But there aren't any. Lost opportunities like the housing plan of 1994 reinforced the state's long and sometimes troubled reliance on rest homes. Today, an estimated 15,000 mentally disabled people, some in their 20s and 30s, depend on an industry built solely for the elderly and frail. Hundreds of residents have been neglected by poorly trained caregivers. Some have died suddenly or under questionable circumstances.
Case management is scarce, and thousands live without mental health treatment.
Mental health officials had hoped the 1994 housing plan would begin easing the mentally ill out of rest homes, but the N.C. Division of Mental Health couldn't get the state to pay for it. Since then, disability advocates have found the state's effort to build independent housing a frustrating series of stops and stalls. Plans have died and partnerships have failed. Competing needs have sidetracked lawmakers. Adults who were able to find apartments on their own often struggled without support from local mental health offices.