What does it cost to help the homeless?

Probably not that much, a couple of sleeping bags, the odd cup of tea, maybe a meal – right?


Every year, charities spend tens of thousands of pounds helping homeless people. They pay for temporary accommodation, support staff, alcohol and drug treatments.

Those services add up to huge amounts of money per person.

If a homeless person needs healthcare, social services intervention or legal support, as many do, it goes up.

Their care is complex. It isn’t just about needing a meal or being given a bed.

The reasons people have ended up on the street – and what they do while they are on the streets – are incredibly complicated.

The Support that Saves report breaks down the costs of an individual’s use of public services, over a particular period, before they started receiving the right support. It is then compared to the cost of support during the time they spent as a client of The Wallich.

It looks at the savings that intervention has made.

Each of the case studies have has been anonymised – but each is a real example of a client the charity has helped.

Take Tanya

She was referred to The Wallich when she was a serial offender and regularly appearing in court. She had drug issues and was refusing to work with people who could help her. She was referred to The Wallich and began engaging with the charity. It says her offending has dropped and she has started to work on her drug problems.

To live at a Wallich facility cost £28,160.36 for the year, fortnightly meetings with a counsellor added £1,144.

She was prescribed methadone - a substitute to heroin - costing £2,860.

What has it saved?

If she’d continued to offend at the same rate it is estimated Tanya would have been arrested 27 times in a year resulting in a total cost of £67,500. Her court appearances would have cost £14,000, and stays in prison added up to £3,136.

She would have been referred to five days inpatient stay costing £710.

The charity says it has saved the public purse £50,451.64 by engaging with Tanya

Bella was sleeping rough

Bella (not pictured) has developed a serious health condition

She was also drinking heavily when she began working with The Wallich. She had committed petty and serious crimes. She was diagnosed with a serious illness and since working with The Wallich she has begun seeing healthcare professionals.

How much has her help cost?

Her residential support totalled £26,854.83, her offender manager £410 and a police callout £33. She's had daily visits from nurses costing £6,760 with £108 for GP visits.

What has it saved?

By helping her engage with medical staff, it's £11,861. Stopping police callouts, arrests, court proceedings and prison time saved £25,168. She didn't need a £703 inpatient stay, or alcohol health worker sessions.

The total savings were £3,566.17

Craig was homeless for a year

While some people choose to live in the city centre, Hugh went to Cathays every night

Craig was living in England and had a drugs problems. When he returned to Wales he was made homeless. It took a year for him to get somewhere to live with The Wallich. It took another year to find work and permanent accommodation.

His residential support cost £15,841.37. He also needed a methadone prescription for a year (£2,860). A year’s work with a drugs worker cost £528

Total: £19,229.37

What would the cost have been?

Callouts, six arrests, court proceedings and offender management would have added up to £22,361, further drugs intervention would have been£2,486 and visits to A&E and prescriptions another £170.

Total savings: £5,787.63

So where does the money come from? Am I donating to help buy people drugs?

The majority of The Wallich’s money comes from the Welsh Government’s Supporting People programme.

The money we want to raise through our Street Fleet campaign is to help make it easier for the support workers to do their jobs.

The staff have the expertise but need to build relationships with their clients to ensure they will engage in longer-term projects.

The £75,000 we want to raise will pay for five vehicles which will allow the charity’s outreach team to get out there to meet the people who need them.

As part of our Reaching out to Rough Sleepers campaign with The Wallich, the charity has released data about the cost of dealing with their clients.

Antony Kendall, director of operations at The Wallich, said: “Wales is already leading the way when it comes to preventing homelessness, following the passage of the Housing (Wales) Act 2014.

“However, the Supporting People programme, which covers a significant portion of the cost of our services, is a vital part of Wales’ approach to tackling homelessness, and its funding is at serious risk in this year’s budget discussions.

“We hope that this report highlights how important Supporting People funding is, and how vital it is that the Supporting People programme continues to support some of Wales’ most vulnerable people.

“The Support that Saves report shows that the right support saves money and lives.”

Cardiff Online and The Wallich have teamed up for a campaign to raise £75,000. It will pay for five new vehicles to go out and help people who have been sleeping rough on Cardiff's streets.

You can donate by setting up a direct debit, or by donating online.