A Better Homeless Solution? A Study of LifeMoves Project in Silicon Valley

This research paper evaluates the effectiveness and impacts of transitional housing systems by analyzing the LifeMoves location in Mountain View. The LifeMoves staff believe that the service they provide along with housing for the homeless is more effective at helping get those people into permanent housing and having a normal lifestyle. However, services such as therapy, nurses, case managers, etc. are a large portion of their expenditures. When they wanted to open new locations in Santa Clara, they ran into a lot of backlash as many people weren’t sold on this way of supporting the homeless. This paper analyzes how much money people are saving on their tax dollars by having fewer people on the streets, which ultimately is what people care about. It adds to the knowledge of how many people LifeMoves helps and how they operate, but now it is to see how much money can be saved by doing it this way. I did research by gathering resources online by looking at some previous research papers, news articles, and other websites that are aimed at answering questions. I also gathered information by gathering statistics from LifeMoves, the city of Mountain View, and Santa Clara County by contacting them through connections too. I discovered that LifeMoves’ transitional housing system can save a good amount of tax money by having fewer homeless people on the streets. Homeless people cost a lot of money as they are sent to the emergency room more often and have the cops called on them more often too. Helping homeless people stay off the streets for good by helping them through services, the taxes can be spent elsewhere instead of giving quick solutions to chronically homeless people. Seeing this, the same approach to solving homelessness can be implemented in other cities, counties, and states. Cities like Denver, which is currently suffering from a homeless crisis, can use this method to solve their homeless issue and go back to how it was pre-Covid.