Homelessness is not just a social ill. It also costs the state huge sums of money. A new digital tool helps track the cost of homelessness when coupled with drug addiction across a number of public services. Michela Tinelli argues that the results clearly make the case for early intervention and investment in addiction recovery of the homeless.
When people facing homelessness and addiction ask for help, the worst response is delay. Yet this is exactly what many experience—being turned away or placed on endless waiting lists. Behind this failure lies not only human suffering, but also a silent, staggering economic cost.
Working alongside the charity The People’s Recovery Project (TPRP)—a new charity that seeks to build sustained recovery for people experiencing homelessness and addiction, we’ve shown that the cost of inaction is not only high—it’s avoidable. Through the Care Quality Evaluation (CQE) platform—a working prototype developed at the London School of Economics—we are beginning to make that case using real-world data.
This digital tool connects the dots across public budgets—health, housing, social care, mental health, drug and alcohol services, criminal justice systems, and benefits—as well as productivity gains and the societal costs of addiction. It demonstrates the value of timely, residential treatment for people experiencing both homelessness and addiction. Crucially, it empowers those making care decisions to act with insight and urgency.
When broader societal costs are considered—including lost productivity and the impact of crime—the total annual cost of 10 individuals living on the streets while struggling with addiction rises to £1.24 million.
At its core, CQE is about improving how we use data to enhance lives, direct public investment more wisely, and boost societal productivity. Rather than simply documenting problems after the fact, it helps track progress in real time—making visible the often-hidden benefits of effective care. And the results speak for themselves.
The real cost of addiction
Take ten individuals living on the streets while struggling with addiction. Our data shows that the UK government spends around £568,000 per year to support them through fragmented and reactive services—this includes housing support, A&E visits, mental health care, addiction treatment, and criminal justice costs.
When broader societal costs are considered—including lost productivity and the impact of crime—the total annual cost rises to £1.24 million.
These are quiet but devastating expenses—borne not only by governments and councils, but by communities, families, and future generations.
Addiction recovery changes everything
Investing in residential treatment changes the picture dramatically. After receiving the right support, government expenditure for the same ten individuals drops to just £138,000 per year—a 76 per cent reduction. Drug and alcohol-related costs fall by 99 per cent, and criminal justice involvement disappears entirely.
But the benefits go far beyond the financial. People re-enter the workforce, reconnect with loved ones, and give back to their communities. The CQE platform recorded £169,000 in productivity gains following treatment—through paid employment, volunteering, and peer support roles.
Figure: Key Outcomes: 10 Individuals Before and After Residential Treatment
What is CQE, and why does it matter?
The Care Quality Evaluation (CQE) platform is a modular, digital system co-developed with the Department of Health and Social Care, local councils, NHS providers, and grassroots organisations like TPRP. Optimised for desktop and mobile use, it gives frontline teams, managers, and commissioners access to real-time information on care delivery and its outcomes.
CQE allows users to:
- Monitor quality of care
- Benchmark services against national standards
- Track the social and economic impact of interventions
- Capacity building and exchange of good practice
For overstretched services, this kind of insight is game-changing. It helps shift funding and practice away from short-term crisis responses towards long-term recovery and prevention.
Public services too often operate in silos, leading to duplicated effort, missed opportunities, and rising costs.
As an example, in Oxfordshire, CQE insights contributed to one of the largest local investments in out-of-hospital support for homelessness (2023–2025).
Joining the dots of our fragmented public services
A major challenge in today’s care systems is fragmentation. Public services too often operate in silos, leading to duplicated effort, missed opportunities, and rising costs.
CQE addresses this by linking information across multiple sectors—housing, healthcare, mental health, criminal justice, voluntary support, and employment. It turns disconnected data into a cohesive picture of each person’s journey and the true impact of care.
This approach combines lived experience with robust evidence—data that resonates both emotionally and intellectually, helping influence policy and funding decisions.
Looking forward
We are working with our Oxfordshire-led partnership involving local authorities, integrated care boards, and charities and CQE is currently being piloted by nine councils and charities across the UK (including for example Crisis Homeless charity, St John Good Hospitaller Services, Oxford Council, Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council and many more). The message from decision-makers is clear: they need tools that provide trustworthy, real-time data to evaluate performance, inform strategy, and secure funding.
Our vision is simple: better decisions don’t always require more resources—they require smarter use of the resources we already have. That begins with access to the right data at the right time.
Resources should be reallocated to support effective care delivery and its ongoing monitoring and evaluation, ensuring real-time evidence that improves lives and drives smarter public spending.
Interested in learning more?
Visit: qualityevaluation.com
Contact: Dr Michela Tinelli, Care Policy and Evaluation Centre at the LSE (m.tinelli@lse.ac.uk)
We welcome collaborators, funders, and changemakers who share our ambition to make data work better—for people, for public services, and for society as a whole.
If that sounds like you, we warmly invite you to join us at LSE this June for two special events highlighting our work and sparking dialogue across sectors:
LSE Festival: Visions for the Future | 16–21 June
Open to the public – discover the latest research, including our interactive mural on display in the Marshall Building showcasing our work to improving care quality through innovation and collaboration.
In-Person Stakeholder Discussion | 26 June
A focused event bringing together our partners and stakeholders to reflect on progress, share insights, and shape the next steps for the CQE platform. Places are limited, so we encourage you to reserve a place here.
This work is supported by The People’s Recovery Project, the LSE Homelessness Initiative and the LSE Innovation.
All articles posted on this blog give the views of the author(s), and not the position of LSE British Politics and Policy, nor of the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Image credit: sladkozaponi on Shutterstock
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