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From this point forward: Ending custodial housing for people with mental illness in Canada

In brief

Housing is a health issue. People who live in substandard housing or who are homeless are not only vulnerable to illness and disease but also have a hard time accessing health services. For people with mental illness, this problem can have fatal outcomes.

This report by the Community Support and Research Unit of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health gives an overview of the custodial housing model and explains the limitations of the model. The aim of the report is to exchange knowledge and offer practical strategies and examples that will facilitate the move from the custodial to the best practice housing models.

EENet has developed a Research Report Round-up of the report, “From This Point Forward: Ending Custodial Housing for People with Mental Illness in Canada.”

Research Report Round-ups are brief summaries of research reports, presented in a user-friendly format.

Read the summary below or access the full report [PDF].

Title and link to report: From This Point Forward: Ending Custodial Housing for People with Mental Illness in Canada
Author(s): Community Support and Research Unit (CSRU), Centre for Addiction and Mental
Year: 2012
Location: Toronto 

What this report is about

This report is intended to support a national community of interest aimed at facilitating the move from custodial to best practice housing models by exchanging knowledge and offering practical strategies and examples. The paper gives an overview of the custodial housing model and explains the limitations of the model. Among the report’s key messages:

Five reasons to eliminate custodial housing:

  1. It violates human rights.
  2. It is not a cost-effective model. 
  3. People can and do recover from serious mental illness.
  4. People know what they need to recover.
  5. It can be done and has to be done.

Strategies to eliminate custodial housing:

Examples of best practice housing models:

How can this report be used

People working in the custodial housing sector will find useful strategies to facilitate the transition to the best practice housing model and examples of housing that have made the transition

Population addressed

People with mental illness

Key words

Housing; mental illness; best practice; recovery

Contact person/source

Nick Kerman
nkerm094@uottawa.ca

Language

English

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