Supportive Housing for those with Mental Illness

There is a Housing Task Force that is local, non-profit organization who is working to build permanent supportive housing (PSH) for people with mental illness in the northwest suburbs.  The all-volunteer group was started about ten years ago by people who were concerned about the terrible lack of housing in our area for those living with a mental illness. Now is the time you can help. 

What little supportive housing exists is in Chicago, and the sites all have waiting lists three or four years long.  A recent market study showed a need for more than 900 units of supportive housing for people with mental illness in the Palatine/Arlington Heights/Wheeling area. As a consequence, many live with elderly parents who are unable to support them, or placed in hospitals and nursing homes. At this point, our jails are starting to be unnessiarily filled with mentally ill patients as a result of their lack of access to services.

The Task Force is now in the initial stages of creating a 34 unit PSH apartment building for people with mental illness and other disabilities in Palatine.  The building will be located on the northwest side of downtown Palatine, near the Post Office, and will be named Catherine Alice Gardens, in honor of LWVPA member Catherine Barrett and Alice Byrne, the co-founders of the Task Force.

PSH is the research-based, gold standard for housing and treating people with mental illness who are capable of living independently.   PSH means that each resident has his or her own apartment, complete with kitchen and bathroom facilities.  The residents all have leases and are tenants, just like any other apartment dwellers. 

Mental health agencies say that in a well-run PSH development the vast majority of the residents will see their mental illness symptoms completely disappear.  They’re not cured; they have to keep seeing their therapists and taking prescribed medication, but they can return to a normal life the community. 

PSH is not only effective, it is also cost-effective.  PSH typically costs about one-quarter as much as housing people with mental illness in nursing homes, for example.

Supportive services, such a social work and case management, will be provided by the Alexian Brothers Center for Mental Health, our area’s community mental health agency.  The therapeutic staff will have offices on site to meet with residents; the beauty of that is that if a person forgets their appointment with a therapist, the therapist can just go knock on the person’s door and meet right in their room if need be. 

In this quiet neighborhood, residents will have easy walking distance to the Metra station, downtown Palatine, grocery stores, banks, and a pharmacy.

PSH is different from group homes.  In a group home, the residents share facilities, typically have roommates, and share bathrooms.  There is one kitchen and meals are prepared for the residents.  Group homes are for people who are more seriously disabled and who might have difficulty living independently in a PSH setting. 

LWV of the Palatine Area has endorsed Catherine Alice Gardens and will be providing a letter of support for the project as it moves through the approval process. You can join us.

If you approve of this effort please write Mayor Jim Schwantz and members of the Council (Village of Palatine, 200 E. Wood St., Palatine, IL. 60047) to let them know you support the Catherine Alice Garden Facility at 345 Eric Dr.