Life in the Community : Home-Link: Supporting People with Mental Health Problems in Ordinary Housing

It is widely recognised that people with mental health problems often face great difficulties in securing good quality housing and support. Social services and health services increasingly focus on crisis, high-need provision, while housing providers do not have sufficient resources to provide support to the increasing numbers of people living unsupported in ordinary housing. Underdeveloped or poor interagency working hinders the situation further. The research concludes that a greater emphasis needs to be placed on coordinated preventative services, alongside existing high intensity services.Developed in 1995 in the East Riding of Yorkshire, 'Home-Link' is a living support network, a particularly innovative interagency initiative specifically set up to meet the long-term housing and support needs of people with mental health problems.A life in the community: provides a detailed description and investigation of the main elements of the Home-Link scheme;gives an overview of the project, looking at what difference it has made to people's lives;explores the benefits for interagency working and looks at the financial costs involved;outlines the challenges facing agencies interested in developing and sustaining such a model.- vbTab] vbTab]Based on in-depth interviews with users and key players, and detailed analysis of project monitoring and documentation, this report evaluates whether the Home-Link scheme represents an appropriate model for providing support to people with mental health needs in the community. It is essential reading for all those involved in developing and sustaining such schemes.