$750 a month, no questions asked, improved the lives of homeless people - eviltoast

If 100 homeless people were given $750 per month for a year, no questions asked, what would they spend it on?

That question was at the core of a controlled study conducted by a San Francisco-based nonprofit and the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work.

The results were so promising that the researchers decided to publish results after only six months. The answer: food, 36.6%; housing, 19.5%; transportation, 12.7%; clothing, 11.5%; and healthcare, 6.2%, leaving only 13.6% uncategorized.

Those who got the stipend were less likely to be unsheltered after six months and able to meet more of their basic needs than a control group that got no money, and half as likely as the control group to have an episode of being unsheltered.

Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20231221131158/https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-12-19/750-a-month-no-questions-asked-improved-the-lives-of-homeless-people

    • Pratai@lemmy.ca
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      11 months ago

      Right. So without resorting to fantasy, what’s a realistic suggestion.

        • Pratai@lemmy.ca
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          11 months ago

          Again, I said- without resorting to fantasy. None of those things are even remotely possible.

            • Pratai@lemmy.ca
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              11 months ago

              They’re possible, but not remotely probable. And I’d love an answer. Just one that has a remote chance of actually happening. My head isn’t in the clouds banking on wishful thinking. I’m down here on the ground, trying to keep my expectations based on reality.

              I realize this is an unpopular opinion, but as the saying goes:

              A pessimist is a well-informed optimist.