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 On Monday, Mayor Adler announced a strategy for revitalizing the city’s most centralized Downtown districts while simultaneously purchasing housing for more than 200 members of the homeless population – all without raising property taxes on city residents.
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Judge Guy Herman Center for Mental Health Crisis Care
Integral Care will be launching a new mental health crisis service in Travis County at the end of this month: the Judge Guy Herman Center for Mental Health Crisis Care.
The Ribbon Cutting Ceremony was held on Monday, July 17. Watch media coverage of the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony event. The Herman Center will provide short term, emergency psychiatric crisis care for adults. The goal is to quickly resolve the immediate crisis through prompt stabilization, assessment and appropriate treatment in a secure, protected residential environment. The individual can return home or transfer to another Integral Care residential program for ongoing support and recovery. The Herman Center offers the right level of care at the right time while reducing the cost of care and improving health outcomes for patients. To learn more about the services of the Center, click here.
Thank you to all of our community partners, especially St. David’s Foundation and Central Health for making this much needed service available in the community
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We recently had the pleasure of meeting with a client, Tim, who has just settled into his new apartment home through the Healthy Community Collaborative. We interviewed Tim to learn more about his story.
“I used to ride horses full time. In 2003, I was the National Champion in the hunter event. I was number one in the nation in jumping. I was injured – I had a broken bone in my foot, and I was unable to work for four years. I slowly went through every resource. I had to get rid of all of my horses and my car. Not being released to work for four years, I went through all of my money. I never expected to be living under a bridge, ever. Read the rest of Tim’s story.
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Integral Care is excited to announce a partnership with the Ending Community Homelessness Coalition and Veteran Affairs (VA) to provide on-site support and community building for the residents at the Oak Creek Village Apartments. Approximately half of these residents are veterans. This partnership will give us the opportunity to strengthen our collaboration with the VA as we look toward a partnership with them at Housing First Oak Springs.
We are seeking volunteers to coordinate activities at the Oak Creek Village. Opportunities include: Bingo, arts and crafts, story time, mentoring, tutoring, and spearheading a new garden. Volunteering is a great way to give back to your community and spend time with your family, friends or co-workers. To learn more or sign up to volunteer, please contact Christine Laguna at Christine.Laguna@integralcare.org.
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Meet the Staff: Helen Eisert
 As Integral Care’s Housing Services expands, the Housing team is growing as well. Helen Eisert joined the Supported Housing team as a lead and helps ensure streamlined and efficient access to housing for our clients. Helen evaluates and develops existing and emerging resources for individuals experiencing homelessness or who are at-risk of becoming homeless. Helen has worked with individuals experiencing homelessness for over two decades in multiple capacities. Previously, she led programming at the University of Texas Health Science Center that worked to transition individuals with serious mental illness from institutions into the community. She also directed programs at Saint Louise House. In these two positions, she developed programming guided by the belief in people’s unfailing capacity for change and the basic human right to have safe and decent housing. Helen shared a little about her position, opportunities on the Supported Housing team, and what she enjoys most about working at Integral Care. Read more.
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Housing First in the News
San Diego has launched a three-year, $80 million program to provide more housing for the area’s rapidly growing homeless population. Read about it here.
 Homelessness in Los Angeles County soared by 23% in the past year, up to 58,000 in 2017 from 46,874 in 2016. Gentrification of the downtown area has begun to scatter a previously concentrated homeless population across the city. A combination of factors – including housing costs that outpace increase in incomes, a pleasant climate that attracts many people, and a push to reduce the prison population – has intensified the situation. However, there is a silver lining. More than 14,000 people were moved into permanent or transitional housing last year, a 30% increase from 2015. Additionally, an extra $355 million will be spent every year, for the next 10 years, on shelters, rehabilitation facilities and services. Finally, last year, another ballot measure secured $1.2 billion in funding for permanent housing.
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We know that housing is more than four walls – it’s the basic foundation for mental health and well-being. I invite you to be a part of the solution at housingfirstatx.org.
Sincerely,
Ellen Richards
Chief Strategy Officer
Integral Care
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Housing First Oak Springs is a project of Integral Care
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Housing First
