Integrating
Long-Term Supports with Affordable Housing
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Grant Information
Name of Grantee
District
of Columbia Department of Mental Health
Title of Grant
Building
Capacity to Integrate Access to Housing Supporting Home Ownership in DC's
Medicaid Programs Serving Individuals with Mental Illness, Mental Retardation
and Developmental Disabilities
Type of Grant
Integrating
Long-Term Supports with Affordable Housing
Amount of Grant
$812,004
Year Original Funding
Received
2004
Contact Information
Juanita Reaves, Director
Adult Services Division
64 New York Avenue NE,
4th floor
Washington, DC 20002
202-673-7597
juanita.reaves@dc.gov
Subcontractor(s)
HCBS Strategies and Marialice
Williams
Target Population(s)
Persons dually diagnosed with mental illness and
mental retardation/developmental disabilities (MR/DD) and youth with severe
mental illness that are transitioning from foster care.
Goals
- Integrate access to
Medicaid-funded supports with access to housing.
- Revise Medicaid
regulations that prevent the sharing of staff in supportive living
arrangements.
- Identify individuals
with dual diagnoses of mental illness and developmental disabilities, and
match them with potential homes.
- Identify individuals
with severe mental illness who are transitioning from foster care, and
match them with potential homes.
Activities
- Develop and implement
a system of procedures to integrate access to Medicaid-funded supports
with access to housing.
- Develop and secure
approval for modifications to the MR/DD waiver to pay for the transition
costs of individuals moving out of an Intermediate Care Facility for
Mental Retardation to community housing.
- Design and implement a
system of mechanisms for matching individuals who can jointly live
together in community-based housing.
- Develop and secure
approval for revised regulations for Medicaid-funded services to allow the
pooling of supportive living services.
- Develop and implement
a program to assist individuals in purchasing a home, including credit
counseling, assistance in locating property, securing supportive services,
moving, and training in the responsibilities of home ownership.
Abstract
The Department of Mental Health (DMH) will
establish a mechanism to link an application for mental health services funded
under the District's Mental Health Rehabilitation Services with an application
for housing from the DC Housing Authority. DMH will also work to remove the
barriers in current regulations regarding shared housing.
The grant will involve two parallel pilot
demonstration programs. DMH has entered into an agreement with the DC Housing
Finance Agency that has resulted in the identification of a substantial number
of housing units that can be used for this effort. The addition of identified
housing units greatly increases the likelihood that the proposed demonstrations
will be successful. The two pilot demonstrations will function as follows:
- The Grantee will
identify 90 consumers who are enrolled in both the Department of Human
Services/Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Administration
and DMH. The demonstration will move at least 5 of these individuals into
independent housing options.
- The grant will also be
linked with the DMH's Real Choice Systems Change
EPSDT Portals Grant that has the goal of improving supports to youth with
mental health issues who are transitioning out of foster care. The EPSDT
Portals Grant has succeeded in establishing collaboration between DMH and
the Child and Family Services Agency to identify barriers to adequately
support these vulnerable individuals. By combining the efforts of these
two grants, a pilot program will be established to support independent
living arrangements for approximately 10 to 15 transition-age people ready
to leave the foster care system.
For both these demonstrations, the grant will fund
the following activities: (1) the recruitment of pilot participants, (2) the
identification of the housing needs of the program participants, (3) the identification
of housing, (4) the payment of costs associated with transitioning to an
independent housing option, and (5) the establishment of mechanisms that will
allow the pilot program participants to own their homes.