Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration

CMHS Consumer Affairs E-News
September 26, 2007, Vol. 07-156

Almost $17.5 Million Awarded to Help Homeless Individuals and Families

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration announced today that it is awarding nine grants totaling almost $17.5 million over five years to local organizations working to end chronic homelessness in their communities.

This program has a targeted focus to serve chronically homeless individuals with serious psychiatric conditions and those with co-occurring mental and substance use disorders who live in supportive housing settings. In these settings, the new grant funds will support intensive individualized services that are known to improve residential stability and reduce psychiatric symptoms.

"These grants are designed to enhance the mental health and substance abuse services provided in supportive housing programs," said Terry Cline, Ph.D., SAMHSA administrator. "This initiative will provide chronically homeless individuals and families additional services and treatment needed to remain housed in a permanent setting."

The following services, through direct provision or by collaborative arrangement with other providers, will be provided through the new grants:

• Outreach and engagement
• Assertive community treatment or intensive case management
• Services to support housing retention
• Independent living skills (e.g., budgeting and financial education)
• Motivational interventions
• Crisis care
• Assistance in obtaining income support and entitlements
• Mental health treatment, including treatment for trauma and post traumatic stress
• Substance abuse treatment
• Integrated/coordinated treatment for co-occurring disorders
• Medications management
• Self-help programs

Each grant recipient will receive up to $450,000 per year for up to 5 years. Continuation of these awards is subject to both availability of funds and progress achieved by the awardees. Total funding for year one is million. This grant program will be administered by SAMHSA's Center for Mental Health Services.

Grants were awarded to:

• Cook Inlet Housing Authority, Anchorage, Alaska -- $374,663 in the first year, to create Welcome Home, a supplemental housing program that will assist primarily Alaska Natives/American Indians with serious mental illnesses and/or co-occurring disorders and who are chronically homeless with securing permanent housing and linkage to a network of health, and social service providers.
• Contra Costa County Health Services Department, Martinez, Calif. -- $374,826 in the first year, to provide services through the Project Coming Home program. This project will provide integrated housing, treatment and services to end homelessness and facilitate ongoing recovery, housing retention, access to income and improved quality of life.
• St. Vincent de Paul Village, Inc., San Diego, Calif. -- $375,000 in the first year, to launch the Village ACT Project to expand and enhance onsite supportive services. This project will serve 57 chronically homeless adults with serious mental illness or co-occurring disorders and a total of 85 individuals over the life of the grant.
• Community Connections, Inc., Washington, D.C.-- $418,835 in the first year, to provide a comprehensive package of evidence-based services for chronically homeless individuals with severe mental disorders through their Creating Communities project. This project will also provide integrated services in a residential community enriched by professional and peer support.
• Pine Street Inn, Inc., Boston -- $375,000 in the first year, to help chronically homeless individuals attain stability in permanent housing, using approaches such as outreach, engagement, retention strategies to ensure that participants have the skills and support necessary to function in housing.
• Phoenix Programs, Inc., Columbia, Mo. -- $413,820 in the first year, to implement an evidence-based long-term modified therapeutic community system of care that combines existing housing assistance and intensive individualized support services for rural chronically homeless individuals.
• Vocational Instruction Project County Services; New York City -- $375,000 in the first year, to provide culturally competent, bilingual mental health services to chronically homeless single adults and families living in permanent supportive housing funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
• Project Renewal, Inc., New York City- $426,655 in the first year, to create an intensive case management service team that will serve 72 formerly homeless chronically relapsing individuals residing in HUD-funded apartments throughout Manhattan and the Bronx.
• Central City Concern; Portland, Ore.-- $375,000 in the first year, to use its Community Engagement Program to provide continued supportive services for 75 individuals with serious mental illnesses and/or co-occurring disorders who also have experienced chronic homelessness to help them achieve residential stability.

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The Center for Mental Health Services is a component of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, United States Department of Health and Human Services.