NAMInet The NAMInet is a tremendous resource exclusively for our grassroots leadership. Through NAMI's 1,200 offices and affiliates in all 50 states, we support education, outreach, advocacy and research on behalf of persons with serious brain disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depression, severe anxiety disorders and major mental illnesses affecting children. Access to decent, safe and affordable housing is a high priority for NAMI's consumer and family membership.
Stable housing is the most critical element of recovery for most adults with severe mental illness.
NAMI's membership knows first-hand that successful outcomes with respect to mental illness treatment are not possible without stable housing. Moreover, experience has taught our consumer and family membership that the ability to obtain and retain stable housing can be made all the more difficult when an individual with a severe mental illness such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder has a co-occurring substance abuse problem. This policy was designed to close outdated and inhumane public psychiatric hospitals and transfer former patients into the community where they would receive housing and support services in a less restrictive and less costly environment. Unfortunately, this policy failed in many parts of the country as states and localities neglected to meet their end of this social contract. In many communities across the country, jails and prisons have been turned into psychiatric hospitals of last resort.