The state’s housing subsidy program for homeless people with mental health disabilities needs to include more supportive services, lawmakers say.
After hearing testimony from several of agencies and members of the community, the Legislature’s Mental Health Oversight Committee was concerned that program’s rent subsidy alone is not enough to treat mental health issues.
“We can’t just give people a rent check and be satisfied that they are housed,” said Sen. Sally Fox, D-Chittenden. “These are folks who, not unlike their counterparts who are in intensive settings, often need a lot of supports.”
The state’s Housing Subsidy and Care Program is designed to provide rent assistance and mental health services for homeless adults with mental health disabilities. The program provides subsidies for rent while mental health agencies provide the services.
During a meeting at the Statehouse on Thursday, the committee requested that James Reardon, commissioner of the Department of Finance and Management, report back to the committee with information about how much mental health agencies spend on supportive care services.
Of the $1.26 million in state funding for the Department of Mental Health’s subsidy program, 85 percent goes toward subsidizing housing fees and the rest goes toward administrative costs, said Angus Chaney, director of housing for the Agency of Human Services.
The program matches 30 percent of a tenant’s income to cover part of the rent, Chaney said. The program is 22 months old and has provided funding for 126 individuals or families. The program received $1.42 million for FY 2014.
To be eligible, applicants must have a written verification from a physician stating that they have a mental illness and can live independently, Chaney said.
The program’s care services are funded by the state’s 10 regional mental health agencies and Pathways Vermont, which is funded in part by the DMH and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) program, Chaney said.
Brian Smith, housing program administrator for the Department of Mental Health, said that in one instance when a tenant disturbed a neighbor, the tenant was relocated to another apartment.
That solution to a behavioral problem alarmed lawmakers.
“I’m a little troubled to hear that the solution to a landlord wanting to evict somebody is to move the person and avoid eviction … but perhaps just create the same problem with another landlord,” said Fox, who chairs the committee.
Brooke Hadwen of the Burlington Police Department said patients need support from service providers in addition to housing. Without this support, these patients will often clash with their landlords and neighbors.
Hadwen is coordinator of the Community Support Program for the Burlington Community Justice Center. She said there have been several instances in which tenants with mental health issues have struggled to stay in their apartments.
She recently spoke with a landlord who was housing a tenant with help from the Pathways Vermont Housing First program, which offers housing and services for people experiencing chronic homelessness or mental health issues.
According to the Hadwen, the landlord was upset with his tenant.
“There was a whole list of behaviors that he was concerned about: spreading trash all over the property, stealing mail, putting signs up on the commercial space on the ground floor and telling everybody the landlord was threatening to beat him up,” she said. “He told me that the [Housing First] staff told him to call the police.”
Hadwen said police aren’t trained to help people with mental health issues. Instead, this person, who had 16 police interactions with five departments in October, needed supportive care, she said.
“Housing needs to come with active, engaging case management and skill-building,” she said. “Expecting an individual who has not been successful in the past, who has few housing retention skills, to retain housing is unreasonable.”
The Housing First program is distinct from the department’s Housing Subsidy and Care program, but Pathways Vermont provides services for both.
Paul Dupre, commissioner of the Department of Mental Health, said that when a subsidy is granted to a tenant, there is an agreement with a local agency to provide certain services. He said the eligibility for the subsidy depends on whether the patient continues to accept these services.
This program is part of the state’s effort to decentralize psychiatric care after Tropical Storm Irene damaged the Vermont State Hospital. The bill that set the groundwork for the new, regionalized mental health system was Act 79.
Several community mental health agencies testified before lawmakers that the new mental health system needs more housing and better recruitment and retention methods for social workers and nurses who provide supportive care services.
