

 

[saturn7]

They didn't spend the money on Yeezy's??




A good start with a very select population.

"The study did not include people who are street-entrenched or who have serious addictions or mental health issues, Zhao noted, adding people who fit that criteria do not make up the majority of homeless people."

I'm not sure this is the case in the United States.

 

[DaPresident]

Break the stereotypes. I volunteered for a homeless shelter in my city and if you listen to some too these stories (keyword, SOME)

Some of these folks were just down on their luck. Or had a traumatic or expensive situation which left them homeless. You’d be surprised at the number of intelligent and degree having folks that just came up on a hard time. Lost a job and couldn’t get back or fire that destroyed everything. Medical bills that took them out or a divorce that crippled them.

Once you get past the stereotypes and meet the people you’d be surprised at their stories

 

[King Harlem]

I'm guessing the dynamics around homelessness is the same everywhere, however I would be interested in them doing the same research here in the United States and seeing if the results remain the same.

 

[bnew]

They didn't spend the money on Yeezy's??




A good start with a very select population.

"The study did not include people who are street-entrenched or who have serious addictions or mental health issues, Zhao noted, adding people who fit that criteria do not make up the majority of homeless people."

I'm not sure this is the case in the United States.

The Complex Link Between Homelessness and Mental Health

Research suggests that the connection between homelessness and mental illness is a complicated, two-way relationship.

www.psychologytoday.com

• An estimated 20 to 25 percent of the U.S. homeless population suffers from severe mental illness, compared to 6 percent of the general public.

For many Americans, the prospect of losing their homes and falling into uncertain housing situations became excruciatingly prescient during the economic downturn caused by the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. A 2019 study suggested that even at that time, 40 percent of Americans were already one missed paycheck away from poverty.

Homelessness and Mental Health​

The idea that mental illness alone causes homelessness is naive and inaccurate, for two major reasons. First, the overwhelming majority of those living with mental illness are not homeless (and studies have failed to demonstrate a causal relationship between the two).

These types of distortions can have dangerous implications, wrongly focusing the attention on the individual rather than on the institutions that perpetuate housing insecurity. As a result, the illusory division between the “mentally ill homeless” and the “non-mentally ill homeless” casts the former as more deserving of intervention and services and the latter as seemingly “unworthy” or “undeserving” of support.


Though there is no causal relationship between mental illness and homelessness, those who suffer from housing insecurity are struggling significantly, both psychologically and emotionally. The constellation of economics, subsistence living, family breakdown, psychological deprivation, and impoverished self-esteem all contribute to the downward cycle of poverty.

Homelessness and Mental Illness: A Challenge to Our Society

What is the prevalence of mental illness among people experiencing homelessness in the U.S.? According to a 2015 assessment by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 564,708 people were homeless on a given night in the United States. At a minimum, 140,000 or 25 percent of these...

www.bbrfoundation.org

According to a 2015 assessment by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 564,708 people were homeless on a given night in the United States. At a minimum, 140,000 or 25 percent of these people were seriously mentally ill, and 250,000 or 45 percent had any mental illness. By comparison, a 2016 study found that 4.2 percent of U.S. adults have been diagnosed with a serious mental illness.

a lot of the homeless population aren't mentally ill or suffering from drug addiction, they can still be helped.

 

[coldcall]

I don't think anyone believes that one bad decision is what makes people homeless, it's usually a series of bad decisions or bad luck.

 

[kevin arnold]

 

[Genos]

This is pretty obvious, we have a problem of people bragging on how much money they make cacs so they think homeless people are just "lazy" or drug addicted because they aren't spending most of their time making some cac money

 

[OfTheCross]

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2222103120

Unconditional cash transfers reduce homelessness​

Significance​

A core cause of homelessness is a lack of money, yet few services provide immediate cash assistance as a solution. We provided a one-time unconditional CAD$7,500 cash transfer to individuals experiencing homelessness, which reduced homelessness and generated net societal savings over 1 y. Two additional studies revealed public mistrust in homeless individuals’ ability to manage money and the benefit of counter-stereotypical or utilitarian messaging in garnering policy support for cash transfers. This research adds to growing global evidence on cash transfers’ benefits for marginalized populations and strategies to increase policy support. Although not a panacea, cash transfers may hasten housing stability with existing social supports. Together, this research offers a new tool to reduce homelessness to improve homelessness reduction policies.

Abstract​

Homelessness is an economic and social crisis. In a cluster-randomized controlled trial, we address a core cause of homelessness—lack of money—by providing a one-time unconditional cash transfer of CAD$7,500 to each of 50 individuals experiencing homelessness, with another 65 as controls in Vancouver, BC. Exploratory analyses showed that over 1 y, cash recipients spent fewer days homeless, increased savings and spending with no increase in temptation goods spending, and generated societal net savings of $777 per recipient via reduced time in shelters. Additional experiments revealed public mistrust toward the ability of homeless individuals to manage money and demonstrated interventions to increase public support for a cash transfer policy using counter-stereotypical or utilitarian messaging. Together, this research offers a new approach to address homelessness and provides insights into homelessness reduction policies.

https://www.pnas.org/doi/epdf/10.1073/pnas.2222103120

7K to save $700?

 

[Toe Jay Simpson]

7K to save $700?

 

[Richard Glidewell]

This ain't American homeless we talking about....... all homeless populations ain't the same