Georgia Supportive Housing Association
Testimony to the House State Institutions and Property Committee
January 31, 2012
Presented by Paul Bolster, Georgia Supportive Housing Association
I am the Director of the Georgia Supportive Housing Association. We are an advocacy organization representing 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 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 long term care institutions can live successful and independent lives if given the opportunity to live in “typical” housing that is not set apart from the housing that meets the needs of most Georgians.
Providing Supportive Housing is more cost effective than emergency systems that our communities currently utilize.
I have provided committee members a 10 minute DVD featuring four persons who live in supportive housing. Seeing the residents is the best way to understand the concept.
It is a critical part of two state reform efforts that are under way
MENTAL HEALTH REFORM
CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM
Maybe a third, HEALTH CARE REFORM.
For reform to be effective, treatment should be outside an institution and that will require affordable housing.
MENTAL HEALTH REFORM.
Georgia is in the second year implementation of the US v Georgia Settlement. It has provided a framework for the development of a community based mental health system that will serve Georgians well in the future and we commend Governor Deal and the legislature for providing the funds to begin expanding community based mental health services. The new mental health system is a blueprint for providing opportunities for persons with mental illness to move from hospitals, jails, prisons and emergency rooms to the community and enjoy a more full range of opportunities.
The Settlement states that over the next five years the state will expand its capacity to provide supportive housing to 9,000 individuals. The state budget is on track to serve 2,000 persons in supported housing who do not qualify for other housing. But there is currently no state adopted plan to meet the rest of the housing Settlement Goal.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM.
Unfortunately there are more mentally ill persons in our jails and state prisons than there are in our mental health hospitals.
The handout gives a county of origin breakdown for the 4,714 persons in the state correctional facilities with serious and persistent mental illness. Of this number we estimate, based on surveys of inmates, that 32% or 1509 persons would not have stable housing if released from prison today. You may want to look at the data for the counties that you represent.
With the help of the Carter Center and our members who provide mental health services in metro jails, we estimate that 3500 persons with serious and persistent mental illness will be released to homelessness from the Gwinnett, Rockdale, DeKalb, Fulton, and Clayton jails in the next year. These numbers need more refinement as we currently do not know how many of these releases are from multiple incarcerations. It is not unusual for a mentally ill homeless person to have 3 to 5 trips to the jail each year. We arrived at the homeless number by asking the clients of mental health providers what their housing status would be upon release.
We are very supportive of a number of steps the state is taking to reduce the number of mentally ill persons who are incarcerated.
1. The creation of three new 200 bed residential treatment centers in the Department of correction budget.
2. Governor Deal’s $10 million grant program will help local communities create 30 new accountability courts. We do, however, urge that the grants require local communities to demonstrate a commitment of housing opportunities. Like other forms of treatment, these court operated programs are only effective if the participants have stable housing. Susan Tate, probate judge in Athens, tells us that the most difficult problem for stabilizing individuals with Mental Illness is the lack of housing. Only two of the courts that we know of provid housing support and thus are able to serve the “most vulnerable”.
3. The RPH program of Pardons and Parole shows great cost savings and we hope that lower recidivism will be the result. It looks like a good model that could meet the interests of persons with mental illness. The short term nature of the program would need to be extended so that other supports (like social security disability) can be accessed. The expansion of community mental health services at the DBHDD will help to enable this community based approach. This change will take good coordination between Corrections and DBHDD.
4. The work of the Special Council of Criminal Justice Reform. The Council is generating new ideas and support for implementation. The recent report suggested 10 local pilot programs funded by part of the savings Corrections would experience.
The State needs a Supportive Housing Plan to meet the 2015 Settlement goal of providing 9000 people with the opportunity of supportive housing.
Plan based on Need:
Persons in hospitals
Frequent users of Emergency Rooms
Persons in local jails and state prisons
Treatment Court Clients
There may be as many as 20,000 persons in the state that could benefit from supportive housing. The cost and savings will vary depending on the severity of the illness and the effectiveness of treatment. One the whole there will be significant savings for local and state government.
More Research is needed on which to base policy and program size.
Housing needs-People are recycling because they do not have housing.
Effectiveness of supportive housing models
Identification of federal resources that the state could commit to the effort.
Realistic goals that match the need
Local Government support
While the 9,000 goal is a good beginning, be aware that the real need for supportive housing may be a much larger and more serious number. You should talk to your local sheriff to see what he or she thinks it will take to lower the number 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 initiative on Criminal Justice Reform is encouraging us to think differently as a state. The Governor’s discussion of accountability courts and the downsizing of prisons has given hope to change. 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 Mental Health Reform, Criminal Justice Reform, and Healthcare efficiency. But the Settlement 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 person’s who were served in the institution. If the state closes a hospital door, a jail door, or a prison door it has to 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.
Summary:
1. Ask for a state plan that meets the housing goal of the Settlement.
2. Ask for more research on the need for and effectiveness of supportive housing.
3. Support programs that provide an alternative to incarceration.