Wet Shelters Save Money and Lives

It's a perplexing concept: helping homeless individuals struggling with alcoholism get off the streets by allowing them to imbibe in homeless shelters. But as it turns out, this strategy isn't just good fodder for shock jocks. Research on "harm reduction" strategies find that wet shelters are effective on two fronts: saving money and - more importantly - saving lives.

Alcoholism can be both a cause and effect of losing one's home, and living on the streets can exacerbate the addition. According to a report released this week by Austin's Ending Community Homelessness Coalition, 35-40 percent of the U.S. homeless population can be considered alcoholic. Just 5 percent of the U.S.'s housed population struggles with alcoholism.

Unfortunately, the insatiable need to feed one's addictions can distort a person's judgment. When given the choice between an alcohol free shelter or staying on the streets, many alcoholics choose the latter. Sadly, this can be deadly. Last year, 150 homeless people died due to alcohol-related deaths on the streets of Austin, according to the report.

So rather than requiring sobriety as a condition for receiving shelter, some cities are moving towards a "harm reduction" model. According to the report, harm reduction "acknowledges that some progress is better than none, and that is preferable to reduce drinking and improve overall wellness than to try but fail to demand sobriety."

The Austin study points to some surprising successes in other cities that have adopted the "harm reduction" approach. The successes speak for themselves. Seattle's Downtown Emergency Service Center, with 75 rooms for alcoholics, has saved Seattle $1.8 million in emergency room visits alone. Better yet, those participating in the program reduced their alcohol consumption by roughly 33 percent. A similar program in Ottowa, Canada also saw cost savings for the city and a reduction in consumption among program participants.

Sure, the idea of enabling alcohol consumption for alcoholics may be counter-intuitive. But clearly, new approaches are necessary. Perhaps if we start thinking about addiction as an illness rather than a personal fault, we'll be able to start moving towards real solution.

Image from Frankenstein's public Flickr photo stream.