TENNESSEE
Mental health and mental retardation programs and services were the focus of state efforts in Tennessee to expand community options, particularly housing. The state's housing activities were aided by a $1.8 million federal grant for its Creating Homes Initiative to provide additional housing options for people with mental illness.
The Budget
In explaining his highest priorities as he took office, newly elected Governor Phil Bredesen said his priorities for senior citizens included enforcing regulations to ensure quality and safety of nursing homes. He said the state should " ... punish poor nursing home operators while being careful not to overburden responsible operators who provide quality care." He also proposed expanding home health care opportunities for more aging Tennesseans and expanding home and community-based care initiatives.
Although the governor imposed 7.5 percent budget cuts on most state operations, he spared the state's mental retardation agency. The Mental Retardation Division requested a minimum of $14 million in new funds to comply with court orders. The Arlington Developmental Center in Memphis was under court order to move residents into community homes. However, the division also was under a Department of Justice moratorium on moving any additional residents because the community homes were judged to be inadequate.
Two separate class action complaints (Brown vs. Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities and People First of Tennessee vs. Neal et al.), filed in July 2000 and March 2001, respectively, have been consolidated. The consolidated complaint was scheduled for trial in May 2003. About 2,000 people with developmental disabilities were waiting for home and community-based waiver services.
Mental Health
The Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities announced in 2002 that it was meeting its goals under the Creating Homes Initiative (CHI), which sought to provide about 2,000 permanent housing options for people with mental illness. The agency said that, as of October 2002, funding had been secured for 2,349 new permanent housing options, with more than 1,700 already online. The housing options include home ownership; supervised group housing with 24-hour, on-site care; partially supervised group housing; and private-public market rental housing.
CHI is a grassroots, local community, multi-agency collaboration operated by the Department's Office of Housing Planning and Development. The project received a $1.8 million Systems Change grant from the federal government in 2002 to hire four consumer housing specialists in targeted communities and to develop a housing resource website. The project also involves developing an anti-stigma mass media campaign about mental illness.
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