Vancouver Gave Homeless People $7,500. Here's What Happened

Ray was living in an emergency shelter when he got life-changing news: he'd been chosen to receive $7,500 in cash, no questions asked. What he did next challenges everything most people assume about homelessness.

He enrolled in a computer course, secured stable housing, and started working toward a career helping people with addictions. "A seed can grow into an oak tree," Ray told CBC, his last name withheld for privacy.

Ray was one of 50 people in Vancouver's New Leaf Project, a bold experiment run by Foundations for Social Change and the University of British Columbia. The premise was simple: give recently homeless people a lump sum and see what happens.

The study, published in 2023 after years of peer review, tracked what participants spent the money on. A separate group of 65 people received nothing and served as the comparison.

The results shattered stereotypes. People who received cash spent fewer days homeless than the control group, moved into stable housing faster, and ended the year with more savings. Spending on alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs didn't rise. It actually dropped 39%.

Instead, the money went exactly where you'd hope: rent, food, clothing, and transportation. The ordinary expenses of getting back on your feet.

"It challenges stereotypes we have here in the West about how to help people living on the margins," said Claire Williams, CEO of Foundations for Social Change. The researchers even tested public assumptions directly, finding that most people wrongly distrust homeless individuals' ability to manage money.

The study included an important caveat. Participants had been homeless for less than two years and were screened to exclude those with serious substance use or mental health issues. This wasn't about chronic homelessness or addiction, it was about catching people before they fell through the cracks permanently.

Why This Inspires

For a meaningful portion of the homeless population, the barrier really is what it appears to be: lack of money at the exact moment it would help most. Dr. Jiaying Zhao, the study's lead investigator, argues these findings should push policymakers to take direct cash transfers seriously as a solution.

The economics support the compassion. By moving people out of shelters faster, the cash transfers actually generated net savings to the system. The intervention partly paid for itself.

Since the original pilot in 2018, the program has expanded to hundreds of participants and more than a million dollars in transfers. It turns out that when given resources and dignity, most people will try to build something better.

Ray said it best: the money was a seed.