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Total spent on homeless "frequent fliers" better spent oustide of jail

An excellent story by Kim Horner at the Dallas News tallies up the cost of dealing with the homeless in Dallas County, which comes to $73 million annually in publiic and private dollars, half of it for less than 1,000 "frequent fliers." Here's how it begins:Dallas County taxpayers spend about $50 million a year sheltering, treating and jailing the homeless.Perhaps half of that is for the 600 to 1,000 toughest cases ? many of whom visit emergency rooms, psychiatric hospitals, jails so often they're called "frequent fliers." These very ill people repeatedly cycle through a massive, uncoordinated system of local, state, federal and private institutions at alarming speed and alarming cost. And despite the millions being spent, many of these chronically homeless people remain in shelters and cardboard boxes...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on August 02, 2009 (boomark / email).