This is simply an extraordinary study. Short summary: researchers gave $7,500 to homeless people in Vancouver. The result? The program *saved* money. The recipients used the cash wisely, on food, clothing and rent, and it helped many of them to move into housing faster. Which saved the shelter system $8,277 per person. Let that sink in: $8,277 is more than the value of the cash transfers ($7,500), which means the transfers paid for themselves (!). It's literally free money. I find it difficult to exaggerate the implications of this finding. It could revolutionize how we deal with endemic problems like poverty and homelessness. It turns out that, all along, we've had a super effective medicine. It's called 'money'. (See also my TED Talk on the subject: https://lnkd.in/e88hAFVi). Full disclosure: there's one additional reason why I love this study. As a writer, you often wonder about the actual influence of your work. Can articles and books make a difference? It's one thing to write about how we could make the world a better place, but it's MUCH more difficult to do it. But in 2017, I received an email from Claire Elizabeth Williams. She said she had watched my earlier TEDx talk on cash transfers, and that she had quit her job as an environmental consultant. In fact, she had just started fundraising. Today, Claire is the CEO of Foundations for Social Change, the organization behind this landmark study. It's been six years since Claire, her co-founder Frans Tjallingii and I met in Vancouver, and here we are: the first peer-reviewed study on the effects of cash transfers on homelessness! Let it be the first of many.
( Source: linkedin post Rutger Bregman- 5/9/2023.
Comments