The Housing Experience of Chronically Mentally Disabled Clients in Hamilton, Ontario

Abstract

The chronically mentally disabled (CMD) are seriously disadvantaged in the housing market by reason of disability and low socio‐economic status. In many North American cities, the CMD are among the groups most vulnerable to homeiessness. Little attention has been paid to the housing situation and residential history of the CMD despite their supposed effects on coping ability and community tenure. This analysis of the residential experience of CMD clients in Hamilton, Ontario, is part of a larger study examining the factors affecting coping and satisfaction among the CMD in the community. The ghettoization of clients into board and care homes in the inner city is replicated in Hamilton. Serious disadvantage in the housing market is confirmed; clients frequently have to accept unsatisfactory living conditions despite repeated efforts to achieve improvements. In terms of residential mobility, two groups of clients are identified: the highly mobile and the more stable. The strongest predictors of mobility, education, and preference for independent living imply the effects of housing expectations and the difficulties associated with congregate living situations. Strong association is shown between housing satisfaction and composite indices of client coping in the community. Les clients psychiatriques (CP) ont des problèmes sérieux de logement pour des raisons d'incapacité et de statut inférieur au rang socio‐économique. Dans plusieurs cités Nord‐américaines, les CP sont parmi fes groupes les plus vulnérables dêtres sans logis. ll y a un manque d'égards envers les CP vis‐à‐vis la crise du logement et du dossier résidential, malgré leurs efforts prétendus de se débrouiller et de demeurer dans la communauté. Cette analyse d'expérience résidentielle de CP à Hamilton, Ontario, fait partie d'une plus grande étude qui examine les raisons qui influent sur la qualité de la vie parmi les CP de la communauté. Le phénomene de l'amalgamation des clients dans des pensions de famille au centre‐ville est reproduit à Hamilton. Les problèmes sérieux de logement sont confirmés; les clients doivent souvent accepter des conditions de vie peu satisfaisantes, malgré les efforts répétés pour les améliorer. Au point de vue de la mobilité résidentielle deux groupes sont identifiés: les plus mobiles et les plus stables. fa plus grande correspondance de mobilité, d'éucation et de préférence pour la vie indé‐pendante, donne à entendre fes effets d'espérance de logement et les difficultés associees avec une vie en groupes. ll y a une forte association entre la satisfaction du logement et les indices composés du client qui se débrouille dans la communauté.

The stress of incipient homelessness

“…The majority of residential moves in the general population may involve some minor push factors, but the attraction of the new destination (a 'pull' factor) usually dominates the decision to move. Among our respondents, by comparison, the dominance of push factors reinforces the findings reported elsewhere that individuals and households in seriously marginalised groups experience a significant amount of housing stress (Stokols and Shumaker, 1982;Taylor et al, 1988;Kearns, 1990a;Kearns 1990b). We expected to find that the number of housing-related problems initially cited would influence whether or not a household subsequently moved.…”

Housing for People with Serious Mental Illness: A Comparison of Values and Research

“…In their review, Parkinson et al (1999) reported evidence that resident perceptions of choice and control and a democratic management style were positively related to consumers' housing satisfaction (McCarthy and Nelson 1991;Nelson et al 1998aNelson et al , 1999Srebnik et al 1995;Taylor et al 1989). More recently, Yanos et al (2004) found that housing choice was positively correlated with a positive reaction to one's housing but not related to overall life satisfaction, while Nelson et al (2005b) found that resident choice and control were related to both subjective quality of life and staff ratings of community adaptation.…”

The ‘three waves’ of research in mental health geography: a review and critical commentary

“…Clients of the former and residents of the latter were coming to comprise fair-sized local populations of people with mental health problems. Attempts were made to assess both the negative features of such clusters, such as the likelihood of many people with mental health problems being jammed into streets of substandard accommodation, and the positive features, such as the enhanced possibilities for 'selfhelp' and 'advocacy' among people able to empathise with one another's difficulties (Dear & Wittman, 1980;Law et al, 1995;Taylor et al, 1989). The spatial outcome of such processes was sometimes given another name, the 'service dependent ghetto' (Wolch, 1980), a notion then linked to that of the 'public city', meaning inner-city localities whose character was dominated by health and welfare services targeted at their poorest residents (theorised by Wolch, 1979;; adapted with reference to mental health clients by Dear, 1980).…”

“…Dear & Wolch's (1987) Landscapes of Despair provided a comprehensive survey and theoretical interpretation of all of these issues and processes (also Dear & Moos, 1986;Moos, 1984). et al, 1994;Taylor et al, 1989), and considered the importance of 'social networks', often with other mental health sufferers, which can sustain people in the face of adverse circumstances Kearns, 1987;Nelson etal, 1992;Smith C.A. Increasingly, therefore, researchers became interested in the micro-level of individuals interacting with treatment settings and landscapes.…”