Georgia Health News on Supported Housing and the Georgia-DOJ Olmstead Agreement

See this interesting article about one of the pillars of the 2010 Olmstead settlement between the federal government and the State of Georgia.  An excerpt from the article:

Her apartment comes as a result of a housing initiative agreed to by the state of Georgia in a 2010 settlement with the U.S. Justice Department. 

According to that five-year pact, 2,000 individuals with serious and persistent mental illness will be placed in state-funded ‘‘supported housing’’ by 2015, as part of a broader commitment to establish community services for about 9,000 Georgians with mental illness. 

Such housing programs are designed for people with disabilities, mental illness or addictive disease. They feature ‘‘supports’’ such as counseling and offer help with everyday needs, including medication and transportation. They also help teach basic skills such as cooking, keeping a checkbook or applying for a job. 

Such arrangements can stabilize people who are homeless or at risk of institutionalization, experts say.