Updated Cost Estimate of County Services for an Individual Experiencing Homelessness
05/16/2022
In August 2020, the Harris County Commissioners Court’s Analyst’s Office published a memo, Cost Estimate of Harris County Services for an Individual Experiencing Homelessness, in response to a request from the Harris County Judge’s Office to “conduct the necessary research and analysis to calculate and report the average cost estimate of Harris County services provided to an individual experiencing homelessness.” Following two years of program and policy changes in HarrisCounty, this memo serves to update that August 2020 estimate and offer a multiyear comparison. In FY2021, the maximum utilization cost to Harris County for an individual 18 years and over experiencing homelessness is $126,132, a 26.6% increase from FY2020 ($99,611). The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the addition of new services, and new available funding explain, in part, the increase in the maximum utilization cost of services.