Mental Health & Housing: Finding Home

One of the largest issues individuals with mental illness face is the availability and accessibility of housing. The lack of safe and affordable place to live is a tremendous barrier to recovery and to the prevention of homelessness, hospitalization, and movement through the criminal justice system. Unhoused individuals living with mental illness face a variety of obstacles that are intersected and exacerbated by the lack of affordable and accessible services in the region.

WBFO News Director Dave Debo will host “Finding Home,” a panel discussion on issues surrounding the lack of housing options for those living with mental illness. This conversation will include current work to combat the closing of housing options, the housing landscape in the greater Buffalo area for individuals with mental illness, effects of the housing shortages, as well as efforts in education, prevention, and intervention for individuals and families. Interested community members are encouraged to ask questions of the panelists.

Included on the panel are Mark O’Brien, Erie County Commissioner of Mental Health, Kelly Dumas, LCSW, Chief Strategic Initiatives Officer at BestSelf Behavioral Health; and community member and advocate Patricia Seifert.

(Support for the WBFO Mental Health Initiative is provided by the Patrick P. Lee Foundation.)

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