NYC spends more per homeless person than the median NYC household earns. $81,705 per person in FY2025.
And $81,705 is a floor. It excludes supportive housing (~$500M/yr), mental health response teams, and NYPD encampment costs.
The city projects ~$97K per person in FY2026.
Spending per homeless person since 2019:
NYC +187%, SF +190%, PDX +430%, LA +480%. Average: +320
Floor estimates.
Homeless pop over same period: +13%
Spending up ~320%. Problem up ~13%.
LA: ~$10K per homeless person in 2019. ~$62K in 2024. +480%.
LA County homeless pop: +23%.
RAND’s count finds LA’s official figures understate the pop by 32%.
Floor estimate, excludes LAPD, mental health teams, county and state spending.
Portland: ~$18K per homeless person in 2019. ~$95K in 2024. +430%.
Homeless pop: essentially flat. Deaths of homeless quadrupled.
Floor estimate excludes Portland police, BOEC, state and federal pass-through costs.
Sources: OPB · ECOnorthwest 2025 · ProPublica 2025.
San Fran: 35K per homeless person in 2019. $102K in 2024. +190%. Floor estimates.
Total homeless pop over the same period: up 4%.
Source: SF HSH budgets · SF PIT counts
I blame the rising cost per homeless person on:
Fentanyl/drugs (intransigence multiplier).
NGO incentive misalignment (reward service not solution).
Housing First ideology (religious belief now).
SMI revolving door (deinstitutionalisation never fixed).
Cost disease.
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