News

Caring means housing…

A range of organisations have recently come together to form the Joint Forum on Mental Health and Homelessness, because of concern that the Department of Health funded mental health and homelessness initiative does not go far enough.

The forum is calling for a national strategy to ensure that government policies work together for the benefit of service users. It is urging that effective community care must ensure that people with mental health problems do not end up homeless or impoverished. Conversely, people who are homeless should not face the extreme pressures which can lead to a breakdown in mental health.

While welcoming the initiative, which aims to provide accommodation and support for homeless people with mental health problems in inner London, the forum argues that it is underfunded, needs to be extended nationwide, and is hampered by a lack of co-ordination at government level.

Sarah Gorton of the Medical Campaign Project, and a member of the forum, told healthmatters: ‘The government will be wasting the resources it has already put into the initiative if it does not provide funding for people with high care needs. We want a guarantee that there will be long term support available for people housed independently in housing association properties.’