The
Crisis Housing Fund
by
Joanna Dornfeld
The Crisis Housing Fund
passed a mile-stone in August, when the Minnesota Housing Partnership's
nine-year-old fund dispersed more than $2 million to help people
with mental illness retain their housing. The fund not only keeps
people from becoming homeless, it also saves Minnesotans money
because state hospitals are not forced to keep patients who have
no home to which to return.
"In this time of
dwindling resources, it's a lifesaver," said
Ruth McVay, Hennepin County Behavioral Health Case Manager. McVay
applies for Crisis Housing Funds for three to five patients per year.
Without the fund, patients would likely lose their housing if they
entered inpatient treatment.
Since 1995, housing funds
have helped nearly 3,000 people with a mental illness throughout
the state. During 2003, the fund served 375 clients, 57 percent
of whom lived in the seven county metro area. The average grant
is $628. Clients who receive Crisis Housing Funds have low incomes,
serious and persistent mental illness and risk losing their housing
if they enter inpatient treatment. While in treatment, their income
goes toward treatment rather than to pay housing costs. The housing
fund covers rent or mortgage and utility costs for up to 90 days.
The Crisis Housing Fund is a unique service not found in other
parts of the country, said Dave Schultz, Minnesota Department
of Human Services Mental Health Program Consultant.
"For many people, it's their biggest source of pride and identity
that they have their own place," McVay said. "The Crisis
Housing Fund provides incentive, hope and a sense of stability so
they can take the time to heal." Retaining their home provides
patients motivation to restore their health and return home, she
said."My clients are much more able to focus on their treatment
and get out of the hospital sooner," said Colleen Johnson, Lincoln,
Lyon and Murray Counties Human Services social worker.
Clients who lose their home face larger ramifications than the immediate
crisis of homelessness. Eviction or vacating an apartment with no
notice establishes a poor rental history, making future landlords
less likely to rent an apartment to people with mental illness. Clients
also risk losing their deposits and paying a penalty for breaking
a lease, limiting their resources to pay a damage deposit and first
month's rent for a new apartment.
Having this program in
place has also been effective in reducing hospital; lengths of
stays thereby freeing up inpatient psychiatric bed capacity, Schultz
said. Clients who lose their housing fall back into the system,
Johnson said. They are often forced to turn to transitional housing
facilities and spend months trying to find a new home. Those with
a Section 8 voucher or public housing lose it and are thrust to
the bottom of the waiting list, she said. "Sometimes people
don't want to go through all of that and do become institutionalized," Johnson
said. Mental health advocates, who saw their members struggling to
maintain stability and their housing while obtaining treatment, initiated
the legislation for the Crisis Housing Fund. "When a person
with a mental illness required inpatient treatment beyond 30 days,
they would risk losing their housing," Schultz
said.
In 1994 the legislature
allocated funding for the program. The Minnesota Department of
Human Services contracts with the Minnesota Housing Partnership
to provide the service. The housing partnership has been the ideal
administrator because the organization can cut a check within a
day for patients who are about to lose their homes.
"The Crisis Housing Fund is critical because once people with mental illness
return to their baseline, they don't have to suffer quite as many setbacks to
resume their daily lives," McVay said.
For more information contact
Ann O'Toole at aotoole@mhponline.org or (651) 649-1710 ext. 100
or go online to www.mhponline.org and click on "Crisis
Housing Fund."
