This research provides a preliminary estimate of the costs of homelessness to the British Columbia government. The research methodology included interviews with homeless people and with housed, formerly homeless people to obtain data on their use of health care & social services, their involvement with the justice system, and other matters related to cost. After an introduction to the research, section 2 provides an overview of the individuals selected for case history interviews. Section 3 reviews the actual services used by this sample of homeless & housed individuals. Section 4 estimates the government costs of providing those services. Section 5 estimates costs of housing & support options, and section 6 considers service & housing costs together for a discussion of the total costs of homelessness. The final section contains recommendations for public policy. Appendices include an interview guide, detailed housing & support cost estimates, and case histories of ten homeless & five housed individuals.