The New Yorker magazine called him “Million Dollar Murray.”

When two police officers tracked down the ambulance and hospital bills for several chronic homeless people in Reno, Nev., they realized Murray Barr led the list. He lived on the streets of Reno as an active alcoholic for 10 years.

One of those officers, Patrick O’Bryan, told a New Yorker writer, “It cost us one million dollars not to do something about Murray.”

This summer, as owners of Spokane’s cheap downtown rentals evicted their tenants, a mayor’s task force on affordable housing was formed. In an unprecedented collaboration, local government administrators, developers and social service professionals came together to deal with the crisis and devise long-term solutions.

The task force sent social workers into the Otis Hotel to track down residents and help them find new places to live. The city set aside $250,000 to pay relocation costs for tenants. And the group began to discuss a wide variety of long-term solutions.

The task force chair, Marty Dickinson, anticipates it will complete a recommendation for the mayor by mid November. While she doesn’t expect the group to reach a consensus on a proposed city ordinance on tenant relocation, she believes the discussion will help the City Council begin to craft one. And she also expects the group to continue as an ongoing board, committee or commission.

The results of the work at the Otis have been remarkable. Last week most of its remaining residents were being helped. Nonetheless, Spokane’s homeless population steadily increases. And as the weather turns colder, so does the pressure to tackle the problem.

Innovative solutions must be based on sound research. Philip Mangano, executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, recommends taking a bipartisan, business-framed approach. He points to research that has been conducted across the country, showing that the cost of crisis intervention for the homeless adds up to far more than the cost of affordable housing.

In Portland, one study found that expenses for 35 homeless people dropped by $16,299 per person once they were placed in supportive housing. A study in Denver showed that emergency costs dropped 73 percent once homeless people found stable places to live.

It’s time for Spokane to add up the price tag for the police calls, fire department and ambulance runs, emergency room visits, hospital stays and jail time required by the chronically homeless.

There we just may find the money we need for housing the Million Dollar Murrays of our very own.