By AJ Hyatt
Ben Henwood, a professor at the USC USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, partnered with a nonprofit to give 103 homeless people in the San Francisco Bay area and Los Angeles County $750 a month. The six-month report is preliminary, but Henwood said the findings provide insight into ways to help address the problem.
Nearly a third of the people used the money for food and roughly 20% used it for housing; 11% to 12% used it for clothing and transportation; while 6% used it for health care and 13% used it for other expenses. The other 16% is not accounted for in this article
Henwood said the funds enabled people to be more resourceful; they fixed broken vehicles, caught up on debt and, purchased memberships to sustain their lives.
So what we’ve learned from this 2.1 million dollar study is that if you give people money, they will spend it.
On various things, needed or not.