New study gave $7,500 to 50 unhoused people.
Guess what?
"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."
Congrats to my UBC colleague Jiaying Zhao on this study.
#Unhoused #CashTransfers #UBC #IRES
https://bc.ctvnews.ca/a-b-c-study-gave-50-homeless-people-7-500-each-here-s-what-they-spent-it-on-1.6540030
“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.”
But not in 100% of cases and therefore it’s not worth trying. /s
It is a difficult problem, because there really are some mentally disturbed people in that population too. You can absolutely tackle the problem slowly and one case at a time lift most people out of that situation. But any solution that treats them as a group will bring along the 10% of them that will literally shit all over everything you’ve tried to build.
I think there’s a “welfare queen” mentality to that. There will always be people who will abuse the system or be unable or unwilling to utilize the service properly. That doesn’t make it not worth doing. No solution can work universally, as you said. But it must be applied universally.
Put another way: everyone deserves a chance, even if they fuck it up. But many don’t believe that your parents being super poor because of generational trauma, or mental illness, or addiction are significant impediments to success. Bootstrap mentality. Anyone can and should make, and if they don’t it’s obviously their own fault
But not in 100% of cases and therefore it’s not worth trying. /s
It is a difficult problem, because there really are some mentally disturbed people in that population too. You can absolutely tackle the problem slowly and one case at a time lift most people out of that situation. But any solution that treats them as a group will bring along the 10% of them that will literally shit all over everything you’ve tried to build.
I think there’s a “welfare queen” mentality to that. There will always be people who will abuse the system or be unable or unwilling to utilize the service properly. That doesn’t make it not worth doing. No solution can work universally, as you said. But it must be applied universally.
Put another way: everyone deserves a chance, even if they fuck it up. But many don’t believe that your parents being super poor because of generational trauma, or mental illness, or addiction are significant impediments to success. Bootstrap mentality. Anyone can and should make, and if they don’t it’s obviously their own fault