Pioneer Institute published “CTI Homeless Intervention,” a blog post highlighting a policy proposal from MHSA Board Member Professor Dennis P. Culhane of the University of Pennsylvania and Assistant Professor Thomas Byrne of Boston University. The policy proposal received a Special Mention in Pioneer’s 2016 Better Government Competition.
The policy proposal advocates for the creation of a hybrid system that integrates rapid re-housing (RRH) with critical time intervention (CTI) in order to better serve vulnerable populations, including those with mental illness. The blog post explains:
The utilization of CTI allows vulnerable populations to make better use of rapid re-housing. The professors’ proposal suggests that a combination of these two evidence-based programs could be extremely effective in helping to reduce crisis homelessness among the mentally ill. Forthcoming Medicaid funding could feasibly cover a major expansion of rapid re-housing if coupled with CTI, as the authors propose. They also project that hospitals and governments would recognize significant savings, as the costs of housing interventions would ultimately be offset by a decrease in the hospitalization and incarceration of the mentally and behaviorally ill.