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The Role of Permanent Supportive Housing in Determining Psychiatric Inpatient Bed Capacity

Source: National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors

Resource Type: Documents and Publications

Focus Population: People experiencing Homelessness, People with Serious Mental Illness (SMI)

Topics: Criminal or Juvenile Justice System, Crisis Response System, Homelessness, Housing Support, Psychiatric or Mental Health Stabilization

Despite the success of community-based services for people with serious mental illness, public mental health systems often experience pressure to increase psychiatric inpatient capacity in response to real or perceived unmet need. When determining psychiatric inpatient capacity, system leaders should first assess the capacity of evidence-based community programs and services to reduce the need for inpatient care. This paper discusses the importance of one such model, permanent supportive housing (PSH), in serving people with serious mental illness in the community, and the role PSH can play in determining an area’s psychiatric inpatient bed capacity.