Study: Ending homelessness for 4 saves thousands

Four homeless residents cost Fort Collins' oldest hospital more than $300,000 in uncompensated medical costs and tied up city police and court officials for 257 hours in the seven months before they were able to work their way off the streets.

A first-of-its-kind case study recently released by the nascent Outreach Fort Collins group quantifies the societal costs of homelessness in Fort Collins and outlines the steps taken to get the four residents the help they needed. Those steps could serve as a blueprint to address the city's growing homeless issues. The study also dispels some myths.

Members of the nonprofit outreach team working to quell concerns related to homelessness in the city's core say the study is an important step in proving the value of their work to a public that often associates homelessness with the transient populations often blamed for Old Town's troubles.

In a little more than half a year, the four individuals included in the study:

• Cost Poudre Valley Hospital $339,491 in uncompensated medical costs, including $93,297 in ambulance and emergency room intake costs. The hospital does not turn away anyone based on their ability to pay. 
• Had 189 documented hours of interaction with Fort Collins police officers for 31 illegal behavior citations 
• Were responsible for 68 hours of city of Fort Collins Municipal Court time addressing multiple citations with court personnel working on those cases more than 200 times

The four people chosen for inclusion in the study were chronically homeless full-time residents — not transients. Those itinerant populations aren't involved in the bulk of calls Outreach Fort Collins has responded to since launching last summer in response to growing tensions between Old Town businesses and those experiencing or at risk of homelessness.

More: Larimer jail bears high cost of homelessness

The four individuals studied, whose identities were not made public to comply with privacy laws, were chosen from a list of people who received the most citations from Fort Collins Police Services and also had the most interactions with Outreach Fort Collins. All four chosen for the case study were among the 20 people most frequently booked into the Larimer County Jail.

Now, all are off Fort Collins' streets.

More: Homeless count: 16% of Fort Collins homeless are minors

All four individuals are housed in permanent supportive housing or inpatient substance abuse housing. They are no longer living on the streets of downtown Fort Collins or part of the minority Outreach Program Director Nick Verni-Lau said are responsible for the disruptive and illegal behaviors at the center of the Old Town debate.

That's how you "provide savings for the city and taxpayers," Verni-Lau said. That's how you start solving the disruptive behaviors that frustrate Old Town businesses and visitors.

To accomplish that outcome took:

• 118 street contacts with Outreach Fort Collins, 71 percent of which were made at Jefferson Park, the Oak Street/College Avenue area, Old Town Square and the bus stop shelter by the intersection of Olive and Remington streets
• A 600 percent increase in visits by those four individuals to the Sister Mary Alice Murphy Center for Hope compared to the previous six-month period
• 63 times accessing SummitStone Health Partners services

For Verni-Lau, moving the needle on homelessness boils down to relationships. Outreach's workers walk the streets and have conversations with homeless individuals to gain their trust every Tuesday through Saturday.

Chuck Carlson, owner of Mulberry Max Wine & Spirits at the Mulberry Street and College Avenue intersection in Old Town, said that approach has made him a "big fan" of the program. Last summer, Carlson said he contacted Outreach "probably every two weeks," usually to help someone who appeared to be having mental health or other issues.

More: 5 things to know about marijuana money and schools

"I don’t want to call the police in those instances if someone has a mental illness issue or is disoriented," Carlson said. "When somebody shows up in a flak jacket with a taser and a gun on their hip it is very different than when (Outreach workers) Nick (Verni-Lau) and Emily (Harms) show up."

He became impressed with Outreach workers' fast response time and gentle approach, as well as their follow-up with Carlson after they respond.

"Outreach is a much less-threatening and more compassionate way to reach out to people and let them know what Fort Collins is all about," he said.

Outreach has worked with 347 homeless or at-risk individuals through February, the most updated information available.

Most — about 90 percent — of Outreach's homeless or at-risk contacts "aren't bothering anybody," Verni-Lau said. He estimates about 60 percent of the homeless residents contacted by the organization could be considered "permanent mainstays."

Most of the calls Outreach receives to respond to disruptive behaviors involve those mainstays, he added.

"Some folks, we talk to them on the first day and they're willing to access services that day," Verni-Lau said. "There are other folks we've been working with since our program started that are still service resistant."

Moving forward, Outreach and its partners remain focused on that relational approach and helping the city's most at-risk residents find the help they need. That includes adding another outreach worker to the program's existing staff of three — Verni-Lau, Harms and SummitStone-funded outreach worker Lisa Dunworth. Outreach also welcomed this month an AmeriCorps Vista volunteer who will focus on data collection and program administration.

Story continues below the map

For Poudre Valley Hospital's parent company, UCHealth, battling homelessness and related unpaid costs of care requires finding ways to reach people where they are.

UCHealth, including Poudre Valley Hospital and Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland, spent $223 million on uncompensated care for uninsured and under-insured clients last year.

That's an admittedly big number and "a big problem," said Janice Mierzwa, UCHealth's senior director of emergency services in Northern Colorado. But the hospital system is dedicated to helping those in need and does not refuse service if someone is unable to pay, she added.

That's why the health provider is brainstorming new approaches with Fort Collins Police Services, SummitStone, Outreach and other providers to catch people before they end up in the emergency room.

More:The negative factor: Why Colorado schools are crying poverty

"The point isn't to get them out — it's to get them connected," she said.

One possible approach includes adding a bicycle patrol of medics to focus on the downtown area and make rounds with those in need.

"Just because they don't have an address doesn't mean we can't frequently check on them," Mierzwa said.

Follow Sarah Jane Kyle on Twitter @sarahjanekyle or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/reportersarahjane.