Give Cash to the Homeless - the Vancouver Experiment

[Axtremus]

https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/21528569/homeless-poverty-cash-transfer-canada-new-leaf-project

Simple experiment: give $7500 lump sum cash each to a group of people who have been homeless for no more than 2 years, then track what they do with the money, compare to another control group not given any cash.

[Mik]

"Over the past month, the average rent for a studio apartment in Vancouver increased by 7% to $2,533. The average rent for a 1-bedroom apartment increased by 1% to $2,838, and the average rent for a 2-bedroom apartment remained flat."

https://www.zumper.com/rent-research/vancouver-bc

So, they might be able to find a place for three months. If they can find someone who will agree to rent to someone with no recent address. Having just gone through this several times with my daughter, landlords are very, very picky about who they will take.

[jon-nyc]

I’m not surprised, if you pick the right homeless, as they did:

And people with severe mental health or substance use issues were screened out of the initiative.

Even still, I’d like to see a follow-up of the money spent not based on “self-reporting”

But I’m not sure how you take that south of the border.