“Researchers gave thousands of dollars to homeless people. The results defied stereotypes.” “Cash transfers help homeless to find stable housing and jobs.” “Trailblazing study gave homeless $7,500 [CAD] – and it worked.” These recent headlines and articles about a new Canadian study are a cringeworthy — and destructive — distortion of reality.
At first glance, this unbridled optimism seems to be a reasonable synopsis of the study. Canadian researchers did give $5,700 USD to 50 homeless people and most of the recipients used the cash responsibly. Nearly every news outlet that reported on the New Leaf Project covered the study as proof that we should give more money directly to homeless people; they said we should give cash through charity, government programs, and drop it into Styrofoam cups. Unfortunately, this is a tragic misreading of the facts.
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