If good intentions and humanitarian gestures were enough to end homelessness, the problem that has plagued America for decades would have ended long ago.

That was the message presented Tuesday afternoon by Philip Mangano, the executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness.

Before heading to Billings to attend a conference on the topic, Mangano stopped briefly in Helena to discuss new practices designed to end chronic homelessness in cities across the country.

"To the spiritual, moral and humanitarian approach, we've now added the economic impact and consequences of homelessness," Mangano said. "It has driven an incredible amount of political will to end homelessness in America."

For a man who's been working to stamp out homelessness for nearly 30 years, his new approach aimed at resolving the issue may sound like a stark business model complete with a bottom line.

But Mangano noted how the federal government is more willing to fund programs that can demonstrate results. For too long, he said, officials have talked about managing homelessness, only to watch the homeless population increase.

A few years ago, however, the failed approach gave way to a new concept that operates on a basic business model.

Talk of managing homelessness has since lapsed into efforts to invest in the problem, ultimately helping the homeless help themselves, and saving the public money in the process.

"The cost of doing nothing for that population is very expensive to the public," Mangano said. "We need to come to a point where we're no longer in denial. The only metric we're interested in with the homeless issue is, are the numbers going up, or going down?"

President Bush's fiscal budget for 2009 proposes $5 billion in resources targeted to resolving homelessness, Mangano said. It's the most money ever allocated for the cause, and it marks the eighth consecutive year the numbers have increased.

Montana received $2.5 million in funding earmarked for homelessness last year.

The increase, Mangano said, marked a 14-percent increase over the prior year, and nearly a 75-percent increase over 2000, when the state received just $1.4 million.

"The emphasis on that has been more and more for creating housing, because that's the central antidote to getting the job done," Mangano said. "The idea is to spend the money on what solves the problem."

Solving the problem has eluded officials for nearly 25 years, Mangano said. But studies done in several larger cities have put the problem into new perspective.

The studies noted that homelessness actually costs the public more money than it would if the public provided stable housing to those who live on the streets.

Each study found that a homeless individual, who bounces from one service to the next, ultimately drains between $35,000 and $150,000 per year from public coffers, with homelessness, as an issue, no closer to being resolved.

In comparison, Mangano said, providing stable housing to the homeless only costs $13,000 to $25,000 a year.

"You don't need to be Warren Buffet to realize which choice you should make," Mangano said. "It's cost effective, consumer-centric, and results oriented. Despite the myths, homeless people actually want their homelessness ended."

With that in mind, Mangano said, communities across the country, both large and small, have begun to follow the new methods by providing stable housing to homeless individuals.

Supportive housing allows the homeless to access programs to deal with such issues as addiction and mental illness. It enables them to find work as well, helping them move from social isolation to social integration.

"When people are earning money, they can start paying for some of their rent," Mangano added. "The government pays less. It can reprogram those dollars to serve more people."

Mangano admitted that while some reach total self sufficiency, most do not. However, even those who fail to become self sufficient will make some headway, earning a small bit of money and placing some of that back into the system.

While they'll also gain self confidence, Mangano added, they'll no longer drain public services by bouncing from program to program.

"Once you have people in stable housing, you can deliver stable treatment services," he said. "People in stable housing are, by definition, less expensive to the public purse than if they were out on the streets, ricocheting through various public services."

For those who are capable of working, new business models, such as that introduced by Pioneer Human Services, can employ the homeless, providing them jobs so they may give back to the system.

The concept, known as social enterprise, is the subject of a Billings conference scheduled for this week. The city was selected by the Montana Council on Homelessness as the state's first demonstration site -- an effort to put the new theories into practice.

"For those who are capable of working, as a result of being in recovery from addiction or mental illness, we need to do a better job for them," said Mangano. "That's why the strategies of Pioneer Human Services will be an important part of this roll-out.

"As things work in Billings, other cities in Montana will begin to replicate what's going on -- replicating to reduce and end homeless."

Reporter Martin Kidston: 447-4086 or mkidston@helenair.com