Lack of Affordable Housing Conversation Dominates Cascade Mental Health Care's Forum
The ChronicleDec 20, 2018
"The reality of it is, is that substance use and mental health touches every single one of us," said
Local legislators and elected officials took audience questions from people who work in social service organizations and agencies in
"It may not seem like a domestic violence issue, but it's housing, especially affordable housing," Morrison said. "We have a lot of our clients who are staying in abusive relationships because they have nowhere to go. Even those folks who get out ... finding a place to live is difficult and many of them are spending at least 50 percent of their income on rent and utilities, which is just not sustainable."
State Rep.
After the forum, State Sen.
"There's not a causal relationship, but there is a recovery problem," Braun said. "You have a mental health challenge, you have a substance abuse challenge, you get services to help you work through that challenge. ... The sheer cost of housing makes it difficult, or in many cases impossible, to re-enter and have a place to live so you can start to rebuild your life."
Braun said that while he wasn't expecting that number of housing-related questions, he wasn't surprised.
"Housing is a real problem in our state in general," Braun said. "It could be a whole separate discussion besides this, but they are definitely connected in some way. But I would say the housing problem goes outside just the mental health connection."
After the forum, Orcutt said he didn't know if the two are related.
"I'm not the expert on this," Orcutt said. "I was here to learn. I don't know what the cause and effect is there. That would be a better questions for the people who are presenting."
Orcutt said he believes the most important part of Tuesday's forum was to establish working relationships with organizations and agencies the legislators haven't had before, and to strengthen the ones that are already in place.
"I think the largest takeaway is that we've got more work to do to be truly effective at solving the problems that folks in
This was the first year that Cascade Mental Health Care implemented a "town hall" style discussion. Stride previously told The Chronicle that panel members have said they wanted more of a chance to respond to audience questions in previous years.
Roughly 10 people from local service groups or agencies addressed the panel.
The panel included Braun, Orcutt, Sen.
Rep.
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