Paper
Thursday, July 14, 2005
Disconnection: Housing, Income Support, and Mental Health Policy
Cheryl Forchuk, RN, PhD1, Katherine Turner, BA, LLB, CED, (dip)2, Libbey Joplin, BA, MTS, CAPE3, Ruth Schofield, RN, MSc(T)4, Rick Csiernik, MSW, PhD, RSW5, and Carolyne Gorlick, PhD5. (1) School of Nursing, University of Western Ontario/Lawson Health Research Institute, London, ON, Canada, (2) Industry Canada-FedNor, Community Futures, London, ON, Canada, (3) London, ON, Canada, (4) Faculty of Health Science, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada, (5) School of Social Work, King's University College, London, ON, Canada
| Learning Objective #1: Raise awareness of policies influencing mental health, housing, and income supports among nursing and other professionals working with psychiatric consumers/survivors |
| Learning Objective #2: Raise awareness and further explore potential solutions in addressing policy gaps affecting psychiatric consumers/survivors, thus promoting the health of this vulnerable population |
There is a disconnection between evolving policies in the arenas of mental health, housing and income support in Canada. A Community University Research Alliance on Housing and Mental Health undertook a policy analysis to gain an increased understanding of policies affecting psychiatric consumer / survivors' access to appropriate housing. One of the complexities of analysing the intersection of these policies is that in Canada, federal, provincial and municipal policies are involved. Canada is without a national mental health policy but in recent decades policies of deinstitutionalization from hospital to community have been pursued at the provincial level. During this same period the availability of affordable housing has decreased as responsibility for social housing has been downloaded from federal to provincial to municipal levels. Canada also stands alone as a developed nation with no national housing policy. Since what is “affordable” is dependant upon personal economic resources, it is also important to understand policies related to income support. Over the past decade income supports have also been diminished. Psychiatric survivors have long been identified as at risk for homelessness. With the disconnection between housing, income and mental health policies and the lack of a national policy in any of these areas further contributes to this risk. Nursing and other professionals will benefit from increased awareness of such issues and may apply this knowledge in working toward improved health for this population.