HOUSING: Maintain funding to provide safe, affordable housing and services for people living with mental illnesses.   Ever since NAMI-NYS was incorporated in 1982, safe and affordable housing has been an ongoing priority. A stable environment is vital and fundamental to people living with serious mental illness. In 2007, the Campaign for Mental Health Housing called for a multi-year commitment to build 35,000 additional housing units in New York State. Only 14% of people with serious mental illness had access to state assisted housing: one third were living with families; the rest lived in state psychiatric centers, adult homes, jails, prisons, shelters and in the streets. The New York/New York III program’s promise of 5,500 housing units designated for those with mental illness over a ten year period falls seriously below the actual need and is fraught with development delays and setbacks. The number of mentally ill persons housed through OMH, including 7,000 units that are still in development, is 40,000. This simply does not provide enough affordable housing. Furthermore, individuals on SSI cannot afford to pay for housing, often leaving them to rely on aging family members to avoid living in shelters and on the streets. The fate of those living at home with their aging parents becomes more precarious each year. Expected housing disruptions for adults with seriously mentally ill increase each year, yet the solutions are not keeping pace with growing housing needs of this population. NAMI families across New York State are deeply concerned that their deaths will leave their sons and daughters homeless, institutionalized or inadequately housed and without necessary community supports. In 1990, OMH conducted a needs assessment survey among adults receiving public mental health services. The resulting information combined with general state demographic statistics estimated that approximately 31,500 adults with a serious mental illness currently reside with their families. We want housing provided for all those in need, not just those in crisis. Persons with a mental illness who are transitioning out of jail and forensic units at state hospital facilities are in dire need of supervised housing. Without appropriate housing in place, recidivism is especially high within this population. Please maintain funding to provide housing and services for those with serious mental illnesses who do not have the financial resources to afford the most basic human need...that of a safe, accessible, stable and affordable place to call home.       Next Issue: Preserve the Community Mental Health Safety Net