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Funding for New Housing Options Awarded to MHDD Community Partners and Member Banks

PERSONS WITH MENTAL ILLNESS AND CO-OCCURING DISORDERS TO BENEFIT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Community housing agencies and member banks that are partnered with the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities’ (TDMHDD) Creating Homes Initiative are receiving $2,300,000 from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati’s Affordable Housing Program. The award is part of an ongoing effort to develop and expand permanent housing options for persons with mental illness and co-occuring disorders.

A combined $8,000,000 has been awarded to Tennessee member bank lender institutions representing community agencies from all regions of the State through the TDMHDD’s Creating Home Initiative (CHI). The TDMHDD and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati began working together in January of 2002. This partnership, to date, provides for 439 new housing options.

"The FHL Bank of Cincinnati has a successful history of partnering with our member financial institutions and nonprofit providers to create meaningful housing opportunities for clients served by the TDMHDD," said Carol M. Peterson, Senior Vice President, Housing and Community Investment, FHL Bank of Cincinnati. "Through our Affordable Housing Program, we are proud to announce that an additional $2.3 million will be awarded this year to help 112 persons with new affordable housing units as part of Tennessee's Creating Homes Initiative."

The Creating Homes Initiative, a targeted, grassroots, local community, multi-agency collaborative operated by the TDMHDD’s Office of Housing Planning and Development (OHPD), has spearheaded the department’s expressed mission to develop and expand permanent housing options and services for people with mental illness and co-occuring disorders.

“One of the main challenges in our endeavors to provide Tennesseans with mental illness the opportunity to live, work and participate fully in their communities is the lack of decent, safe, affordable housing,” said TDMHDD Commissioner Virginia Trotter Betts. “These housing options allow us the opportunity to work with community partners to enrich the lives of the people we serve.

Tennesseans can learn more about housing options, accessing mental health services in Tennessee or volunteering to help others in treatment by visiting the department’s web site at www.state.tn.us/mental.