Seattle may give 750 more people a Samaritan beacon. Here’s data from the first 500.
Should they? Here’s some results for you from Seattle’s first Samaritan pilot.
- 500 people on the street out of ~750 asked (67%) accepted a Samaritan beacon as a resource
- 274 people out of 500 (54%) held onto their beacon, visiting with a counselor each month to address critical needs around leaving the street
- 51 people out of 274 (20%) used their beacon to enter housing, FT employment, and/or opioid treatment
More than 10,000 samaritans invested over $100,000 directly into these incredible individuals, reinforcing the efforts of ten nonprofits. Unbelievable seeing everyday folks walk with Charles into housing or John W into rehab. Here are several case studies from the 50 — stories of impact reported from the nonprofits as well as beacon holders themselves—www.samaritan.city/pilot
The Puget Sound Business Journal estimates it costs Seattle nonprofits, taxpayers and healthcare over $80,000 per year per person left on the street. The average derived cost of the 50 outcomes above? $444 onto the beacon itself, $125 in services from Samaritan, and $75 in services from the counselor ($644 total).
So what’s next? Nonprofits in Orange County, LA, and Oklahoma City will be offering this resource soon to people they serve. We are actively working to equip other healthcare groups and nonprofits to use the intervention in their work. Want a deck to send to someone? Please reach out.
Here in Seattle, Salvation Army, LIHI, DESC and others are asking Seattle City Council for a contract to give 750 more people access to a beacon in 2020 (potentially 1,250 more in 2021). 19 beacon holders, nonprofits, and samaritans petitioned the council last Friday evening about it. Here are their words:
Thanks so much for reading!
-Jonathan
