The Cost of Homelessness – Revashay Ministries

The Cost of Homelessness vs. The Cost of Home

Homelessness carries an economic cost to the community. People experiencing chronic homelessness often interact repeatedly with emergency services, healthcare, law enforcement, shelters and other publicly funded systems.

Services	Average Annual Cost Per Homeless Individual	Annual Cost to Provide Permanent Housing with Wrap Around Services
Law Enforcement, Courts, Incarceration	$28,000
EMS	$15,700
Emergency Room	$44,000

Total Cost	$87,700	$25,000

Average Annual Public Cost of Criminal Justice Involvement: $28,000+ per Person includes costs associated with incarceration and related law-enforcement, court, and emergency-service utilization (avg $76.71/day). Actual costs vary significantly by individual and community.

An unhoused individual in the United States generates an average of $18,500 to over $20,000 annually in emergency room and emergency response costs. [1, 2]

Because individuals experiencing homelessness heavily rely on the emergency department (ED) as their primary entry point for medical care, they average five ED visits per year. High-frequency users or “super-utilizers” can quickly escalate these medical burdens to over $44,400 annually per person. [1, 3, 4]

Cost Breakdown Per Person
1. Emergency Room (ED) Expenses: $3,700 per Visit [5]

* Average Cost: A standard emergency room visit for an unhoused patient averages $3,700.

* Annual Burden: With an average of five visits, a single unhoused person incurs $18,500 per year in emergency room costs alone.

* Inpatient Overspill: If the ED visit leads to hospital admission, the person stays an average of 3 to 4 nights. This adds an extra $2,559 to $9,000+ per stay—expenses largely absorbed by the hospital as uncompensated care. [1, 3, 6, 7, 8]

2. Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Expenses: $1,100 to $20,000+ Annually

* Per-Ride Cost: In Georgia, a basic emergency ambulance ride costs between $1,104 and $1,488 (plus mileage fees). [9]

* Annual Emergency Response: Studies tracking localized emergency response data find that municipalities spend roughly $15,700 to $20,000+ per unhoused resident annually strictly on emergency-response dispatches (EMS, fire, and police wellness checks). [2, 10]

* High-Acuity Costs: For chronically unhoused individuals with severe tri-morbidity (co-occurring mental health, substance use, and physical illness), the combined cost of EMS transit and hospital care can peak at an astonishing $222,000 per person annually. [4, 11]

The Savings from Shifting to Preventative Care

When local governments or hospital networks shift these individuals into permanent supportive housing with localized case management, the financial impact drops dramatically: [12, 13, 14]

* Emergency Room Visits: Drop by 61%.

* Overall Healthcare Costs: Decrease by 59%.

* Hospitalizations: Decline by 77%. [1, 5]

Sources:

[1] [https://nestcommunityshelter.org](https://nestcommunityshelter.org/the-true-cost-of-homelessness/)

[2] [https://www.vetjuspro.com](https://www.vetjuspro.com/hidden-price_20260712)

[3] [https://greendoors.org](https://greendoors.org/facts/cost.php)

[4] [https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6425314/)

[5] [https://greendoors.org](https://greendoors.org/facts/cost.php)

[6] [https://nestcommunityshelter.org](https://nestcommunityshelter.org/shelter-vs-street-a-side-by-side-cost-analysis/)

[7] [https://www.researchgate.net](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/262682035_The_Urban_Homeless_Super-users_of_the_Emergency_Department)

[8] [https://www.premierwireless.com](https://www.premierwireless.com/blog/america-has-an-acute-crisis)