Philip Mangano says most attempts to solve homelessness have failed. (CBC)

The man known as the 'homeless czar' in the U.S. says it's cheaper to house the homeless than keep them on the streets.

Philip Mangano, who was the head of former president George W. Bush's Interagency Council on Homelessness, spoke Thursday at a meeting of the Vancouver Board of Trade.

"We're spending, in fact, in the [United] States, more to maintain people on the streets than [the] cost to provide them with a house or place to stay," he said.

According to U.S. government figures, it costs an average of $30,000 to $40,000 US per year to provide various services to a homeless person, while it costs between $22,000 and $28,000 US to provide that same individual with social housing.

Mangano said most attempts to remedy homelessness have been spectacular failures.

"Ad hoc, unco-ordinated crisis intervention … only correlates with increased homelessness and economic irresponsibility."

Mangano said Vancouver already has the key ingredient to solving the problem — a supportive mayor. Gregor Robertson has vowed to end street homelessness in Vancouver by 2015.

However, advocates say housing the city's 3,000 homeless shouldn't just be a municipal responsibility.

"What we desperately need is provincial and federal government money to build lots of housing for homeless people," said Wendy Pedersen, a community organizer with the Carnegie Action Project.

She said a national housing strategy could help fund the construction of thousands of social housing units.