The mission of Housing Unlimited, Inc. (HUI) is to provide affordable housing for people in mental health recovery who are able to live independently in Montgomery County, MD. Due to a lack of affordable housing and stunted investment in the public mental health system, people living with psychiatric disabilities and very low income have few options for stable housing. Consequently, over 500 individuals experience homelessness in Montgomery County at any given time.

HUI provides affordable, scattered-site independent housing to over 230 very low-income adults in mental health recovery.

Almost three out of every four homeless individuals have a disability. Compounding this homelessness issue for people with psychiatric disabilities is that the number of supervised housing units for people within the state of Maryland’s public mental health system has been frozen for the last two decades. This has significantly limited the opportunities for movement from psychiatric hospitals to supervised housing to independent living. The lack of opportunities to move to the least restrictive environment is felt by every level of the community; the paucity of hospital beds means that individuals who require entry to the treatment process don’t have access to services. This places undue stress on the social services network and the community at large.

Too often, vulnerable individuals in independent housing fall through the cracks, decompensate, and spiral downward back to homelessness.

HUI’s collaborative approach strives to help vulnerable individuals maintain their housing for one year or more. Data shows that 92% of HUI’s recent tenants have maintained their housing with HUI for one year or more.

HUI tenants include adults and seniors (65 older). Almost all (95%) HUI tenants have incomes below 30% of Area Median Income (AMI), the majority falling below 15% of the AMI. Income is verified through a yearly annual income certification. In 2020, 50% of new HUI tenants came from transitional homeless shelters or transitional mental health facilities.