Recovery From Schizophrenia: Psychiatry And Political Economy

TREATMENT 281interest loans and grants, homeownership assistance programs and property taxforgiveness. 30In fact, there are relatively few successful examples of cooperative homeownershipfor the mentally ill because of a variety of problems. The mentally illtend to be a fairly mobile group with little capital or monthly income. Ifhospitalized for a prolonged period, the person may lose benefits and be unable topay the monthly assessment. Recipients of Supplemental Security Income (SSI),furthermore, cannot accumulate capital to purchase housing without adverselyaffecting their eligibility for benefits.One novel attempt to develop a housing cooperative for the mentally illachieved only limited success. The Mental Health Law Project in New York fileda class-action suit on behalf of a large number of mentally ill clients whose SocialSecurity benefits had been suspended during the Reagan administration. 31 Thesuit was successful and the clients were due to receive large, retroactive payments.Ironically, this could have led to their funds being discontinued again, as theirassets would have exceeded the maximum allowable under social securityregulations. To avoid this outcome, the Mental Health Law Project established ahousing trust to receive the clients’ retroactive payments. The project was onlypartially successful, however, because, by the time the necessary waiver ofregulations had been obtained from the Social Security Administration allowingthe clients to invest their assets in future housing, most of the clients had spenttheir awards. The number of remaining participants was too small to leverageprivate development funds to create low-cost housing. The trust, however,continues to be suitable vehicle for those who need to shelter retroactive SSIpayments and want to invest them in housing. 32A small-scale attempt to create a housing association in which mentally illpeople participate in a limited equity housing agreement, the Newell StreetCooperative in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, also ended in failure. The projectobtained a waiver that allowed state rent subsidies (like HUD Section 8 subsidies)to be applied to the purchase of a four-apartment building; when the rent subsidyprogram was trimmed, however, the cooperative collapsed. During the one-yearperiod that the cooperative was in operation significant improvements were notedin the participants’ management skills, self-esteem and sense of mastery. 33Despite difficulties and failures, however, housing cooperatives for the mentallyill are a viable concept. Some chapters of the National Alliance for the MentallyIll (a US organization of relatives and friends of mentally ill people), including theGreater Chicago branch, have established non-profit housing trusts. The residentsof these housing projects are usually mentally ill relatives of the investors; if oneof the residents moves, the investor may dispose of his/her share to another familyor claim a tax deduction. A trust of this type can establish small homes or largeapartment complexes and can contract with a local mental health agency toprovide appropriate services on premises. The settings may include disabled andnon-disabled residents. The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill has proposed alow-cost revolving loan fund that, by building a large reservoir of capital, could