Mentally Ill and Employment

Anttroy Stanley Ant Enterprise 1491 N.E. 151 Terrace North Miami Beach Florida, 33162 Julian Castro Secretary Housing and Urban Development 451 7th Street S.W. Washington, D.C. 20410 Dear Mr. Julian Castro, RE: Maintain and Increase Support for the H.A.N.D Program Housing and Urban Development has been working with the Housing Assistance Network of Dade (H.A.N.D) since May 9th, 2012.

This has been an enormous effort that has assisted families that meet the low-income criteria and individuals who risk being homeless to acquire affordable housing to ensure that they are able to live a decent life. Your organization is currently assisting the H.A.N.D program to offer housing low-income individuals and families by giving them the rental assistance of between 3-6 months.

For unemployed individuals who are currently enrolled in the job/employment program, your organization has supported H.A.N.D allowing it to offer housing for a maximum of twelve months. This is quite tremendous, and it has resulted in positive assistance for many individuals since your organization came on board. The H.A.N.D program has been working closely with the Camillus House to offer support for the mentally ill, and homeless individuals.

With the financial support offered by H.A.N.D Camillus House has managed to institute various programs aimed at rehabilitating mentally ill individuals and moving them from the streets to the house. Camillus House has also developed an ID card that is voluntarily given to the mentally ill to ensure that the individuals can be easily identified and not prosecuted for minor crimes when arrested. By offering hospitality services, Camillus House has managed to attract and offer shelter to homeless individuals.

Clients receive overnight stay with hot showers hot meals being offered. This is vital to ensure that homeless individuals can be able to regain their footing and resume their normal lives. The Camillus House also offers vocational training services that empower clients by offering training and preparing them for the job market and employment. There has been a huge increase in the rate of homelessness, and there is need to increase the funding offered to the community.

The numerous job cuts and tough economic times have resulted in many families not being able to pay their rents and meet their obligations forcing them to live on the streets. The cases of mentally ill individuals have also increased, and most of these individuals live on the streets. The mentally ill individuals cannot fend for themselves, and they cannot afford housing. The Camillus.