I am the Director of the Georgia Supportive Housing Association. We are an advocacy organization representing organizations around the state that seeks to expand the number of supportive housing opportunities for persons with disabilities.

First, thanks for giving your time to this issue on a busy legislative day and thanks the Representative Neal and Senator Unterman for agreeing to provide leadership for the Caucus. There are and will be a number of complex issues that the Caucus can bring attention too.

What is Supportive Housing? It 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 different from the housing of most Georgians.

We believe housing is health care. Or at least without it, the delivery of healthcare is very ineffective, very inefficient and very costly. It is difficult for an individual to keep their recovery from addiction or mental illness without housing. Without affordable community housing people will get locked into an institutional life at great cost to their life options and great expense to the public.

Housing is critical to your effort to reform

MENTAL HEALTH

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

HEALTH CARE

All of these reforms save money because they help people to live outside an institution and get their treatment in the community.

Creating more supportive housing is complicated. You must blend together low cost capital, rent subsidy, and services. It takes the collaboration of at least four state departments and four department budgets: DCH for Medicaid funded programs; DCA for the prioritization and administration of federal housing dollars; DBHDD for treatment and recovery support; DOC for preparing its prisoners for life in the community rather than a return to incarceration and supervision. Four departments and the judicial branch must closely collaborate to maximize the benefits that can come from supportive housing. Because of the extent of inter-departmental collaboration that is needed, the Caucus can help by monitoring the integrated effort.

There is still work to be done to tap federal housing dollars to meet the rest of the goal. DCA can commit more of its HOME funds to the production of permanent supportive housing. You could insist that more of its Low Income Housing Tax Credits are used by private developers to serve people in supportive housing. Medicaid could fund more of the behavioral health services that are now funded with 100% state dollars.

We know that supportive housing is effective. But we don’t know the extent of the cost benefit. Studies across the country show it is less expensive than the revolving door of jail, prison, hospital, homeless shelter, and the street. GSHA believes it is.

We need a good analysis of the cost benefits of the program so you will know what you are getting for your investment. We commend the DBHDD ongoing discussions with Georgia Tech to look as the results of the Georgia Voucher program. We hope that they will measure the cost of supportive housing against the cost of an inefficient emergency system of jails, prisons and temporary shelter. When the data comes in, we think that you will want to do more supportive housing.

You have a hand out with outcome information from two of our members: Caring Works and River Edge Community Service Board. Their success tracks the success that the DBHDD Housing Voucher program is showing. More that 90% of persons in supportive housing stay housed.

SOME FUTURE ISSUES FOR THE CAUCUS

CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM

There are more mentally ill persons in our jails and state prisons than there are in our mental health hospitals.

Approximately 5,000 persons in the state correctional facilities have serious and persistent mental illness. One analysis says the number is doubling every five years. If mentally stable and otherwise eligible for parole, 1500 of these persons would be released today except they lack access to supportive housing. Without the housing they would be back tomorrow.

ACCOUNTABILITY COURTS

To serve the most in need these courts need to be connected to housing options. Participants can’t do the work they need to do to “recover” if they don’t have safe housing.

FOOD STAMPS

When people are living in the community they need to eat. Georgia is one of 10 states that maintains the life time ban from food stamps for drug felons. To stay out of jail people need to eat.

CONCLUSION