A still from Here At Home film, "The Wound Inside"
1. The experiment: Sometimes it’s referred to as a study, sometimes a “national research demonstration project,” sometimes a, “randomized controlled trial.” We just like to call it, “the experiment.”
2. The big idea: find the best way to help people who are homeless and have mental illness.
3. The method: At Home is experimenting with something called Housing First. The idea is, before you do anything else for homeless people with mental illness, get them housed. Then offer support services like psychiatric care, addiction counseling, job placement, etc.
4. What it’s not: old-school methods of helping this population typically use housing as a carrot – i.e. if you stop drinking, get off drugs and start taking meds for your mental illness, you get a home. The problem is, this approach has been used for decades and the population just keeps growing. Housing First, on the other hand, has an extremely successful track record when it comes to people staying housed.
5. The scale: At Home is HUGE. There are more than 2,000 participants. It’s the largest experiment of its kind in the world.
6. The breakdown: 1,265 of the participants have been housed by At Home; 970 have not. The experiment is comparing the two groups to see who does better and who costs the system less.
7. The map: It’s happening in 5 cities across Canada: Vancouver, Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal and Moncton.
8. The masterminds: The Mental Health Commission of Canada is running it. Ottawa gave them $110 million to do the experiment.
A screencapture from the Here At Home web documentary
9. The status quo: The homeless problem is expensive to ignore. Homeless people with mental illness spend a lot of time in hospitals, shelters, jails, courts… services paid for by various branches of government. In fact, it’s estimated that this particular population costs Canadian taxpayers around $1.4 billion. Just to be clear, that’s $1.4 billion for people to continue living on the street!
10. The bottom line: By most accounts Housing First is cost effective. It’s actually cheaper to house people and provide them with support services than it is to leave them on the street.
11. The timeframe: At Home enrolled its first participant in 2009; it ends in March of 2013.
12: The outcome: Unknown. Will the housed participants stay in their homes? Will the experiment kickstart a nationwide housing program? It all depends on the results…
7 comments
Here At Home: An Interactive Window into a Radical Canadian Experiment | NFB.ca blog says:
Jun 15, 2012
[...] Here, Oisin Curran, web writer and social media manager for Here At Home, breaks down the project in 12 bite-size items. Read him and his fellow contributors on the Here At Home blog. [...]
Manal says:
Sep 8, 2012
Mental illness can be phcsyial, such as chemical imbalances in the brain, and yes, certain mental illness can be cured. Almost all of them can be cured, except, it is believed, for psychopathy.
Peter Biesterfeld says:
Jun 26, 2012
What an encouraging initiative. Somebody is paying attention and people-centered solutions prevail. Here’s hoping that the experiment becomes national policy. Bravo NFB for once again carrying out the original vision and 70-year-old mandate of opening windows to Canadian stories on to places where social change is desperately needed. Documentaries CAN change the world.
Oisin Curran says:
Jun 28, 2012
Thanks for the great comment Peter! Were there any films that you liked in particular?
Fernando says:
Sep 8, 2012
Thought processes that infretere with one’s daily life and happiness or that pose a threat to oneself or others.Mental illness can be treated and successfully dealt with. Whether it can be considered cured depends on the cause and nature.
Jennifer Kyte says:
Jul 26, 2012
Having worked in a homeless shelter I know this makes sense! Shelter life is not conducive to improving or maintaining mental health.
Cheryl McDonagh says:
Sep 14, 2012
I’m in the Uk and for a number of years I have noticed a homeless person in the streets of my town spiral into decline. He used to have a dog but recently I’ve not seen it with him and he is getting much much worse. He sits in the empty doorways of premises rocking and talking to himself, he is absolutely filthy and what clothes he has are nearly falling of him. He has some kind of injury to his leg or possibly has some illness or condition possibly drug related.
Yesterday as I was collecting a parcel from the post office, near where I see him he was routing through bins for food. In my understanding of the laws over here – he has to be of danger to others or himself before he could be helped by mental health services, but surely he is of danger to himself if he has a mental illness as he is unable to care for himself? He will not I’m sure last out another winter on the streets – he does nothing to keep himself warm sat in these doorways – no cardboard or blankets nothing at all. Possibly the loss of his pet has made the decline in his condition much worse, maybe he has given up?
Who looks out for these people in our societies – in my opinion the mental health laws could do with a radical shake up!