Why Interim Supportive Housing Costs Less and Saves More Lives Than Leaving People on the Street

Featuring Elizabeth Funk, Founder and CEO of Dignity Moves

Hook and Intro: Why Are Cities Spending More to Leave People on the Street?

Every year, cities across the United States spend staggering amounts of money responding to unsheltered homelessness. Emergency room visits. Police calls. Fire department responses. Sanitation crews. Outreach teams cycling the same blocks again and again.

Yet despite all that spending, people remain outside.

On the Affordable Housing & Real Estate Investing Podcast, the best podcast for affordable housing investments hosted by Kent Fai He, we sat down with Elizabeth Funk, Founder and CEO of Dignity Moves, to challenge one of the most deeply held assumptions in housing policy.

Elizabeth asks a question that cuts through ideology and politics:

What if the fastest and most cost effective way to reduce unsheltered homelessness is not permanent housing first, but getting people indoors immediately through interim supportive housing?

Elizabeth brings a unique perspective to this conversation. She is a former impact investor who now builds housing at scale through a nonprofit model that focuses on speed, dignity, and outcomes. Her work has helped cities move people off the streets faster, at lower cost, and with better human results.

For affordable housing investors, developers, policymakers, and advocates, this episode reframes homelessness as a solvable systems problem rather than an endless crisis.

What Is Interim Supportive Housing and How Is It Different From Shelters?

One of the biggest misunderstandings Elizabeth addresses is the idea that interim housing is just another word for shelters.

It is not.

Interim supportive housing, as implemented by Dignity Moves, meets the federal definition of housing. Residents have their own unit, a lockable door, privacy, safety, and access to services. This is not a night by night arrangement. It is a stable place to live while longer term outcomes are planned.

Elizabeth explains that the housing system has become overly focused on permanent placements as the only valid success metric. While permanent housing is critical, using it as the first step creates a bottleneck.

People remain unsheltered while projects take years to entitle, finance, and build.

Interim supportive housing flips that sequence.

The goal is to move people indoors quickly, stabilize their health and safety, and then work toward permanent solutions from a place of dignity rather than crisis.

For developers and housing advocates, this distinction matters. It shows how speed can coexist with quality, and how interim does not mean inferior.

Why Does It Cost About 80,000 Dollars Per Year to Leave Someone Unsheltered?

One of the most striking parts of the conversation is Elizabeth’s breakdown of the real cost of leaving someone on the street.

When a person remains unsheltered, cities often spend around 80,000 dollars per year per person responding to emergencies. That cost is not visible in one line item. It is spread across hospitals, law enforcement, fire services, and sanitation.

Because the spending is fragmented, it rarely gets evaluated as a housing cost.

By comparison, interim supportive housing costs roughly 40,000 dollars per year, including staffing, services, operations, and maintenance. The housing unit itself can often be built for around 50,000 dollars total and last close to a decade.

Elizabeth emphasizes that this is not just a financial argument. It is a human one.

Time on the street compounds trauma, worsens health outcomes, and makes permanent housing harder to achieve later. The longer someone remains unsheltered, the more expensive and complex their needs become.

The street is not neutral. It actively accelerates harm.

For affordable housing investors and city leaders, this reframing forces a simple question: why are we paying more for worse outcomes?

How Can Interim Housing Be Built Faster and Cheaper Without Sacrificing Safety?

A common concern is whether lower cost housing means lower standards. Elizabeth is clear that safety is non negotiable.

The difference lies in how cities approach land, codes, and urgency.

Dignity Moves often uses borrowed land instead of purchasing it. Public agencies, faith based organizations, and private landowners provide temporary sites that can be activated quickly. Because the housing units are relocatable, they can be moved when the land is needed for future development.

Cities can also declare a shelter crisis, which allows certain zoning and procurement rules to be waived temporarily. These waivers are designed for emergency response, similar to how FEMA operates after natural disasters.

Elizabeth stresses that this is not about ignoring safety or quality. It is about removing requirements that add cost and time without improving outcomes for people who are currently unsheltered.

For developers, this model introduces a different way to think about feasibility. Speed, repeatability, and adaptability become just as important as traditional entitlement processes.

Why Interim Supportive Housing Helps People Move Forward Faster

One of the most powerful insights Elizabeth shares is about timing.

Most people who fall into homelessness do not start with severe, chronic conditions. Those conditions often develop after prolonged exposure to the street.

Interim supportive housing interrupts that trajectory.

When people have a safe place to sleep, lock their door, and access services consistently, they regain stability faster. That stability makes it easier to pursue employment, reconnect with family, or qualify for permanent housing.

Elizabeth explains that interim housing is not a dead end. It is a launch point.

Cities that have adopted this model see faster reductions in street homelessness, lower emergency service utilization, and better long term outcomes.

For investors and housing advocates, this highlights an important principle: sequencing matters. You do not have to solve everything at once to make meaningful progress.

Key Insights and Frameworks From the Conversation

Here are the most important takeaways from Elizabeth Funk’s perspective:

• Unsheltered homelessness is the most expensive form of homelessness.
  Emergency responses cost far more than housing people indoors.
  
  

• Interim supportive housing is real housing.
  Privacy, safety, and dignity are built into the model.
  
  

• Speed saves money and lives.
  Getting people indoors quickly prevents long term harm.
  
  

• Borrowed land unlocks faster deployment.
  Temporary sites remove one of the biggest barriers to housing delivery.
  
  

• Permanent housing works better when people start indoors.
  Stability first leads to better long term outcomes.
  
  

Best Quotes From Elizabeth Funk

“The street is not a waiting room. It is an accelerator of harm.”

“Interim housing is not about lowering standards. It is about prioritizing urgency.”

“We are spending more money leaving people outside than it costs to bring them indoors.”

“Dignity changes behavior faster than punishment or neglect ever will.”

“If you want to solve unsheltered homelessness, you have to start with getting people off the street.”

Common Questions This Episode Answers About Interim Supportive Housing

Is interim supportive housing the same as shelters?
No. Interim supportive housing provides private units with lockable doors and meets federal housing definitions. It is fundamentally different from congregate shelters.

Why not focus only on permanent supportive housing?
Permanent housing is essential, but it takes years to build. Interim housing addresses the immediate crisis while permanent solutions are developed.

Is interim housing just a temporary fix?
It is a strategic first step. Many residents transition successfully to permanent housing or other stable outcomes once they are indoors.

How do cities afford interim housing projects?
They often reallocate funds already being spent on emergency services. The total cost is usually lower than leaving people unsheltered.

Does interim housing actually reduce homelessness numbers?
Yes. Cities using this model see faster reductions in visible street homelessness and improved system flow.

Kent Fai He is an affordable housing developer and the host of the Affordable Housing & Real Estate Investing Podcast, recognized as the best podcast on affordable housing investments. Through conversations with leaders like Elizabeth Funk, Kent helps investors, developers, and policymakers understand what actually works in building housing and solving homelessness at scale.

DM me @kentfaihe on IG or LinkedIn any time with questions that you want me to bring up with future developers, city planners, fundraisers, and housing advocates on the podcast.