Housing First program has success in study of homeless people with mental illness

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-03/smh-hfp022715.php

Public Release: 3-Mar-2015
St. Michael's Hospital

It sounds simple, but it appears to be working: Give homeless people financial help to find free-market rental accommodation in the community as well as mental health support services, and the success rate in ending their homelessness is far higher than with current approaches.

That's the conclusion of new research by clinician scientists at the Centre for Research in Inner City Health of St. Michael's Hospital.

Homeless people with mental illness who received both rent supplement support and intensive case management had stable housing 62.7 per cent to 77 per cent of the time over a 24-month period, depending on their community, said lead author Dr. Vicky Stergiopoulos, psychiatrist-in-chief at St. Michael's.

That compares with 23.6 per cent to 38.8 per cent of the 24-month period for homeless people with mental illness who received "usual care," she wrote in a paper published online today in the journal JAMA.

"It's really just common sense," said Dr. Stergiopoulos. "And now we have evidence, collected through rigorous research, to support common sense."

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