Special Report: Responding to Mental Illness in America

Published by The American Prospect
This broad selection of articles on the current state of mental health care in America provides an analysis of existing challenges and suggestions for model programs for the nation's mentally ill.

America's Rental Housing: The Key to a Balanced National Policy

Published by Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University
The damage from today’s mortgage foreclosure crisis reaches deep into the rental market. With affordability already a long-standing problem, the current housing debacle not only adds to the number of households competing for low-cost rentals and threatens current renters with eviction from their homes, but also increases the costs of financing rental housing construction and preservation.

Assessing the Economic Costs of Serious Mental Illness

Published by The American Journal of Psychiatry
It goes without saying that the excess costs of untreated or poorly treated mental illness in the disability system, in prisons, and on the streets are part of the mental health care crisis. We are spending too much on mental illness in all the wrong places. And the consequences for consumers are worse than the costs for taxpayers.

Long-Term Affordable Housing Strategies in Hot Housing Markets

Published by Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies
This paper inventories strategies for maintaining affordable housing toward perpetuity in hot markets in an increasing number of locales. Long-term affordable housing strategies answer the call to make affordable housing resources last longer as federal funding for affordable housing diminishes, rental affordability programs expire, and owners prematurely buy their way out of affordable mortgages.

CSH Announces 2008-2012 Strategic Plan

Published by Corporation for Supportive Housing
In January 2008, CSH launched our new Strategic Plan built on the solid foundation of our commitment to help communities create 150,000 new supportive housing units nationwide by 2012. This bold goal continues to serve as a call to action for CSH and our partners.

Illinois
New AIDS Foundation Chicago Study Shows Cost and Health Benefits of Supportive Housing

Published by AIDS Foundation Chicago
The Chicago Housing for Health Partnership (CHHP) is a “hospital-to-housing” effort that identifies chronically ill homeless individuals at hospitals, moves them to permanent supportive housing, and provides them with intensive case management services so that they can maintain their health and secure long-term housing stability.

Coming of Age: Employment Outcomes for Youth Who Age Out of Foster Care Through Their Middle Twenties

Published by The Urban Institute
A youth’s departure from home marks the beginning of adulthood and a new stage in a young adult’s life. This critical juncture and the surrounding years, often referred to as the transition to adulthood, is increasingly recognized as a distinct developmental stage between adolescence and adulthood (Arnett, 2004). Youth who reach this stage and are living in foster care are often at a significant disadvantage. In 2005, over 24,000 youths found themselves in this circumstance (DHHS, 2006). They “aged out” of the foster care system and entered into the world of adulthood relatively alone.

California
Hilton Foundation Project to End Homelessness for People with Mental Illness in Los Angeles: Changes in Homelessness, Supportive Housing, and Tenant Characteristics Since 2005

Published by Corporation for Supportive Housing
In 2005, the Hilton Foundation gave CSH a five-year grant to launch an initiative in Los Angeles County to reduce the number of long-term homeless people, with a special focus on reducing homelessness among people with serious mental illness. To promote these outcomes, CSH has been using grant money to: fund predevelopment work on various permanent supportive housing (PSH) projects, invest in building the capacity of supportive housing providers, work with public officials and other key stakeholders in the county and selected cities (Los Angeles, Long Beach, Santa Monica, and others) to stimulate increased commitment to PSH, support the Special Needs Housing Alliance, and pursue other activities with City and County of Los Angeles officials and agencies.

Putting Housing First, Making Housing Last: Housing Policy for Persons with Severe Mental Illness

Published by Fundamental Policy
Securing safe and affordable housing is a challenge for millions of Americans. For individuals with severe and persistent mental illness this challenge is even more difficult. The sad reality is that most individuals with severe and persistent mental illness live at or below the poverty line and even though many receive subsidized supports such as food stamps, health care, and disability insurance, these benefits rarely stretch far enough to cover the cost of adequate and safe housing.

Homeless Older Adults Strategic Plan

Published by The Shelter Partnership
Shelter Partnership developed this plan for homeless older adults under both a moral imperative to address the rising needs of a population that has been historically neglected, and also as a means to challenge our public systems of care and other concerned stakeholders to adopt a strategic approach to address the housing, service and health care needs of homeless older adults in an integrated fashion.