With a great deal of focus on housing as a social determinants of health in recent years, Beacon Health Option launched a new program last year to provide housing assistance.
This program, called the Community Behavioral Health Rental Assistance Program (CBRA), is funded by the Washington State Department of Commerce, a state mortgage institution. During the last session, Parliamentarians expanded funding throughout the state, and Beacon was able to provide rental assistance in three regions: Pierce County, southwestern Washington, and north-central Washington.
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Beacon receives approximately $ 2 million in security and utility deposits, application fees, and monthly rents of up to 120% of the fair market rents of people experiencing behavioral health. You can also get support services through other means. It is also flexible enough to cover motel room rentals for those who are experiencing the homeless. That flexibility is key to the program.
Jon Brumbach, Housing Program Manager at Beacon Health Options, said housing stabilization helps improve health.
“If people are in a behavioral health crisis, or some sort of health crisis, and their top priority is to sleep at night, they are not yet going to focus on maintaining their health.” Said Brumbach.
Branbach said there was a move to eliminate silos between health care and housing support systems as the health care system began to recognize the economic implications of trying to serve people without stable housing. ..
“By incorporating these types of housing support into the set of services BH-ASO offers, we can really talk to holistic care,” he said.
However, there were challenges in setting up housing support. Branbach said there are cultural and operational changes. There are various payment models and contractual obligations between housing and medical services. Despite being a housing resource, the CBRA program is unique because it incorporates more clinical thinking when eligibility criteria and target populations consider diagnosis and services.
“This is where rubber hits the road in this housing integration,” he said.
Housing agencies may be unfamiliar with engaging in clinical services, and behavioral medical institutions may have difficulty distributing housing costs. However, Branbach said he was pleased with the reaction of the CBRA program.
“I think we’re in a good position as we’re moving forward to make this a truly reliable resource,” he said.
Still, there are challenges that go beyond the scope of the program. Washington has a chronic shortage of housing units. This is a shortage of market-priced, affordable, supportive units. Even if Beacon and others are subsidizing, you cannot use rental support if you do not have housing stock.
“I know there is a lot of money for the actual capital development of a house, but it takes time,” he said. “… That’s a problem, but CBRA is for people who really need housing right now.”
For Branbach, the most exciting thing about the future is the ability to integrate CBRA into integrated resources within the scope of critical care.
From the state legislature, he wants the funding structure to be more permanent. Currently, if an organization does not use all the money allocated from the state’s general financial resources, the organization must return it. However, setting up the program can be time consuming and may not be fully functional within a year.
