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Fascinating study. Researchers gave homeless people $7,500 each, no strings attached. They mostly spent it on essentials, cut back on cigarettes and alcohol and were more likely to be housed a year later. It was also cheaper than emergency shelters.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/new-leaf-project-results-1.5752714
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/new-leaf-project-results-1.5752714
Because these studies often lead to silver-bullet thinking, this is an *extremely* important caveat.
The recipients were a specific subgroup of homeless people. There are a lot of people on the streets who need more than just cash.
The recipients were a specific subgroup of homeless people. There are a lot of people on the streets who need more than just cash.
Also worth noting that the benefits of the cash infusion are large at first but then taper off over time. I expect this effect would be smaller in the U.S. compared to Canada because we have fewer other services available.
As usual, we should think of cash transfers as one approach among many. Notice how the recipients of the cash were still spending nearly 1 in 5 nights unsheltered by the end of the study. We need to be careful getting too excited about one-off, small-n studies.
