The University of New Mexico Institute for Social Research conducted a study for the City of Albuquerque on the cost and benefits of housing homeless people in the city. Results of the Albuquerque Heading Home Initiative reveal that it is cost-effective to house homeless people.

The results of the study demonstrate that one-year after being housed, study group member costs were $615,920.49 or 31.6 percent less than costs incurred the previous year they were not in the program. This amounted to an average savings of $12,831.68 per homeless individual in the study.