Housing coordinator position could be eliminated

Housing coordinator position could be eliminated
(June 2009 Issue)

By Ami Albernaz

Vermont mental health advocates say the loss of a housing coordinator position due to a budget squeeze would be a blow to the state's homeless and mentally ill. The position is one of a few facing possible elimination at the start of the 2010 fiscal year.

"[Housing] is a primary issue across the board, whether it's low-income or families trying to survive after layoffs," says Linda Corey, M.S., executive director of Vermont Psychiatric Survivors, a mental health advocacy and support group. "With programs shutting down, there's going to be more of a need to work with [the community services coordinator] position to make sure we can get people housed. With the state hospital downsizing, what we need the most help with, for people with persistent, severe mental health issues, is housing.

Besides the housing position, a quality management position and two unfilled positions also might be cut.

The current housing coordinator, Brian Smith, has been on the job for 15 years. During his tenure, he has secured funding from the PATH (Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness), a federal funding stream from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration that supports community-based outreach, mental health, substance abuse, and housing services; cultivated relationships with the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in bolstering housing services in the state; and worked on millions of dollars in housing grants.

"He has helped find a lot of housing for a lot of people we haven't been able to find housing for," Corey says. "He's developed a good repertoire of different funding services."

As New England Psychologist went to press, Vermont Mental Health Commissioner Michael Hartman, MSW, said the loss of the position was not certain. "We're seeing if we can find another avenue," he says. "Like all states, we've been faced with very poor options, in terms of what to do when you don't have the dollars to compensate all of the payroll. There's nothing good about it."

Vermont has been fortunate in being able to avoid some personnel losses by finding money in the budget that had not been spent, Hartman adds. However, there is no longer any such place to look.

If Smith's position is indeed cut, existing housing coordinators in communities throughout the state could pick up some of his work, Hartman says, "though they certainly wouldn't replace" the housing coordinator's function.

Corey worries that employees who are already overworked will not be able to fill the role effectively. "They've already cut positions in DMH [Department of Mental Health]. People are already doing two or three jobs and are already overworked. I don't think they would be able to do a good job with it."

Smith says the housing coordinator position is an important piece in the state's overall mental health system. "Having a strong focus on housing is one of best practices for helping people avoid the state hospital or transition out of the state hospital," he says. He adds that he understands that in the current economic climate, mental health services are being stretched particularly thin. "I think they're in a tough place," he says of the state.

"I think they made a choice that was difficult to make."