A Call for Increased Financial Support of New York's
Mental Health Housing Programs
Funded & Lead by the Association for Community Living Agencies in Mental Health (ACLAIMH)
Our Campaign
Bring it Home is a campaign comprised of community-based mental health housing providers, mental health advocates, faith leaders, and consumers and their families, urging New York State to adequately fund community-based housing programs for individuals with psychiatric disabilities. Full recovery and community reintegration depends on stable housing opportunities. Through education and advocacy, Bring it Home is working to bring better funding for better care to New York.
“Integration works so much better than institutionalization, we know that. We also know that institutionalization is very expensive.”
— Ralph Fasano, Immediate Past-President of the Association for Community Living
Our Mission
Living in specialized community-based housing serves both the taxpayer and those with serious psychiatric disabilities well. But these housing programs are facing unprecedented fiscal challenges. BRING IT HOME’s mission is to raise awareness, get supporters actively involved, and make sure that the 2024– 2025 New York State budget includes not only adequate funding, but funding allocated towards the right efforts.
The Problems
48,000 Mental health community-based housing units are in jeopardy due to years of inadequate funding.
Residents in mental health housing programs have increased psychological, medical and programmatic needs.
Increased costs to run the programs, and make as many helpful services available to participants as possible.
Employees don’t earn a living wage and often leave the field, despite the work being rewarding.
Mental health housing program models do not support professional or clinical staff. This includes nurses, home health aides, maintenance staff, security staff, housekeeping staff, and more.
The average statewide staff vacancy rate is approximately 21%.
The Solutions
Adequately fund mental health housing programs in every state budget.
Bring a modernized housing model to New York.
Providers could pay existing staff a living wage, which decreases staff turnover and the number of vacant positions would decrease, thus creating stronger, longer lasting relationships with residents.
Professional staff could be hired to best serve residents in their road to recovery, decreasing unfair burdens place on existing staff, as well as ensuring all residents receive the type of care they need.
It's 40% - 94% less expensive, depending on housing model & institution, to use community housing versus psychiatric institutions, other hospitals, nursing homes, shelters, jails and prisons.
NYS Department of Health's Medicaid Redesign Team's Special Needs Housing Pilots show a:
15% reduction in Medicaid spending
40% reduction in inpatient admissions
26% reduction in ER use
44% reduction in inpatient rehab
27% reduction in psychiatric inpatient admissions
40% - 94%
less expensive (depending on housing model) to support community housing vs. state psychiatric institutions, other hospitals, nursing homes, jails and prisons.
22%
approximate average staff vacancy rate.
48,000
Mental health units in jeopardy.
More Facts Here —>
Get Involved
Bring It Home has more than 1,000 organizations, faith leaders and individuals signed on. Our goal is to double this in the coming year. Sign on to the campaign, get involved, write letters, make phone calls, tweet & re-tweet on Twitter, post to Facebook, follow @BringItHomeNYS on Instagram etc. Make sure you bookmark Bring It Home's website to see updated advocacy tools that you will be able to use to help us BRING IT HOME!
