Homelessness

One mission of MHS is to end homelessness in our community among those with a severe mental disorder. MHS uses the definition of homelessness published by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD, 2002), and required for those who provide homeless assistance services for HUD's Supportive Housing Programs. HUD considers a person to be homeless only when he or she …

- resides in places not meant for human habitation, such as cars, parks, sidewalks, and abandoned buildings;

- resides in an emergency shelter;

- resides in transitional or supportive housing for homeless persons who originally came from the streets or emergency shelter;

- resides in any of the above places, but is spending a short time (up to 30 consecutive days) in a hospital or other institution;

- is being evicted within a week from a private dwelling unit and no subsequent residence has been identified and the person lacks the resources and support networks needed to obtain housing; or

- is being discharged within a week from an institution in which the person has been a resident for more than 30 consecutive days and no subsequent residence has been identified and he or she lacks the resources and support networks needed to obtain housing.

Persistent Homelessness

HUD defines some people as being "chronically homeless," and makes services to them a priority. In HUD's definition, these are single people who have disabilities, and who have been persistently or repeatedly homeless. HUD formally defines a chronically homeless person as "An unaccompanied homeless individual with a disabling condition who has either been continuously homeless for a year or more OR has had at least four (4) episodes of homelessness in the past three (3) years. ... The term ‘‘homeless’’ in this case means a person sleeping in a place not meant for human habitation (e.g., living on the streets), in an emergency homeless shelter, or in a Safe Haven as defined by HUD" (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 2008, p. 39841).

Disabling condition is defined by HUD as "(1) A disability as defined in section 223 of the Social Security Act; (2) a physical, mental, or emotional impairment which is expected to be of long-continued and indefinite duration, substantially impedes an individual’s ability to live independently, and of such a nature that the disability could be improved by more suitable conditions; (3) a developmental disability as defined in section 102 of the Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act; (4) the disease of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome or any conditions arising from the etiological agency for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome; or (5) a diagnosable substance abuse disorder" (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 2008).

Note.  One of the HUD-defined disabling conditions is a "serious mental illness." Most MHS homeless assistance programs serve only those who have a "severe mental disability," as defined by the Ohio Department of Mental Health. A person who has a severe mental disability would also be considered to be a person with a HUD-defined serious mental illness. To review the state's definition of "severe mental disability," click here.

References

To learn about other MHS programs providing coordinated care
for homeless persons with disabilities, click on the links below.

Copyright ©
Mental Health Services for Homeless Persons, Inc. (MHS)
1744 Payne Avenue; Cleveland, Ohio 44114 U.S.A.
216-623-6555 - TTY/TDD: 216-623-6540

The URL of this page is
http://www.mhs-inc.org/Definition-Homeless.asp
It was most recently updated on 9 April 2009.
We welcome your comments.
Please write to Joel[at]mhs-inc.org