This is the fourth in a series of seven articles about the Travis County Forensic Mental Health Project. This series of articles was named the Best Series of Articles – General Interest by the State Bar of Texas‘ Division III Stars of Texas Bars Awards.
The Travis County Forensic Mental Health Project delivered its recommendations to the Travis County Commissioners in March 2023. The goal of these recommendations is to provide solutions other than jail to address mental health and substance abuse disorders in the county.
Recommendation #3
The Project’s third recommendation is to establish a range of housing options.
“We know that individuals with stable housing are less likely to interact with the criminal legal system,” the recommendations document says.
The Sobering Center conducted an analysis of criminal-trespass data in Travis County and found roughly half the bookings with criminal trespass as the highest charge received mental health services at some point during their stay in jail in fiscal year 2020.
“Of that same population, 73 percent reported experiencing homelessness at the time of their booking,” the document says.
Travis County’s Health and Human Services is currently working on a Supportive Housing Initiative Pipeline, using $110 million from the federal American Rescue Plan Act.
“Through a total of 11 projects, the pipeline will establish a total of 3,082 [housing] units that include site partners by 2026,” the document says, going on to define “site partners” as “groups building additional units with different funding.”
The document cites statistics from the Bureau of Justice in 2005. Of 404,638 prisoners who were released from prisons in 30 states:
43.4 percent were rearrested within one year;
67.8 percent were rearrested within three years; and
76.6 percent were rearrested within five years.1
Recidivism can be reduced by providing affordable housing, the Project says.
Because people reintegrating into society with criminal charges and/or mental health disorders are often declined housing, the ideal housing system for these people is “low-barrier housing.”
“The Housing Initiative Pipeline awarded the Other Ones Foundation in February 2023 [$3 million in] funding to build a 200-unit low-barrier emergency shelter called Esperanza Community,” the document says. Ten of these 200 units will be specifically “dedicated to sheltering individuals involved with the Downtown Austin Community Court.”
More research and data are needed to determine how many low-barrier shelters are needed, the document says.
“This housing is referred to as a shelter because it is not intended to be a permanent solution for people, but instead a bridge to their next permanent home,” the document says. “By calling this option a shelter, it allows individuals to remain on the housing need list based on the Department of Housing and Urban Development federal guidelines.”
“Permanent supportive housing” for individuals who have been released from jail with mental health conditions is also a gap in Travis County. These individuals benefit from a housing continuum, starting with bridge shelter for immediate release from jail—or a diversion center—to permanent no-barrier housing solutions,” the document says.
The Housing Initiative Pipeline has plans to add a variety of such affordable housing units throughout Travis County, the document says.
To facilitate the success of a Travis County diversion center in providing a “viable exit strategy,” the Project recommends establishing three housing pilot programs “to address a portion of the housing needs and leverage existing city and county housing planning and investment.”
The first of these pilot programs is the “Supported Bridge Shelter.” This pilot program would take place over three years and would treat 100 people, focusing on individuals with mental health and/or substance use diagnoses in need of interim shelter when released from jail or the diversion center. The pilot program would also provide funding for miscellaneous needs, such as obtaining identification documents, rental assistance, and “embedded peer specialists.”
The Other Ones’ Esperanza Community would be involved in this pilot program and would require $1.03 million in staffing costs per year.
For this first pilot program, the Project also suggests purchasing a hotel within Travis County that could provide up to 120 rooms with an “opening bid of $3.5 million.”
The second pilot program is the “Emergency Shelter (respite included).” This program would take place over three years; would treat 30 people, focusing on individuals with intellectual/developmental disorders, dementia, and other brain-health diagnoses, including dual diagnoses; and would also include funding for the miscellaneous needs listed above.
This pilot program would require the construction of a “module emergency hospital” with an estimated cost of $1.8 million plus $1.19 million annually for staffing costs.
The third and final pilot program is the “Higher Quality Boarding Homes.” This program would take place over three years and would provide eight to 10 homes treating the “same population who currently use boarding homes.” These boarding homes would be “contracted out” and receive “structured payments for incentivization to increase quality.”
Each of the boarding homes would receive a monthly stipend of $20,300 as “incentivization.”
“Boarding homes in Texas have a history of poor outcomes, especially for individuals with complex mental health, brain health, and criminal histories,” the document says.2
The monthly stipend would be used for “case management, supplemental food funding, standard housing maintenance like cleaning and pest control, and a program director employed by the county to implement and monitor the pilot,” the document says.
“The county and the boarding home could enter into an agreement that, in exchange for the monthly stipend, the home would agree to not use the resident’s existing aid or require them to make the boarding home representative payees, ensure all residents have a robust crisis response plan, improve relations with Integral Care’s Mobile Crisis Outreach Team (MCOT) and the Expanded Mobile Crisis Outreach Team (EMCOT), and other items the county deems necessary to ensure safety, wellbeing, and dignity for all residents.”
“The project team emphasized that these recommendations are insufficient to address the ongoing, growing need for a continuum of housing in Travis County, but represent a reasonable next step,” the document says.
If the three-pilot-program scenario is not adopted, the Project recommends starting with 50 units of each type of housing represented in the pilot programs. These units should still have low- to no-entry barriers to obtain housing based on criminal history, mental health, and brain health disorders.
Endnotes
1 https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/rprts05p0510.pdf
2 http://boardinghome.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/BH-Boarding-Houses-Report-01-09.pdf