Service Description
The Creating Homes Initiative (CHI) is a TDMHDD strategic plan to partner
with local communities on a grassroots level to create permanent housing
options for Tennesseans diagnosed mental illness and co-occurring disorders.
The CHI has two distinct but interrelated purposes.
First, the Director of the Office of Housing and Homeless Services
along with seven Regional Housing Facilitators (RHFs) convene Task Forces
in each of the seven regions to bring community stakeholders to the
table to discuss ways to increase and enhance current housing stock.
Request for Funding Proposals are reviewed, rated, ranked and recommended
by a steering committee consisting of individuals not requesting funding
for a housing project, as they compete for CHI dollars to develop housing
projects in their region.
CHI staff members conduct assessments to identify current housing stock,
gaps, and quality and then aggressively seek out and collaborate with
potential funding entities to leverage and funnel housing funds to local
communities. The RHFs provide technical assistance to local community
partners to write grants, secure financial support from multiple funding
streams, and then coordinate the creation and improvement of housing
units along a continuum of options ranging from 24/7 supervised supported
living facilities to home ownership. The RHFs also address and combat
NIMBY issues that threaten the fair housing rights of persons with mental
illness/co-occurring disorders.
Second, the CHI provides operation and service dollars to existing
housing facilities across the state.
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Why do we fund it?
To effectively leverage TDMHDD dollars with other state/local/federal/private
entities to increase the number of safe, affordable, quality, permanent
housing options for Tennesseans diagnosed with mental illness and co-occurring
disorders
Whom does it serve?
The program serves adults who are diagnosed with mental illness and
co-occurring disorders.
What are the outcomes?
The program reduces the likelihood of hospitalization and the use of
acute care, increases community tenure and the likelihood and employment,
ensures that consumers receive the needed services in order to successfully
integrate into the community, improves the quality of life, and reduces
the reliance upon more costly services. To date, 4,468 people have found
homes created or improved through the CHI and $101,859,259 in funding
from a diverse stream of national, regional, state and local contributors
has been leveraged. The CHI packet clearly breaks down where each housing
option is, what type of housing it is, who to contact, and how it was
funded.
CHI subsidies provide housing operation and support services to 16
residential facilities totaling 184 units of supported housing across
the state.
Preliminary research has shown a 95% decrease in hospitalizations because
of CHI housing. Currently, a longitudinal evaluation is being conducted
as part of the CMS Real Choice Systems Change Housing Within Reach Project.
Forty percent of the sample group is persons who have resided in stable
CHI housing and who were hospitalized within the previous two years
compared to 60% who are in other stable housing. Findings from the one-year,
three-interview study are forthcoming.
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