The most chronic offenders in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside incur public service costs of more than $5-million every year yet see no meaningful signs of improvement, according to a new study from Simon Fraser University.
The findings suggest that this subset of about 300 people needs targeted, intensive supports to escape the “revolving door” of the corrections system and health and welfare services and to produce positive outcomes, said research lead Julian Somers, an associate professor in SFU’s faculty of health sciences.
The findings also reflect a shift in the problems afflicting the impoverished neighbourhood from HIV and hepatitis-related illness to a combination of mental-health and addiction issues, and which Vancouver Coastal Health hopes to resolve with a new strategy for the area announced last year and now slowly rolling out.
The SFU study is the first to examine the average costs incurred by individuals in a specific Downtown Eastside population: those who use the most public health services, are most dependent on income assistance and who served the most days in custody or community supervision.
Researchers identified 323 people who met these criteria among more than 14,300 offenders sentenced in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside at least once between 2003 and 2012. Of this smaller group, 216 sentenced to community supervision each incurred average public service costs of $168,000 over five years; 107 put into custody averaged $247,000 over the same period. Health-related costs for both groups were more than $80,000 a person, primarily associated with hospital admissions.
Put together, the cost of services for both groups amounted to $26.5-million over five years. This figure does not include other costs such as emergency room visits, police or courts.