Helpful Links

Directory of Websites

The following is a listing of organizations and their websites related to housing for people with mental illness and co-occurring disorders.

Housing Resources – State Agencies

Pennsylvania Association of Housing and Redevelopment Agencies (PAHRA)
www.pahra.org
The Pennsylvania Association of Housing and Redevelopment Agencies (PAHRA) is an affiliation of Pennsylvania’s housing authorities, redevelopment authorities, community development agencies and nonprofit corporations. The purposes of PAHRA are to disseminate information relating to housing and community development; study and analyze national, state, and local legislation affecting housing and community development; provide a channel for the frequent exchange of ideas, experiences and innovations within the fields of housing and community development; and increase public understanding of the methods and objectives of housing and community development agencies.

Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED)
www.newpa.com
DCED’s housing assistance programs encompass a wide range of services, from assistance to senior citizens and low-income families for needed repairs of their home to financial assistance to first time homebuyers. Funding for weatherizing homes and the installation of fire alarms are examples of other types of programs funded by DCED. These programs address the critical needs of twelve million people in the Commonwealth and provide a basic human need–that of shelter.

Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (PHFA)
www.phfa.org
The Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency was created by the General Assembly in 1972 to provide more affordable housing for older adults, families of modest means and persons with disabilities. To date, the Agency has financed more than 100,000 houses and 56,000 apartment units while saving 32,000 homes from foreclosure. PHFA’s funding comes from a variety of sources; including the sale of its own securities to private investors throughout the United States; and, program fees and funds that may be passed through from the state or federal governments. Agency expenses are paid from fee and investment income; part of the investment earnings are used to subsidize housing programs.

PHFA’s Apartment Locator
www.phfa.org/pal
The Apartment Locator was developed by the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency as a tool to link consumers to affordable housing options throughout the Commonwealth. It is intended to be an aid for consumers who are searching for affordable apartments and for property managers and developers who wish to market their affordable vacant units.

Federal Agencies

HUD Homeless Resource Exchange (HUDHRE)
www.hudhre.info
The Homelessness Resource Exchange is the one-stop shop for information and resources for providers who are assisting persons who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.

National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO)
www.nahro.org
NAHRO is a leading housing and community development advocate for the provision of adequate and affordable housing and strong, viable communities for all Americans-particularly those with low- and moderate-incomes. Its members administer HUD programs such as Public Housing, Section 8, CDBG and HOME.

The National Fair Housing Advocate Online
www.fairhousing.com
The National Fair Housing Advocate Online is a resource designed to serve both the fair housing advocacy community and the general public with timely news and information regarding the issues of housing discrimination. This site is maintained by the Tennessee Fair Housing Council.

National Housing Institute (NHI)
www.nhi.org
NHI examines the key issues affecting affordable housing and community development practitioners and their supporters. These issues include housing, jobs, safety, and education, with an emphasis on housing and economic development, as well as poverty and racism, disinvestment and lack of employment, and breakdown of the social fabric.

National Low Income Housing Coalition
www.nlihc.org
The National Low Income Housing Coalition is dedicated to ending America’s affordable housing crisis, focusing on the housing needs of the lowest income households.

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
www.hud.gov
HUD is the most significant source of funding for affordable housing. This site provides information on HUD programs, funding opportunities, and new initiatives.

Non-Profit Agencies

Concern for Independent Living, Inc.
www.concernhousing.org
Concern for Independent Living, Inc primarily serves Long Island, New York. Their mission is to provide safe, affordable housing within the community to persons recovering from psychiatric and other disabilities and to low-income individuals and families; to offer supportive services and vocational opportunities; to foster independence, empowerment, and recovery; to assist individuals and families to develop and achieve their goals; and to advocate on both an individual and societal level to reduce the stigma of mental illness to allow persons with psychiatric and other disabilities to live with independence, support, and dignity.

Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH)
www.csh.org
CSH makes supportive housing understood, available, and effective. They advance their mission by providing high-quality advice and development expertise; by making loans and grants to supportive housing sponsors; by strengthening the supportive housing industry; and by reforming public policy to make it easier to create and operate supportive housing. CSH works with its partners to foster innovative approaches to supportive housing, and then builds awareness and support for these new ideas.

Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania
www.housingalliancepa.org
The Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania is a statewide membership organization whose mission is to ensure that all Pennsylvanians, especially those with low incomes, have access to safe, decent, affordable and accessible homes.

Housing Assistance Council
www.ruralhome.org
A nonprofit corporation headquartered in Washington, D.C., the Housing Assistance Council (HAC) has been helping local organizations build affordable homes in rural America since 1971. HAC emphasizes local solutions, empowerment of the poor, reduced dependence, and self-help strategies. HAC assists in the development of both single- and multi-family homes and promotes homeownership for working low-income rural families through a self-help, “sweat equity” construction method.

Self-Determination Housing Project of Pennsylvania (SDHP)
www.sdhp.org
SDHP, a statewide organization founded in 1994 and incorporated as a non-profit organization in 1998, promotes self-determination in housing choice and control for people with disabilities in Pennsylvania. SDHP builds upon national and state efforts to increase the stock of affordable, accessible and integrated housing through outreach and education, advocacy and policy and development, technical assistance and program development.

Technical Assistance Collaborative (TAC)
www.tacinc.org
TAC is a national non-profit organization that works to achieve positive outcomes on behalf of people with disabilities, people who are homeless, and people with other special needs by providing state-of-the-art information, capacity building, and technical expertise to organizations and policymakers in the areas of mental health, substance abuse, human services, and affordable housing.

Mental Health and Disability Resources – State Agencies

PA Department of Public Welfare (DPW) Office of Mental Health and Substance Services (OMHSAS)
www.dpw.state.pa.us/about/OMHSAS/ and www.parecovery.org

The above websites are for OMHSAS, the sponsor of the PA Housing Choices web site. Behavioral Health services range from community to hospital programs with emphasis on helping children, adolescents, and adults to remain in their communities. Community-based services are emphasized, with the goal to help people who have serious mental illness or serious emotional disturbance break the cycle of repeated hospital or residential admissions. The range of services includes outpatient, partial, residential, short-term inpatient hospital care, emergency crisis intervention services, counseling, information, referral and case management services.

Services provided to adults are based on the Community Support Program (CSP) principles: consumer-centered, consumer-empowered, culturally appropriate, flexible, strengths-based, community-based, natural supports, needs-based and coordinated. In accordance with these principles, vocational/employment services, psychiatric rehabilitation services, community treatment teams, housing supports, consumer-run drop-in centers, social/recreational services as well as other locally designed services for special needs and populations are also available to adults.

Pennsylvania Developmental Disabilities Council
www.paddc.org
The Pennsylvania Developmental Disabilities Council is a group made up of people with disabilities, family members, advocates, and state department representatives who work to create favorable conditions for people with developmental disabilities and their families in the Commonwealth. Created under a federal act and Governor’s Executive Order, the Council is both a planning group and a funding body.

Federal Agencies

National Institute of Mental Health
www.nimh.nih.gov
The NIMH is the lead Federal agency for research on mental and behavioral disorders. Their mission is to reduce the burden of mental illness and behavioral disorders through research on mind, brain, and behavior.

National Mental Health Information Center through the Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS)
www.mentalhealth.org
The Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) is charged with leading the national system that delivers mental health services. The goal of this system is to provide the treatment and support services needed by adults with mental disorders and children with serious emotional problems.

PATH Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness
www.pathprogram.samhsa.gov
Created under the McKinney Act, The PATH Program, is a formula grant program that funds the 50 States, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and four U.S. Territories to support service delivery to individuals with serious mental illnesses, as well as individuals with co-occurring substance use disorders, who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. This site contains useful resources generated by the PATH program.

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
www.samhsa.gov
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), was established by an act of Congress in 1992 under Public Law 102-321. SAMHSA was created to focus attention, programs, and funding on improving the lives of people with or at risk for mental health and substance abuse disorders.

Non-Profit Agencies

Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities
www.c-c-d.org
The Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities is a Coalition of national consumer, advocacy, provider and professional organizations working together to advocate for national public policy that ensures the self determination, independence, empowerment, integration and inclusion of children and adults with disabilities in all aspects of society.

Disabilities Rights Network
www.drnpa.org
The Disabilities Rights Network (DRN) is a non-profit statewide public interest law firm that provides legal assistance and other services to individuals with disabilities, their organizations, their families, and their advocates. DRN’s main purpose is to advocate for the civil rights of persons with mental and physical disabilities, especially their right to live as integral parts of their communities.

Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law
www.bazelon.org
The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law is a national legal advocate for people with mental disabilities. Through precedent-setting litigation and in the public policy arena, the Bazelon Center works to advance and preserve the rights of people with mental illness and co-occurring disorders and developmental disabilities.

National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI)
www.nami.org
NAMI is a nonprofit, grassroots, self-help, support and advocacy organization of consumers, families, and friends of people with severe mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic and other severe anxiety disorders, autism and pervasive developmental disorders, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and other severe and persistent mental illnesses that affect the brain.

NAMI Pennsylvania
namipa.nami.org
Founded in 1983, NAMI PA is the largest statewide non-profit organization dedicated to helping mental health consumers and their families rebuild their lives and conquer the challenges posed by severe and persistent mental illness. This mission is accomplished through programs designed to offer support and education to our membership and to advocate for better mental health services on their behalf.

National Mental Health Association
www.nmha.org
The National Mental Health Association (NMHA) is the country’s oldest and largest nonprofit organization addressing all aspects of mental health and mental illness. With more than 340 affiliates nationwide. NMHA works to improve the mental health of all Americans, especially the 54 million individuals with mental disorders, through advocacy, education, research and service.

The following are Affiliate Mental Health Association (MHA) websites in Pennsylvania:

Policy Research Associates, Inc. (PRA)
www.prainc.com
Policy Research Associates, Inc. (PRA) is a small business offering comprehensive services – applied research, policy analysis, evaluation studies, knowledge development and application, and technical assistance – with a primary focus on mental health services issues at the federal, state, and local levels. PRA projects are funded by federal and state agencies, national organizations, and foundations.

Consumer-Run Organizations

National Empowerment Center, Inc.
www.power2u.org
The mission of the National Empowerment Center Inc. is to carry a message of recovery, empowerment, hope and healing to people who have been diagnosed with mental illness. The National Empowerment Center is a consumer/survivor/expatient-run organization.

The Coalition for Community Living
www.theccl.org
The coalition is responsible for the Fairweather Lodge, a residential vocational community program providing opportunities for individuals diagnosed with persistent psychiatric conditions. The Lodge program allows consumers to function at their optimum potential. This includes learning ways to discuss and solve any problems or concerns along with helping one another in the process.

The National Mental Health Consumers Self-Help Clearinghouse
www.mhselfhelp.org
The National Mental Health Consumers Self-Help Clearinghouse, funded partly by the Center for Mental Health Services, promotes and helps to develop consumer-run self-help groups across the country. Technical assistance and materials are available on such topics as organizing groups, fundraising, leadership development, incorporating, public relations, advocacy, and networking.

Pennsylvania Mental Health Consumers’ Association
www.pmhca.org
The Pennsylvania Mental Health Consumers’ Association (PMHCA) is a statewide membership organization representative of the individual and collective expression of people who have recovered or are recovering from mental illness. The purpose of the Association is to improve the quality of our lives through advocacy, education and the elimination of stigma and discrimination.

Homelessness Resources

Interagency Council on Homelessness
www.ich.gov
Congress established the Interagency Council on Homelessness in 1987 with the passage of the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act. The Council is responsible for providing Federal leadership for activities to assist homeless families and individuals.

National Alliance to End Homelessness
www.endhomelessness.org
The National Alliance to End Homelessness is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to mobilize the nonprofit, public and private sectors of society in an alliance to end homelessness. The Alliance represents a united effort to address the root causes of homelessness and challenge society’s acceptance of homelessness as an inevitable by-product of American life.

The National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH)
www.nationalhomeless.org
The mission of the National Coalition for the Homeless is to end homelessness. The focus of their work is in the following four areas: housing justice, economic justice, health care justice, and civil and voting rights. Their approaches are grassroots organizing, public education, policy advocacy, technical assistance, and partnerships.