Housing Solutions Listening, learning and acting on consumer and worker experience to inform modern mental health approaches to housing…..what works

Housing solutions….. This session will cover: What people tell us Examples of what’s possible when you act on this information to design services and solutions in the housing area

A Mental Health and Addictions Support Service Provider A specialist Registered Community Housing Provider (CHP)

Comcare credentials in the housing space Comcare provides: 133 permanent tenancies An additional 65 transitional housing flats/homes, housing 246 people last year Has built 83 single flats in the past 8 years across 16 sites Has 3 x 4 single person flat complexes under construction today Provides Housing Support services for an additional 480 people a year

housing significantly impacts on peoples wellbeing and long term stability…. more than any other non clinical element Taking what we knew about the fundamental importance of housing, and the consistently negative experiences and stories from people we worked with, we stepped fully into the housing space to make the changes we wished to see…

What people shared with us Each time I get unwell I lose everything. My flat, my belongings, sometimes friends and family end up sorting it. I end up in just more debt to MSD. I end up feeling down and cant see a way back. I hate those big complexes of flats you get put in. Scary places with lots of people with troubles like me or using it as a place to trade. I wish I could live in a normal flat but I can’t afford it any more….I used to be able to but now that’s not an option. I hate having no privacy outside, or no quiet outside spaces to go to. The flats are usually pretty grotty but I guess that’s all there is for people like me. People think I cant look after a nice place, but I’ve never had one to try.

And …… No-one really wants to hear my real story or hear what I want. Trauma/pain talk seems to scare support staff and clinicians. I don’t talk about stuff anymore as people just offer me meds. It’s not rocket science. I want what you want…a home, a job and people who care about me

Staff TELL US Poverty seems as much the problem as mental illness or addictions I often see people not being encouraged to take on a challenge, in case it adds stress and destabilises them…but that’s the real world if you want to achieve in life. The way people are treated by welfare services is awful and it feels worse to me when it improves when I advocate /accompany them…what does that say to them… The “system” is really complex. No normal person could navigate it let alone someone unwell or vulnerable…who is the system designed for?

Examples of Success by responding to what people said would assist them Housing First Housing Support Services including Home Rescue / Sustaining Tenancies work Residential (Recovery) Services Social Housing

Housing first principles inform all housing approaches, not just those for the long term homeless Immediate access to housing with no housing readiness conditions Consumer choice and self-determination A harm reduction and recovery-orientation approach Individualised and person-driven supports Social and community integration It’s about ending homelessness – not managing it

Christchurch Housing First Collaboration multiplies effectiveness Connect with the people to hear what they say Employ people with heart Keep “rules” from systems and employing organisations to a minimum Deliver results …make system change

Housing support services: responding to what we heard about repeated loss and the importance of a Home as fundamental to wellbeing Housing Facilitation, including navigating and screening for public and transitional housing Home Rescue, 10 years of experience as a specialist forerunner to the MSD Sustaining Tenancies approach

Alternate model of residential support Permanent good quality housing is provided by CHPs, HNZC and Regional Authorities as for any person in high housing need. Access to specialised tenancy supports, such as sustaining tenancies is supported MH and AOD health funded services provide flexible, needs based, home based recovery and rehabilitation support

Social (public) housing: a community housing provider response to what people told us Small complexes Privacy outdoors Well soundproofed Quality fit-out Energy efficient, low R&M Permanent IRR tenancies

Kay Fletcher Chief Executive Comcare Trust