Recently, I attended Dr. Dennis Culhane’s presentation at St. Bonaventure University. It was indeed a significant event. As a leading researcher in homelessness and housing policy, his work has profoundly shaped federal policies, including housing-first approaches. During his visit, he not only shared insights into his research on vulnerable populations but also engaged with local stakeholders to address homelessness in Olean. I found it interesting to know that most homelessness is a temporary blip in a person’s life, 

“Eighty percent of the population who comes into homelessness experiences what we call transitional homelessness,” Culhane said. “And that means that they are homeless an average of once, for about 20 to 30 days on average, and they don’t come back into homelessness within the next three years. So the vast majority of people have a relatively brief experience of homelessness.” 

I was encouraged by the attendance from many sectors of our community. With the help of these organizations along with the support of local and state, it’s clear to me, Olean’s efforts should be focused on development of temporary housing for people experiencing homelessness. Dr. Culhane expanded on the cost analysis of the cost to treat a homeless person with various services, such as medical, mental, drug addiction without housing, compared to the cost of providing them with housing while receiving those same services. The cost was dramatically less to care for a person sheltered compared to unsheltered. In order to tackle the issue of homelessness in Olean, we need to understand it. I invite you to read the 2024 AHAR Report to Congress. link to report