Lexington is proceeding with a new program to provide permanent housing for the city's homeless. The $200,000 "Housing First" project is being coordinated through the new Office of Homelessness Prevention and Intervention.
Charlie Lanter is director of the office. Lanter presented a report Tuesday to a Lexington Council committee. "What the research says on housing first is you get them stable in a housing unit. You still provide all those services you would normally provide in a shelter or housing environment, but hopefully that stability keeps them from going in and out of hospitals, in and out of incarceration, and it reduces the overall cost on the system," said Lanter.
Lanter says the federal government is trying to move away from support for transitional housing because of the costs involved.
He says there are between 1,300 to 1,400 homeless people living in the city of Lexington. Lanter says the first of about 20 homeless persons could be placed in a 'Housing First' apartment before the end of the year.
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