Housing Opportunities for Persons with Mental Illness

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Housing Opportunities for Persons with Mental
Illness

presented to The Presidents New Freedom
Commission on Mental Health November 13, 2002

• Tanya Tull
• President/CEO
• Beyond Shelter, Inc.

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Ending Homelessness

• Homelessness is the most visible
  manifestation of increasing poverty in America.
  Deep pits have been dug in communities throughout
  the country, and more and more people are falling
  in every day. The safety net is disappearing
  and the ladder has been taken away.

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Emergency shelters and transitional housing are
simply stepping stones. If at the end of our
interventions and our support, the homeless are
still homeless or at risk of another episode of
homelessness then what have we really
accomplished?
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Homelessness ends when an individual or family
is stabilized in permanent, affordable housing,
whatever that permanent housing type may be and
whatever the support systems that must be in
place to help them stay there.

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Two Premises of Housing First

• Permanent housing should be the central goal of
  our work with people experiencing homelessness.
• By providing permanent housing assistance
  immediately and up-front, we can significantly
  reduce or eliminate the time people spend in
  homelessness.

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The Housing First Approach Moves homeless
persons into permanent rental housing as quickly
as possible, with the services traditionally
provided in transitional housing provided after
relocation into permanent rental housing. The
basic goal of housing first is to break the
cycle of homelessness and prevent a recurrence.

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Components of Housing First

• Crisis Intervention and Stabilization
• Intake and Assessment
• Assistance Moving into Permanent Housing
• Home-Based Case Management
• (time-limited or long-term)

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The housing first approach helps mentally ill
persons move into permanent housing of many
different types, including housing in the private
rental market, often with a subsidy and offers
home-based services to help them stabilize and
maintain their housing.

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Benefits of a Housing First Approach

• Uses Private Market Housing
• Prevents Recidivism (return to homelessness)
• Improves Client Outcomes
• Leverages Existing Community Resources
• Cost Effective
• Offers Housing Choice

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Housing Options

• Permanent Housing No Services
• Supportive Housing Services are available for
  people with special needs

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Additional Housing Options

• Service-Enriched Housing Private or nonprofit
  rental housing, with services available to all
  residents, regardless of special needs.
• Permanent Housing Home-based case management
  available through outside sources, either
  time-limited or long-term.

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Service-Enriched Housing Basic rental
housing for the low-income population at-large,
in which services coordination is available to
ALL residents of a rental property.
Service-enriched housing can be multi-family
housing or single-family housing, owned by
non-profit developer or a private landlord.

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Components of Service-Enriched Housing

• Mentally Ill persons integrated into broader
  community (families, seniors, working poor).
• Services Coordinator available for crisis
  intervention, on-going support and linkages to
  mental health and other services for all
  residents.

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Benefits of Service-Enriched Housing

• Cost effective.
• Leverages existing community resources,
  identifies problems prior to crises.
• Improved resident outcomes (prevents
  homelessness, relapse and other negative
  behavior).
• Offers more housing choice.

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Simple mechanisms can be put in place where
people live to meet the needs of all people
living in our communities, including persons with
mental illness, the elderly, families with
children, youth, and persons with other special
needs.

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Neighborhood-Based Services Coordination An
adaptation of the service-enriched housing
methodology, in which a central point of
contact for services coordination is available
to all residents of a neighborhood - families,
elderly, persons with mental illness, and youth.

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(No Transcript)
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• Given the inadequate supply of affordable and
  specialized housing, it becomes increasingly
  important to look at the existing housing stock
  at large as a source of housing for persons with
  mental illness.

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Policy Recommendations to Improve Housing
Opportunities for Persons with Mental Illness
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Shorten Experience of Homelessness

• Address barriers within HUD Continuum of Care.
• Adopt a Housing First approach.
• Make a variety of housing options available
  (match client to housing).

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Support Home-Based Services

• Can be offered through neighborhood center or
  other community-based resources and services.
• Develop strategies to support mentally ill
  persons living on their own who are isolating.
  
• Recognize and support housing choice for all
  persons with mental illness and the benefits of
  enabling them to live in neighborhoods
  and communities regardless of their
  special needs.

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Meet Housing Needs

• Integrate a housing first approach into all
  homeless programs and services.
• Offer a variety of permanent housing models that
  integrate housing services, to enable persons
  with mental illness to remain in communities of
  their chose, often near family and friends.

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Prevent Homelessness

• Address national shortage in affordable housing
  especially for people with incomes below 30 of
  median income.
• Insure that no Institution discharges someone
  without a viable housing plan. Provide housing
  search assistance.