After 10 years as a pilot program in Jefferson, Clinton, Cumberland, McCreary and Wayne counties, the Homelessness Prevention Project is taking the necessary steps to make the program available statewide.

The Kentucky Legislature recently passed Senate Bill 225 to allow expansion of the Homelessness Prevention Project and to codify the establishment of the Kentucky Interagency Council on Homelessness. 

The expansion will provide connections to services for people diagnosed with severe mental illness who have been admitted to hospital emergency departments at least 10 times annually; the top 10 percent of hospital users in facilities in which over 10 percent of the patient census is diagnosed with severe mental illness; people being paroled; and people aging out of foster care for up to two years after exit. 

The project was first created in 2004 and offers institutional discharge planning on a voluntary basis to persons exiting state-operated prisons, mental health facilities and foster care. The primary goal of the project is to prepare them for re-entry into the community and to offer information about community services and supports. 

“The idea is to provide case management and any other resources so they can live in the community successfully and not go back to the institution or homeless shelters,” said Thomas Beatty, program administrator for the Division of Behavioral Health.

Beatty said the program has been successful in the five pilot counties by reducing the rate of people returning to prisons and institutions. He said the normal recidivism rate is 35 percent for prison systems, and through the pilot program it was reduced by 5 percent. The return rate for state hospitals is 38 percent, but the project reduced it by 18 percent.

“So, we’ve reduced the rate of going back into institutions and people being homeless. When you look at the costs, it saves a lot of money for society for a little bit of a cost for this program,” Beatty said.

HOTEL INC Director Rhondell Miller said mental issues are something the nonprofit encounters when assisting clients with housing, and they refer all of those clients to LifeSkills Inc. 

“I wouldn’t call it a trend, but there are definitely people suffering from different mental health issues and it varies,” Miller said. 

Brandon Render, LifeSkills supporting housing case manager and Homeless and Housing Coalition of South Central Kentucky chairman, said the overarching theme that seems to be a significant part of the homeless population suffering from mental illness is that it makes it hard for them to find housing and stay housed.

Render said that he manages a program at LifeSkills called the Continuum of Care Permanent Housing Tenant Based Rental Assistance (TBRA) that helps homeless suffering from a severe mental illness find housing and assist with their medical needs.

“I think we should be working with (the Homelessness Prevention Project) a little bit more here soon,” Render said. “One of the largest issues that we have is that it’s difficult to treat and provide services for (homeless with mental illnesses). Now that Medicaid has been expanded, it’s been easier for people to have access to those services,” Render said. 

— Follow faith/general assignments reporter Simone C. Payne on Twitter @_SimonePayne or visit bgdailynews.com.