WISCONSIN UNITED
for MENTAL HEALTH

Housing ranks as a priority concern of individuals with serious mental illness. Locating affordable, decent, safe housing is often difficult, and out of financial reach. Stigma and discrimination also restrict consumer access to housing. Despite legislation such as the Fair Housing Act, allegations of housing discrimination based on psychiatric disabilities are highly prevalent (U.S. Department of Education, 1998). 

The housing preferences of people with schizophrenia and other serious mental disorders are clear: these individuals strongly desire their own decent living quarters where they have control over who lives with them and how decisions are made (Owen et al., 1996; Schutt & Goldfinger, 1996; Sohng, 1996).

• Housing Discrimination (from the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development)
• Discrimination in Housing Based Upon Disability (from U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Housing and Civil Enforcement Section
• Fair Housing (fact sheets from the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law)