Housing Services

Supportive Housing Services

We acknowledge that housing stability and quality is a significant social determinant of health. Households must have affordable, stable, quality housing to appropriately care for themselves, address and manage health needs, and achieve and maintain their overall health and wellbeing.

BNC is committed to developing opportunities to provide accessible, affordable, quality housing for Douglas County, and to increasingly grow the center’s capacity to provide housing as a primary component of treatment for households experiencing significant housing instability.

Supportive housing refers to transitional or permanent housing that is community-based (not isolated from the larger community) and includes programming to help households address challenges and barriers to achieve independent living and successfully maintaining housing tenure. Supportive services include case management, skill-building activities, and resource and benefits acquisition, in addition to traditional clinical support such as therapy and medical services.

The Bert Nash Transitions house is a 12-bed Transitional Supportive Housing facility. Transitions is designed to provide up to 12 months of transitional housing and supportive services for up to 12 individual adults experiencing a Severe Mental Illness or Severe and Persistent Mental Illness (SMI/SPMI) including a dual diagnosis (Substance Use disorder and Severe Persistent Mental Illness), low or no income, and homelessness in Douglas County, KS. Participants are supported as they continue to develop and improve independent living skills. Stays can be up to 12 months for clients who meet eligibility and honor shared living expectations.

Referral Process:

Referrals for Transitions are approved by the Bert Nash Transitions housing supervisors/administrators, and are provided by an online application process, or by contacting an administrator or supervisor in the Bert Nash housing division. Referrals are accepted from outside agencies, but the given client must either agree to becoming a Bert Nash client and actively participating in recommended services upon admission, or already be an active Bert Nash client.

Eligible Referral/Target Population:

Transitional housing services are targeted for individuals: experiencing a Severe and Persistent Mental Illness (SPMI) including dual diagnosis (SPMI and SUD)
No or extremely low-income (persons with income at 30% Area Median Income or less)
People who are precariously housed, unhoused, or homeless

Bert Nash operates a handful of single, community-based Master Leased apartments to provide transitional supportive housing services. Master Leasing involves an arrangement in which BNC contractually leases an apartment from a landlord under terms that allows Bert Nash to assume responsibility for managing the given property and utilizing it for Bert Nash housing programs. Master leased units are retained for 12-month contractual periods that are subject to terminating when the contractual period has ended. Bert Nash’s capacity to enter into and sustain master leasing contracts is subject to funding availability and is therefore not considered a permanent housing solution or asset within the portfolio of Bert Nash housing programs.

Building Independence, Inc. is a Permanent Supportive Housing program located in Baldwin City. This program provides affordable, permanent housing options to Douglas County, KS residents experiencing a disabling condition. Building Independence Inc. is funded as a Federal Housing & Urban Development (HUD) PRAC 811 project and operated in partnership with the Lawrence Douglas County Housing Authority (LDCHA) who manages the property. Building Independence Inc. consists of two duplexes comprised of four single bedroom units. Supportive services are provided by Bert Nash staff and programming. The Building Independence Board meets once annually, and membership to the Board is approved by the Bert Nash Governing Board of Directors.

In partnership with the Lawrence Douglas County Housing Authority (LDCHA), the Bert Nash Center operates a TBRA subsidy program that provides Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development funded Housing Choice Vouchers to active Bert Nash clients who qualify for and are receiving Community-Based Supportive Services. The LDCHA and Bert Nash TBRA, Housing Choice voucher program is funded by HOME dollars managed by the Kansas Housing Resource Corporation. Housing Choice Vouchers allow the subsidy recipient to rent an apartment with any landlord in the community willing to participate in the program.

The Bert Nash SOAR program is a service provided by the Bert Nash Center’s Supportive Housing department with the goal of assisting clients with their application for SSI/SSDI and Medicaid benefits. In the State of Kansas, SOAR is designed to increase access to SSI/SSDI for eligible adults who are experiencing or at risk of homelessness and have a mental illness, medical impairment, and/or a co-occurring substance use disorder.

For more information visit the SOAR Works website.

Adult case management has an eligibility determination for clients who have a severe and persistent mental illness (SPMI) as evidenced by an SPMI determination screening that takes into account hospitalizations, ability to function in the community, risk factors and daily living activities. Children are eligible for case management through the SED Waiver by meeting criteria through the Child & Adolescent Functional Assessment Scale (CAFAS) screening tool. Once it’s been determined a client qualifies for case management, and has agreed to receive case management, a case manager is assigned. If a client who has a case manager is having difficulty scheduling an appointment or obtaining medication refills, the case manager can help by contacting the scheduling line and the nurse line, respectively.

The Douglas County and Bert Nash Permanent Supportive Housing Program is funded by Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Continuum of Care (CoC) funding stream. Permanent Supportive Housing consists of community-based and income-based housing with supportive services to assist the resident household with successfully sustaining their housing tenure. HUD funding for the Douglas County and Bert Nash Permanent Supportive Housing Program is provided to support 12 master-leased units in the community. The project is targeted for households who are assessed as experiencing chronic homelessness and who are on the Douglas County region Continuum of Care Coordinated Entry list. Referrals for placement in the program must be made and can only be made by and through the Douglas County, KS region Coordinated Entry System.