United Way says housing cheaper than being homeless

It would cost taxpayers less to provide public housing for Los Angeles' vast homeless population than to let them wander the streets as transients, according to a report released today by the United Way of Greater Los Angeles. Daily News.

The survey of four individuals found that it cost taxpayers $107,032 to provide housing and other benefits to a homeless person for two years, compared with $187,288 for those living in the street.

Costs for a more unsettled lifestyle soared because of more frequent visits to hospitals and mental health clinics and more frequent arrests and time spent in jail - bills also picked up by the public.