Mentally ill residents in North Carolina don't have a lot of housing options if they can't make it on their own. There is a good chance they will end up in an adult care home. These facilities are usually reserved for the elderly, and they don’t offer mentally ill residents much in the way of services or rehabilitation. The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating North Carolina to see if its reliance on adult care homes violates the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Meanwhile, next door in Tennessee, officials have found a way to provide a variety of housing options to mentally ill residents with positive results for that state's mental health system. Host Frank Stasio will talk about housing for the mentally ill with Bob Currie, director of housing and homeless services at the Office of Recovery Services in Tennessee; and WUNC Health Reporter Rose Hoban who recently completed a five-part series called “North Carolina Voices: Mental Health Disorder.”
