Reducing the Revolving Door of Incarceration and Homelessness in the District of Columbia: Cost of Services

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Abstract

As part of the Reentry Housing Forum, "Reducing the Revolving Door of Incarceration and Homelessness in the District of Columbia," this paper presents the number of days of jail and shelter and the number of responses by Fire and Emergency Medical Services (FEMS) for people using the D.C. Jail between October 1, 2004 and March 31, 2008, public emergency shelters between October 1, 2005 and September 30, 2007, and FEMS between January 1 and August 31, 2008, as well as the cost of these services to District agencies.

Introduction

To calculate the cost of jail, shelter, and FEMS services for people who are likely to use two or all three systems, and to use them frequently, we first need to know how much service they use, and then what each unit of service costs.

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