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Waking Rip van Winkle: why developments in the last 20 years should teach the mental health system not to use housing as a tool of coercion
Author(s) -
Allen Michael
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
behavioral sciences and the law
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.649
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1099-0798
pISSN - 0735-3936
DOI - 10.1002/bsl.541
Subject(s) - coercion (linguistics) , odds , mental health , public housing , psychology , psychiatry , medicine , political science , law , philosophy , linguistics , logistic regression
Many housing programs for people with mental illnesses rely on models that require the person to adhere to treatment as a condition of continuing access to housing. These models that ‘bundle’ housing and treatment are relics of a past in which persons with mental illnesses were afforded little real choice in treatment, housing and other social supports. Conditioning access to housing in this manner is coercive and at odds with current thinking regarding treatment, as well as legal principles that shape the environment in which treatment is provided. This article summarizes the reasons why housing for people with mental illnesses should be provided free of the use of coercion. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.