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Adequate housing is a necessity in every person’s life. Access to safe, decent, affordable housing is critical for persons with mental illness if successful rehabilitation and community integration is to occur.

Local, state, and federal authorities must provide sufficient funding for rental subsidies, and/or the capital costs of acquiring and rehabilitating affordable housing as well as residential operating costs to assure the availability of housing to meet the needs of people with psychiatric disabilities.

Because private sector housing has not provided sufficient access to housing, and because private market housing has no access to services that help sustain people in housing, CASRA views housing development as part of the "business" of CASRA.

CASRA views the availability of a broad spectrum of housing options and a wide range of support services as critical to community integration and recovery.

Between 85 and 95% of persons with a serious mental illness are unemployed at any one point in time-- a staggering figure for a largely working age population, one that dwarfs unemployment rates among other disability groups and one that has not changed substantially for a generation. Yet, for those with serious mental illness: work has been shown to increase a person’s financial security, build self-confidence, improve the opportunity for social interaction with non-disabled peers, and a sense of hope about the future.

One major barrier to employment is the lack of accurate information about the employment-related provisions of the Social Security Disability Insurance and the Supplemental Security Income Programs.  Click here to view and download a copy of the Red Book which serves as a general reference source on all these provisions.

CASRA has identified a series of recommendations to be addressed at the state and federal levels that would enhance employment outcomes for persons with psychiatric disabilities.