Homelessness, health care links focus of Crossroads president’s report

PROVIDENCE – “Housing Is Health,” Crossroads Rhode Island’s fifth annual report on homelessness, focuses on the links between homelessness and health care.
“For families and individuals struggling to pay the rent, a serious illness or disability can start a downward spiral into homelessness, beginning with a lost job, depletion of savings to pay for care, and eventual eviction,” writes Crossroads President Karen A. Santilli.
Releasing her first report today as the nonprofit’s president, Santilli notes that housing represents “both the only way to end homelessness and the most cost-effective intervention.” The study notes, however, that a lack of access to mental health services and basic health care can prevent people from rebounding from a loss of housing.
An estimated 20 percent to 30 percent of the homeless population suffers from severe mental illness, the report notes, compared with 6 percent of the overall American population. Likewise, the homeless tend to have poorer outcomes even when receiving treatment for health issues, the report states.
Part of the solution, besides raising awareness and helping provide temporary and permanent housing for the homeless, comes in providing home-based case management to ensure success, the report states.
“We are making progress,” noted Santilli, “but we can do better in Rhode Island. Housing is not just a roof and four walls; housing is security, housing is peace of mind, and housing is health.”
Crossroads focuses on housing first and rapid rehousing as the two most effective means of moving people out of homelessness and into safe, stable homes. For people who are chronically homeless, the intervention of permanent supportive housing, coupled with supportive services, provides stability, Santilli said.
At the end of this year, a $5.4 million grant from the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to the R.I. Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals will be put to use to help integrate housing, health and behavioral health care, the report states.
“Our goal is to increase access to housing and services to 150 individuals who are experiencing chronic homelessness,” says Michelle Brophy, director of policy and planning for the R.I. Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals. Quoted in the report, she is also chairperson of the R.I. Continuum of Care, which creates policy and represents constituents, providers, advocates and state officials.

No posts to display