Public Housing: Housing Persons With Mental Disabilities With the Elderly
RCED-92-81
Published: Aug 12, 1992. Publicly Released: Aug 12, 1992.
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Highlights
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed issues concerning housing nonelderly, mentally disabled persons in subsidized housing for the elderly, focusing on: (1) the problems associated with mingling the two populations; (2) screening mentally disabled applicants; (3) delivering mental health services and the need for additional support services; (4) laws and regulations governing placement of mentally disabled persons in public and other subsidized rental housing; and (5) procedures used to place and evict tenants with mental disabilities.
Recommendations
Matter for Congressional Consideration
| Matter | Status | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| In order to assist PHA in establishing cooperative agreements and coordinating service delivery, Congress should consider providing appropriations for the public housing service coordinator position authorized under section 507 of the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act of 1990. | The fiscal year 1994 HUD Appropriations Act included $30,000,000 for service coordinators in public housing pursuant to section 9(a)(1)(B)(ii) of the United States Housing Act of 1937. | |
| Congress should consider addressing the issue of housing the nonelderly mentally disabled with the elderly on the basis of the information contained in this and other reports and any congressional oversight hearings. Actions that Congress could consider include, but are not limited to, the options discussed in this report. In considering these actions, Congress will need to reconcile the rights and needs of both groups in a manner that is fair and equitable to both persons with disabilities and the elderly. | The Housing and Community Development Act of 1992 addressed the issue of housing the nonelderly disabled persons with the elderly. Among other things, section 621 authorized public housing agencies to provide public housing designated for only elderly families. |
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | To assist PHA in screening all applicants, including those with mental disabilities, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development should provide fair housing guidance that details the questions that can be asked of any applicant to public housing. | HUD does not intend to provide guidance that would detail the questions than can be asked of any applicant to public housing. However in partially addressing this recommendation, HUD sponsored 20 training sessions on "Nondiscrimination in Public Housing Occupancy." The sessions were attended by approximately 800 housing agencies and HUD staff, as well as disability advocates. The purpose of the training, among other things, was to ensure that housing providers understand how to conduct tenant selection and screening so as to: (1) avoid discriminating on the basis of disability or other protected class designation; and (2) accept only applicants who are likely to comply with essential...
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| Department of Housing and Urban Development | To assist PHA in addressing the service needs of tenants with mental illness, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development should require PHA to actively seek out mental health service providers for the purpose of entering into cooperative agreements for case management services. | HUD has no plans to require public housing authorities to enter into cooperative agreements with mental health providers. However, HUD partially addressed this recommendation by issuing a report (entitled "Creating Community, Integrating Elderly and Severely Mentally Ill Persons in Public Housing," June 1993) in cooperation with the Department of Health and Human Services to encourage coordination of housing and services for low income and homeless families and individuals, including those with severe mental illness. The report also included sample Public Housing Agency/Mental Health Agency Agreements. In fiscal year 1994, HUD also provided $43 million to 93 housing agencies for funding...
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| Department of Housing and Urban Development | To facilitate cooperative agreements for case management services, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development should work with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to issue guidance now being developed for PHA on establishing cooperative agreements with local mental health service providers. As planned, a model cooperative agreement should be included in such guidance. |
HUD has no plans to require PHAs to enter into cooperative agreements with mental health providers and no plans to develop a model cooperative agreement in guidance to be provided to PHAs.
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| Department of Housing and Urban Development | The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development should direct PHA to report on situations where local mental health providers do not exist or are unable to enter into cooperative agreements because of insufficient resources. This information would begin to provide a nationwide assessment of the sufficiency of mental health services available to public housing tenants. It will also provide Congress, through HUD, with an initial assessment of the need for targeted resources. Such resources could enable PHA to contract directly for on-site delivery of case management services. |
HUD has not taken any action to address this recommendation as yet and did not indicate any intended action. Further, in 1997, key authorizing Senate and House subcommittees are considering legislation that would substantially reform the public housing program.
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Topics
Community health servicesCooperative agreementsDisadvantaged personsDiscriminationEligibility criteriaHousing for the disabledHousing for the elderlyMental health care servicesMental illnessesState-administered programs