MENTAL HEALTH AND HOUSING RESEARCH: HOUSING NEEDS AND SUSTAINABLE INDEPENDENT LIVING

Abstract

Research to quantify the extent of independent housing need and homelessness and transience among people who experience mental illness, undertaken by the Ministry of Social Development, was commissioned as part of an interdepartmental work programme established by the Ad Hoc Committee on Mental Health in April 2000. Questions of affordability, adequacy and sustainability of housing form the core of the research. A key outcome from the research was the development of a typology focused on the idea of “sustainable housing” for consumers/tangata whai ora. The discussion of the framework provides a backdrop for the presentation of the research findings in which the extent and nature of housing are discussed, the role of support services in the retention of housing summarised, and information about specific groups affected by housing need is put forward. The evidence from the research suggests that there is a need for systematisation of support services for consumers/tangata whai ora and that developing a coordinated inter-agency strategic framework for resource allocation and service provision to this group is a necessary step towards ensuring the sustainability of independent housing.