Rental assistance crushes homelessness by 60 to 70%. [View all]

Last edited Fri Aug 22, 2025, 01:49 AM - Edit history (3)

BREAKING: A new experiment in Philly shows cash rental assistance slashed homelessness rates by 57–67%.

— John Holbein (@johnholbein1.bsky.social) 2025-08-21T23:35:30.927Z

Applegrove:

And remember homelessness services, hospital stays, ambulance calls and police detentions cost more than rental assistance. Plus once you have an address the world opens up.

My dad kept falling in his retirement residence. The paramedics had to be called many times. My dad was a big man in his mid 80s. He weighed 250 pounds. There were not enough men/custodians in the retirement residence to lift him up. So the ambulance was always called. Thankfully he had extra strong bones so he never broke anything. He was in a wheelchair but could not get it in to the bathroom. He got in on a waiting list to a great nursing home but wanted to stay with my mom who was palliative. They kept him at the top of the list for the nursing home because the managers (city run nursing home) were in touch with the social workers, who were in touch with the ambulance people - we think. It was worth their while to wait on my dad to save the ambulance paramedics from wasting time and money to get my dad on his feet again. Public services cost. I know my mom was happy to have Dad living with her in her last months. We were lucky.