By Natallie Keiser, executive director, HouseATL
One of the basic expectations we have for our government is that it will help us as a society to care for those who cannot fully care for themselves. The Georgia Housing Voucher Program is a strong example of how a government can effectively do that – if it were adequately resourced. This program, which is operated by the Office of Supportive Housing within the Georgia Department of Behavioral and Developmental Disabilities, provides a particular group of individuals with state funding for housing (in the form of a voucher) and for supportive services.
The Georgia Housing Voucher Program focuses on people who are diagnosed with a severe and persistent mental illness and who are cycling in and out of homelessness, emergency rooms, jails, and state hospitals. Sometimes the people in this situation are termed “familiar faces” by the providers at these institutions. The program stops this cycle by: paying the portion of rent that the individual does not have the income to pay (voucher); connecting the person to a landlord that will accept the voucher; helping the person get set up in the apartment; and contracting with a nonprofit provider to provide ongoing wraparound services. Although this is a public program, it relies on partnerships with the private and nonprofit sectors. Providing housing stability accompanied by services –such as case management, wellness visits, behavioral health, and addiction recovery – provides a foundation for long-term improvement and greater independence.
Georgia initiated this program due to a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into conditions in Georgia’s hospitals that resulted in a settlement agreement in 2010, referred to as the Olmstead Agreement (referencing a 1999 U.S. Supreme Court case). This settlement agreement identified that Georgia needed to have the capacity to provide community living opportunities for people with severe and persistent mental illness – with a target of 9,000 people. Although we have set up a very effective program, it is now only serving about 2,300 people, while the need has likely grown since 2010, along with our overall population growth.
The current funding for the program is $26 million. Unfortunately, due to rising rental costs in the housing market, it costs more per person now to operate the program. An increase of $20 million is needed in order to continue to provide services. This program serves people throughout the state, but the vast majority of people who fit the program profile are located in the core metro Atlanta region and other urban areas.
Economically, we are making a mistake in not adequately funding this program. The program is highly effective in providing stable housing that ends homelessness. It is more costly to admit people repeatedly into prisons, jails, emergency rooms and hospitals as a substitute for housing. For example, the cost in a hospital when someone cannot be released due to having nowhere to go is estimated at $900 per day for overflow beds ($27,000 per month). The cost to the state for a prison stay is over $122 per day ($3,710 per month). The Georgia Housing Voucher program cost for the housing voucher and wraparound services is about $48 per day ($1,466 per month).
Research shows that people with severe and persistent mental illness enrolled in supportive housing and wraparound services remain stably housed and reduce the need for psychiatric hospitalizations and other crisis responses and have greatly reduced criminal justice engagement.
Landlords who are interested in participating by accepting voucher holders can visit the website here. There are additional supports for landlords beyond the voucher itself, such as risk mitigation, repairs-and administrative financing.
This is one of the issues that our HouseATL members and partners will be working on during the upcoming state legislative session. If you are interested in engaging in this issue or others, please consider joining HouseATL, becoming part of our Policy Working Group, and looking out for our advocacy alerts.
This is sponsored content.
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