Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
Lost Opportunity- Perhaps the most difficult cost to quantify is the loss <br />of future productivity. Decreased health and more time spent in jails or <br />prisons means that homeless people have more obstacles to <br />contributing to society through their work and creativity. Homeless <br />children also face barriers with respect to education. Because many <br />homeless children have such poor educational experiences, their future <br />productivity and career prospects may suffer. This makes the effects of <br />chronic homelessness much longer lasting than just the time spent in <br />shelters. <br />Since the demographics of chronic homelessness, and therefore its <br />solutions, vary in every locality, ending chronic homelessness requires <br />the development of local plans to systematically and quickly re-house <br />those who lose their housing. Replacement housing should be <br />permanent -- having no artificial limits on how long a person can stay. If <br />an individual or family requires some type of temporary housing such as <br />residential treatment (for illness) or residential separation (for victims of <br />domestic violence, for chronically homeless people, for people in <br />recovery), such interim housing should be firmly linked to eventual <br />placement in permanent housing. <br />24 <br />