NAMI Ohio/Eli Lilly Housing Grant

by Phyllis Putnam, NAMI Ohio Board Member
Housing Committee Chair 

The NAMI Ohio Board of Directors has long recognized the importance of every treatment system having a wide array of safe housing options available in order to successfully support its local mental health recovering community.  The lack of safe, affordable housing options often creates barriers to recovery that cannot be overcome.  Many communities are forced to utilize inappropriate inpatient settings because they have not developed the resources that would allow consumers to live in the least restrictive local setting.  Often, this lack of needed housing options results in treatment failure and over-utilization of more expensive residential settings.

Most community mental health boards have repeatedly identified this issue as a priority. They recognize the problems being created by using out-of-county group homes.  They know there is an urgent need for step-down units with the appropriate level of staff supervision for consumers transitioning out of hospital settings.  NAMI Ohio has long advocated for an increased focus on this basic gap in many communities’ system of care for the most severely mentally disabled adults.

In January of 2003, NAMI Ohio announced the receipt of a grant from Eli Lilly in the amount of $250,000 to increase housing opportunities in Ohio.  This award, in response to a grant proposal submitted by NAMI Ohio, was the only one funded by Eli Lilly in the country.  Upon receiving news of this unprecedented housing grant, the NAMI Ohio Board of Directors immediately put their proposed plan into action.   

In February and March of 2003 work began on the NAMI Ohio/Eli Lilly Housing Project.  Letters were sent to all of the ADAMH/CMH Boards informing them that NAMI Ohio will be accepting proposals from local communities on their plans to expand their housing options.  The Boards were told that if they were interested in participating in this project, they needed to attend the Housing Workshop at the NAMI Ohio Annual Convention in Columbus on May 2^nd and 3^rd. 

Twenty-five board areas were represented at this workshop expressing interest in the next steps of the application process.  Board Member Phyllis Putnam, Chair of the NAMI Ohio Housing Committee and Stacey Smith, NAMI Ohio staff support for the Housing Committee instructed these boards to submit a three-page proposal describing their community’s need for housing, their commitment to their project, and a description of their project and how they planned to accomplish it.

Of the 25 boards in attendance, 11 proposals were officially submitted.  Copies of the proposals were distributed to the Housing Committee members for their review.  The Housing Committee then met in Columbus and ranked the proposals based upon the criteria that was prioritized for this housing project.

The Housing Committee then decided that it would be necessary to conduct personal interviews of all 11-project sites.  Two different NAMI Ohio board members visited each of the 11 sites with a questionnaire in hand.  These face-to-face interviews provided the prospective site with the opportunity to provide more detail to their project.  In many cases, the board members toured the actual location of the proposed housing facility.  These interviews were extremely successful in gathering additional data to be used in determining the final four sites to be selected.  The Board members also gave each site another numerical ranking based upon the applicant’s answers to the interview questions.

On Friday, August 15^th, the Housing Committee met for more than six hours for the final selection process.  The Committee reviewed three numerical rankings.  They then reviewed each proposal to see how it met the Committee’s number 1 and number 2 priorities.  Those priorities are:

Priority #1

Secured housing… refers to very intensive mental health supervision on the premises 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Supervised housing… provides 24 hour supervision, but a step down level

Independent living… provides no on-site staff, but still offers staff supervision

Priority #2

Board’s financial commitment for both operational and supportive services.

The Committee then performed this exercise again but looked at NAMI Ohio’s #3 and #4 priorities which are:

Priority #3

Number of beds (Eli Lilly’s grant calls for a total of 35-40 units-beds)

Priority #4

Implementation of project within 36 months

Unable to narrow the field down to just 4 sites, the Housing Committee selected 5 sites to present to the NAMI Ohio Board for approval.  Those 5 sites are:

·        Jefferson County Prevention & Recovery Board

·        Fairfield County ADAMH Board

·        Northwest Ohio Collaboration (Hancock, Lucas, Mercer, Paulding, Van Wert, Sandusky, Seneca and Wyandot Counties)

·        Medina County ADAMH Board

·        Mental Health & Recovery Services Board of Allen, Auglaize, and Hardin Counties

The award recipients were notified and asked to attend an informational meeting to be held October 2^nd at the NAMI Ohio office.  The NAMI Ohio Housing Committee met with all of the award recipients to discuss next steps, i.e. developing relationships with the 5 sites, contracts, project oversight, selection of consultants, etc.

Those proposals that were not selected were offered the opportunity to receive free consultation from the newly established Housing Leadership Institute.  All of the projects not given $60,000 for construction have requested technical assistance to make their proposals a reality.

Following is a brief summary of each of the five sites selected.

1.  County: Jefferson

Lead Agency: Jefferson County Prevention and Recovery Board

Jefferson County has approximately 120 individuals with severe mental illness who are homeless.  The Board seeks to use a $60,000 NAMI grant as the required local match to develop a new 12 unit HUD Safe Haven Project for the severely mentally disabled homeless in Jefferson County.  In addition to the 12 units of housing, this project will provide a Drop-in Center as well with 24/7 staff coverage.  The Board currently owns the property to be developed. 

2.  County: Fairfield

Lead Agencies: Fairfield Co. ADAMH & Fairfield Mental Health Consumer Group, Inc.

The ADAMH Board and the Fairfield Mental Health Consumer Group, Inc. (FMHCG), have collaborated on a capital project to fund a building for a Drop-in, Consumer Education and Personal Development Center called “Our Place.”  The ADAMH Board and FMHCG seek $60,000 to broaden the Respite Care capability and to allow for secured housing for consumers who are waiting for permanent housing, have been recently evicted or in transition from inpatient hospitalization or from group home to independent living.  A combination of staff and volunteers will provide coverage 24/7 with a professional on call for emergencies.

3.  Counties: Northwest Ohio ADAMH and CMH Boards

         (Lucas, Hancock, Mercer, VanWert, Paulding, Seneca, Sandusky, and Wyandot)

Lead Agency:  Northwest Ohio Collaborative (consisting of above boards)

The nine counties involved in this proposal to develop housing for individuals needing long term support services began their planning process in February, 2003.  Given that there is a low incidence of need for long term housing in a single, rural county, the process of securing and maintaining such housing by a rural board is not cost-effective.  These boards have committed to a collaborative effort so that funding can be maximized and housing can be made available as is appropriate in each area. A key element of this proposal involves the commitment of each board to use money currently spent on out-of-county housing placements to bring those placed far from home back to their home communities.  Any housing project development will include support services on-site and the inclusion of peer support. The Collaborative stresses that this housing will be secure in terms of having on site support services, 24/7, to provide guidance, supervision, engagement in conversation, activities and peer support.  First priority for housing placement will be given to those county residents currently housed out of their home region.

4.  County: Medina

Lead Agency:  Medina County ADAMH Board

The Medina ADAMH Board is working with an architect to finalize plans for construction of 11 new permanent, supportive housing units for SMD individuals.  The Medina board recognizes a need for housing with on-site, intensive supports for a small number of persons, 10 or less, in their system.  This housing would result in less hospitalizations and private residential treatment, and, therefore, allow the board to redirect funds to support housing.  Under consideration is a plan to develop 6 units with on-site clinical supports for individuals with a history of chronic hospitalization, and 5 units for more independent, less intensive service need clients.  The proposal cites past experience, board-owned property and potential cost savings from use of state hospitals to succeed with this initiative, and would use the funding (no dollar amount identified) to work with a consultant to identify mechanisms for moving the local system forward.

5. Counties:  Allen, Auglaize and Hardin

Lead Agency:  Mental Health & Recovery Board of Allen, Auglaize and Hardin Counties

The Mental Health and Recovery Services Board serving this three county area has made a commitment to improving and increasing housing in the community.  The goal of this proposal is to secure seed money to make available decent and affordable housing to persons with a severe mental illness, while providing the supervision and support needed.  The seed money would be used to renovate two homes owned by the Allen County Commissioners and previously used by Children’s Services.  They have ready  access to public transportation and other conveniences.  Services would include housing, medication monitoring, daily living skills instruction, case management, transportation, community integration, symptom monitoring and peer support.  This project, funded by a NAMI Ohio housing seed grant, will result in a successful housing initiative that can then serve as a model for working with other management companies in the area. 

The implementation of the “A Place for Everyone in the Community” Grant has been one of the most rewarding endeavors ever completed by NAMI Ohio.  At its August meeting, the NAMI Ohio Board of Directors reaffirmed their commitment to the prioritization of housing issues. 

The Eli Lilly & Co. grant gave NAMI Ohio the ability to establish the Ohio Mental Health Housing Institute with a $150,000 grant from the Ohio Department of Mental Health.  This Institute will be a beacon for the mental health system to emphasize expanding housing opportunities for years in the future. 

One other exciting outcome of our initial “A Place for Everyone in the Community” project was how the Eli Lilly funds enabled NAMI Ohio to leverage over 2.8 million dollars in additional housing throughout our state.  In addition to leveraging the new dollars, all five of these projects will be completed well in advance of our three-year planning project and should be completed within the next 18 months.

NAMI Ohio is extremely proud to be working together with communities across the state, Eli Lilly and ODMH on a project that doesn’t just talk about the need for housing, but will be providing over 64 individual housing opportunities for those suffering from mental illness.  This is a project that will provide benefits to those we serve for years in the future.