WASHINGTON - On a cold January morning in 2001, Mel Martinez, then the new secretary of Housing and Urban Development, was headed to his office in his limo when he saw some homeless people huddled on the vents of the steam tunnels that heat federal buildings. "Somebody ought to do something for them," Martinez said he told himself. "And it dawned on me at that moment that it was me." So began the Bush administration's radical, liberal -- and successful -- national campaign against chronic homelessness. "Housing first," it's called. That's to distinguish it from traditional programs that require longtime street people to undergo months of treatment and counseling before they're deemed "housing ready." Instead, the Bush administration offers them rent-free apartments up front. New residents, if they choose, can start turning their lives around with the …
Transformation of the North Carolina public mental health, developmental disabilities and substance abuse services (MH/DD/SAS) system benefits from, and requires, collaboration at both state and local levels. This annual report identifies some of the most successful collaborative approaches and accomplishments undertaken during state fiscal year 2006 from July 1, 2005 to June 30, 2006.
Recent years have seen remarkable shifts in approaches to community based housing and support needs for three vulnerable low-income groups, including: • Frail elders. • People with significant disabilities. • Chronically homeless people. These new approaches are collectively referred to in this report as supportive housing. In preparing this report, it became clear that current literature and existing policies may not sufficiently reflect the common principles, approaches, and issue
This is a draft of the State Strategic Plan for 2007-2010. As directed by the General Assembly through HB 2077, the Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Abuse Services has undertaken the development of a three-year strategic plan specifying how State and local resources shall be organized and used to provide mental health, developmental disabilities and substance abuse services. This plan is considerably different from previous state plans. The focus of this plan is on five strategic objectives and associated action steps to be accomplished during the next three years. The plan identifies milestones for each action step for determining progress made and measures to determine the effects on consumer outcomes and system performance. Through discussions with consumers and families, providers, advocates, and leaders of Local Management Entities, the Division has identified these objectives as being the …
A recurrent theme in many state and local plans to end homelessness is an acknowledgment that increased focus on the housing needs of ex-offenders is required if community goals are to be met. Data in this report shows that 7% of those entering a correctional facility in NC meet the definition of homeless, while 23% of those exiting the system report that they will exit into federally defined homelessness. Implications and the need for future research are addressed. Read the pdf article here.
2 MAY 2007 • by Mike Kelly, Jeffrey E. Stern, The Independent Weekly, Durham, NC view story on The Indpendent Weekly's site view pdf version of story Editors' note: A little over a year ago, writer Jeff Stern profiled a group of three homeless men who lived together along Durham's railroad tracks ("The Family," March 29, 2006). This week, one of them, Mike Kelly, graduated from Housing for New Hope's PATH program. He's working and just moved into his own apartment. Recently, he sat down with Stern to talk about his stay at Phoenix House transitional housing, beating addictions, his new life and his old friends, Mark and Concrete. A year ago, Mike Kelly was homeless, camping out along Durham's railroad tracks. Photo by Lissa Gotwals II called myself the invisible man. I wasn't a human being because I …
Ripple effects now squeezing area's financially vulnerable due to greater competition for affordable housing Jim Wise Raleigh News and Observer August 30, 2008 Durham and the Triangle have been spared the worst of the credit crunch and foreclosure wave, but the effects are nonetheless rippling through the local economy, sometimes in unexpected ways. Everyone knows that banks, builders, and home-buyers and sellers are suffering from a credit crunch these days. But so are others whose situation has not been so well publicized -- even those who don't have homes. "Foreclosure has hit lower-income people," said Jack Preiss, a retired Duke University sociologist and former Durham city councilman who has been building low-income housing for decades. "These people have been hit very hard." The crisis in mortgage lending that began a year ago has set off a …
NCCEH hosted a training on Fair Housing Law for Shelters on June 15, 2007. The materials from the training have been posted here: "Serving Persons with Disabilities: Legal Responsibilities of Emergency Shelters" View PowerPoint Presentation View Handout
NCCEH hosted a training on San Diego's Serial Inebriate Program in March, 2008. The materials from the training are posted here.
The Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Services is charged with examining, on a continual basis, the system-wide issues affecting the development, financing, administration, and delivery of mental health, developmental disabilities, and substance abuse services, including issues related to governance, accountability and quality of services. Their 2007 report includes an assessment of the current system and recommendations for improvements. View the committee's 2007 Report to the General Assembly