Canadian scientists from the University of British Columbia (UBC) have debunked the widespread stereotype that even large sums of money will not help improve the situation of the homeless, since street dwellers tend to spend all their money on alcohol and drugs. To work published In the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
The idea that financial assistance to disadvantaged people is useless or even harmful is common in society. A survey of 1,100 people in the United States showed that 81% of respondents were confident that if a homeless person was given $7,500, everything would be spent on alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs.
This assumption was tested in practice in Toronto, where UBC, together with the Foundation for Social Change, provided 50 homeless citizens with $7.5k each, and then monitored their actions for a year. People with strong dependence on psychoactive substances, alcohol, and mental disorders were not included in the experiment.
Fund recipients spent an average of 99 days on the street because they spent less time in shelters, increasing their savings and saving taxpayers a total of about $39,000. Experiment participants did not consume more alcohol than control group members who did not receive financial support.
“When people get money, they don’t spend it on drugs and alcohol, but on what you or I spend (housing, clothing, food, transportation). We know that people tend to dehumanize the homeless. What surprised me was how big the bias was,” said the study’s lead author, Dr. Jiaying Zhao.
ancient scientists to solveWhich outfits are helping to raise more street donations?