Independent Housing for Individuals with Mental Illness

By

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 11

Background1

Housing first integration approach5

Permanent Supportive Housing Initiative8

Connecticut Supportive Housing: Demonstration Program9

Olmstead Act10

History of the problem11

Problem statement13

Introduction13

Place of residence15

Theoretical framework16

Research question and hypothesis17

REFERENCES18

CHAPTER 1

Background

Housing Alternatives Prior to the 1960's, psychiatric hospitals represented the environment most commonly housing the seriously and persistently mentally ill (SPMI). Deinstitutionalization resulted in utilization of other living environments for the SPMI. These categories of housing are organized in the chart below. While the categories represented here are by no means all-inclusive in terms of the types of housing available to the SPMI, they are most representative of the environments that shelter the overwhelming majority of them (Mueser & Jeste, 2011, p. 296). There are two major categories of housing environments that are broadly categorized as supervised residential care facilities and independent community living arrangements. Supervised residential care facilities include three major providers - community systems of care, the mental-hospital system, and nursing homes. Community systems of care include sheltered-care facilities and supported housing (Mueser & Jeste, 2011, p. 296).

They house up to 30 tenants and provide custodial rather than rehabilitation services. Group homes are also located in the inner-city areas. They typically house fewer (from six to eight) occupants and provide on-site social and rehabilitation supports. Along with sheltered-care system, community system of care includes the enhanced independent living program known as supported housing - supervised semi-independent apartments. All housing arrangements comprising the community system of care include support services that allow consumers to live in less restrictive and more natural environments than inpatient psychiatric settings and nursing homes.

The second major category of housing environments is identified as independent community living arrangements, where formal support services are not provided. It includes two subcategories - family/relative (living with a family member or a relative) and self/friend (living on one's own or with a friend). Such housing does not involve oversight and assistance of the mental health system and represents the living arrangements of the majority of the SPMI. This variety of housing options is sometimes given vertical structure in the form of continuum. Continua arrange residential options in a form of progression from the most to the least restrictive environments, i.e. hospitals, board-and-care settings, group homes, supported apartments, and independent living (Schultz & Videbeck, 2008, p. 65).

There are various factors that affect the independent housing option for those suffering from mental health problems. These include money problems, admission to hospitals, friends, neighbors and families as well as mental health crisis (Corrigan et al 2007, p. 39). There are various positive benefits of mentally sick people being enabled to live in the community than in institutionalized settings (Bassuk & Geller, 2006, p. 783). There are high levels of patient satisfaction when they are enabled to stay close to their families as opposed to being hospitalized or put in rehabilitation centers for the rest of their lives.

Community living enables the patients to enjoy improved life quality and satisfaction in new environments and it is deemed that this reduces their ...