Georgia Supportive Housing Association
Testimony
Georgia Supportive Housing Association
Testimony to the House Appropriations Sub Committee
February 2, 2011
Presented by Paul Bolster, Georgia Supportive Housing Association
I am the Director of the Georgia Supportive Housing Association. We are an advocacy organization representing 38 organizations around the state that seek to expand the number of supportive housing opportunities for persons with disabilities. Supportive Housing is affordable housing connected to quality support services. When you cement together affordability and services you can stabilize the lives of many persons who now frequent state and local jails, hospitals, and shelters. Many persons who are currently in state long term care institutions can live successful and independent lives if given the opportunity to live in “normal” housing that is not different from the housing that meets the needs of most Georgians. This housing concept is far more effective than the institutions we rely on today. It is more cost effective than the inadequate and over-utilized emergency systems that our communities currently provide.
We are very pleased that the Settlement of US v Georgia provides a framework for the development of a community based mental health system that will serve Georgians well in the future and urge you to support Governor Deal’s efforts to fully implement this agreement. The legislature started the reform with the creation of the new Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities. The budget that you have before you today from Governor Deal is the next step in a thoughtful plan. Georgia is changing its mental health system to provide opportunities for persons with disabilities through the shift from an institutional system to a community systems. Without your support and adequate funding this could be very risky for the people involved in the change.
The Settlement states that over the next five years the state will expand its capacity to provide supportive housing by 9,000 individuals. It also states that it will create capacity to serve 2,000 persons in supported housing who do not qualify for other housing.
The budget recommendation provides funding for the 5 year/2000 goal.
--FY 2011 $291,000----------------------------------100 capacity
--FY 2012 $2.9 million ------------------------------500 capacity
This meets the minimum Settlement goal over five years if funding rises each year. So what about the 9,000 capacity goal? Funding for this goal is not in the budget. The hope is that this goal can be met through the commitment of federal affordable housing dollars that are already available to the state but currently allocated to other populations that are not in the targeted population. The utilization of these federal dollars (Section 8, Shelter Plus Care, HOPWA, VASH rent subsidies and capital from Low Income Housing Tax Credits and HOME funds) will take planning and coordination across department lines. It will also require a change in the priority of these housing programs.
The State needs a Supportive Housing Plan that is based on
·
Need:Persons in mental health hospitals
Frequent users of Emergency Rooms
Persons in local jails and state prisons
Persons in nursing homes
Treatment Court clients
Homeless persons
·
Identification of federal resources·
Realistic housing goals that match the need·
Expanded development capacity·
Local government supportWhile the goal of housing 9,000 individuals is a good beginning, be aware that the real need for supportive housing may be a much larger and a more serious number. You should talk to your local sheriff to see what he thinks it will take to lower the population of persons with disabilities who frequent the local jail.
I have followed these issues for many years. This is probably the most hopeful time in the many efforts to find a better way to meet the needs of persons with disabilities. The Governor’s discussion of mental health courts and the downsizing of prisons hold great hope for change. The state prisons hold far too many persons with disabilities. I hope these actions will get us thinking differently as a state. If these changes move forward, housing connected to services will need more of your attention than it has had in the past.
Housing is critical to the successful implementation of the Settlement and the downsizing of prisons. But the Settlement alone does not get us all the way to the quality community based mental health system that will be able to meet Georgia’s needs into the future. We need to vigorously guard against the mistakes of the past when we closed down institutions but did not create the community supports for the persons that were served in the institution. If the state closes a hospital door it must open a door to a home for the person in the community. Treatment works but it is not very effective if there is no stable housing.
Housing is healthcare.