One of many needs…
May is Mental Health Awareness Month. (who knew?) Do you know that 1 in 4 adults experience a mental health problem in a given year and 1 in 17 adults lives with a serious mental illness such as major depression and bipolar disorder? This means that we all know someone who lives with a mental health disorder. He/she could be a close relative, a neighbor, or a co-worker.
One of the most important issues people with mental illness face is the availability of affordable and safe housing options. Studies have demonstrated that having a safe and secure place to live is an important part of recovery, along with access to services that enable those with mental illness to live independently. For many, a mental health condition has no impact on their housing. Most can and do live independently. For others, though, the cascading effects of mental illness leave them in a precarious living situation, or even cause them to lose their home.
NAMI-St. Louis (National Alliance on Mental Illness) would like to bring together other like-minded individuals to dialogue about ways to assist people with mental health dis-orders in living independently in our communities. They are looking for property owners/landlords like ourselves who are mission- minded individuals willing to “think out-side of the box” and willing to take a calculated risk and have a servant’s heart. In their words: “We understand a Property Owner’s need to protect investments and man-age a building that is financially profitable. We under-stand that it means that all tenants (including people with mental illness) need to comply with lease requirements; adhere to “house rules;” and, get along with others in the building.
We also understand mental illness can interfere with the tenant’s ability to comply. We know from studies that lack of financial funds can trigger increased stress which can exasperate mental health symptoms. Lack of financial funds often leaves a tenant with fewer housing choices, ones that may be unsafe, and located in hard-to-reach places. Additionally, cuts in government funding lead to gaps and lack of availability of services. They also lead to decreased availability of housing vouchers (such as Section Eight or Shelter Plus Care) to eligible tenants.”
Please join Gary Meier, Kris Jackson and others for a meeting to discuss ways we can help people with mental illness live independently while still yielding a reasonable and profitable rate of return. The meeting is scheduled on Wednesday, June 17, 2015 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the NAMI St. Louis office located at 1750 South Brentwood, Suite 511, Brentwood, MO 63144.