# MHApps Take Control – Housing – Importance Of Housing Or Accomodation To Provide Stability

Housing
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- Housing Many people with severe mental illness find themselves having to remain in the family home beyond a time that is of their choosing. Through our contact with service users and relatives, housing is often cited as their most serious concern.
  In many of our large cities, the issue of available and appropriate housing is very serious. Council housing lists are long, and single people, particularly single men are simply not considered to be a priority. Landlords in the private rental area are often unwilling to consider letting to people in receipt of benefits.
  The HSE has never had sufficient high, medium and low support accommodation. For many people the best hope lies within the voluntary housing organisations.
  There are no simple solutions but there is evidence that group-working can achieve positive results. Gathering a number of people together to focus on building a relationship with County Council housing staff and other agencies raises the profile and at least sheds light on the numbers of people in need of proper housing.
  Making sure that you are on the housing list and on it each year is very important. Get help to make sure you have “ticked” all the necessary administrative boxes. Small mistakes or missing bits of information can delay or stop your progress.
  With the backing of a wider group, some landlords can be reassured that a person in receipt of benefit payments is, in fact, a very sound and reliable tenancy option. With the support of a group, people who have not lived independently before can be assisted to learn the necessary skills to ensure a good relationship with landlords and neighbours.

- “Here I am I thought, in hospital, terrified and very angry at my parents. They were supposed to protect me, make all my problems go away; I hated them. They disappointed me, who are these people? I wondered, are my parents really my parents, they could be clones who are put here to trick me into divulging the secret knowledge I have. As a result I was very guarded in talking to them, only barely speaking and not answering questions, giving as little information as possible. I look back now and laugh a little about my beliefs, but I can still remember the sheer terror and anger I felt. Sometimes now, when I am overtired or stressed, I still can experience a feeling of paranoia or a sneaking feeling of what if I was not wrong and there are aliens? But these thoughts don’t take me over like they once did.”

- “I was all alone in the world, the only friend I had was the voice who was with me all the time, although I never knew if I could trust the voice all the time, as she could be very nasty if I did not carry out what I was asked. For example, if I did not get up and check to see if there were cameras in the room the voice would repeatedly scream at me they are watching you, find the camera, find the recorder, do it, do it now. When I say repeatedly, I mean it could go on for hours and hours. At times it would be down to a whisper and this in itself was as difficult, because you would be waiting for it to increase in volume and intensity again. I’d be on edge all the time. The fear of this return to intensity and volume was one of the hardest things to cope with, because I could not rest. If I tried to relax, I would be waiting for it to start again.”

- When a person is experiencing intrusive and aggressive thoughts in this way it is extremely difficult to talk or engage with other people, even close relations. Communication is impossible because the person is often unable to concentrate on anything other than what they are hearing. Equally, for people who are seriously depressed, and/or because of the side effects of medication, there can be a complete loss of energy and motivation.

Housing
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