On the edge of justice: the legal needs of people with a mental illness ( 2006 ) Cite this report

Ch 3. Legal issues

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Housing issues

Housing is always an issue, both when they have it and when they don’t

⁸²

Housing-related legal issues were raised in the consultations as a particular concern for people with a mental illness. Because a large proportion of people with a mental illness are on low incomes in NSW, many are dependent primarily on private rental accommodation, and on public and community housing. Other than this, there is a paucity of stable, secure and appropriate accommodation available to people with a mental illness.⁸³ If evicted from private rental accommodation or public housing, the only other accommodation available to people with a mental illness are boarding houses, caravan parks, family/friends and emergency accommodation (such as SAAP accommodation). Housing stress and homelessness is a reality facing many people with a mental illness.⁸⁴

Participants interviewed in this study were found to be living in private rental accommodation, public housing, licensed and unlicensed boarding house accommodation and SAAP accommodation. Legal issues are documented according to each type of accommodation. A number of participants consulted for this study were also homeless.

Consultation with social worker, MHAS, August 2004.

Shelter NSW, Submission to the NSW Legislative Council Select Committee on Mental Health Inquiry into and Report on Mental Health Services in NSW, Sydney, 2002, p. 3, <http://www.shelternsw.infoxchange.net.au/docs/sub02mhinq.pdf> (accessed March 2006), also A Reynolds, S Inglis & A OBrien, Effective Programme Linkages: An Examination of Current Knowledge with a Particular Emphasis on People with Mental Illness, Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, Melbourne, 2002, HREOC, Human Rights and Mental Illness, MHCA, Not for Service, pp. 27071.

Shelter NSW, Submission to the NSW Legislative Council Select Committee on Mental Health Inquiry, p. 4, HREOC, Human Rights and Mental Illness, Select Committee on Mental Health, Inquiry Into Mental Health Services in NSW, T Hodder, M Teesson & N Buhrich, Down and Out in Sydney: Prevalence of Mental Disorders, Disability and Health Service Use among Homeless People in Inner Sydney, Sydney City Mission, Sydney, 1998.

⁸² Consultation with social worker, MHAS, August 2004.

⁸³ Shelter NSW, Submission to the NSW Legislative Council Select Committee on Mental Health Inquiry into and Report on Mental Health Services in NSW, Sydney, 2002, p. 3, <http://www.shelternsw.infoxchange.net.au/docs/sub02mhinq.pdf> (accessed March 2006), also A Reynolds, S Inglis & A OBrien, Effective Programme Linkages: An Examination of Current Knowledge with a Particular Emphasis on People with Mental Illness, Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, Melbourne, 2002, HREOC, Human Rights and Mental Illness, MHCA, Not for Service, pp. 27071.

⁸⁴ Shelter NSW, Submission to the NSW Legislative Council Select Committee on Mental Health Inquiry, p. 4, HREOC, Human Rights and Mental Illness, Select Committee on Mental Health, Inquiry Into Mental Health Services in NSW, T Hodder, M Teesson & N Buhrich, Down and Out in Sydney: Prevalence of Mental Disorders, Disability and Health Service Use among Homeless People in Inner Sydney, Sydney City Mission, Sydney, 1998.

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