Small sums of financial assistance can help stabilize housing for low-income people and stave off homelessness, with its numerous related social problems, a University of Notre Dame study concluded. Targeted emergency financial assistance of a few hundred dollars for rent, security deposits, utility payments or other cash emergencies can save taxpayers $20,000 or more each time homelessness is prevented, according to the study published in the August issue of Science. Cash assistance can keep people off the street for two years or more, said James Sullivan, co-director of Notre Dame’s Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities and one of the study's authors, during a Capitol Hill briefing on Sept. 15. “The key takeaway is that…we want to address this one-time emergency so that they stay on their feet, don’t fall under this downward spiral and then they don’t fall into homelessness again in the future,” he said.

This article appears in October 3 2016.