Welcome to Jack's House
Jack’s House is the mental health intervention pillar of the Bellinger Family Foundation. Affectionately named after our beloved Uncle Jack, the mission is to develop and deliver long-term solutions to break the cycle of chronic homelessness amongst America’s mentally ill population.
We partner with community-based organizations making profound impacts in the areas of mental health intervention and chronic homelessness. Our collective solutions and approach will offer long-term community homes providing behavioral and general healthcare services serving those stricken with mentally illness.
Through direct intervention and public education, our goal is to one day eliminate the fears and stigma associated with mental illness and live in a world that cares for and uplifts society’s most vulnerable populations.
Programs and facilities through Jack's House will initially be offered in Phoenix and Los Angeles in 2021 before additional locations are added.
The Numbers
- On any given night, almost 600,000 people across America are homeless.
- Nearly 400,000 are individuals.
- Over 170, 000 are people in families.
- Over 35,000 are unaccompanied youth.
- Almost 40,000 are United States veterans.
- 100,000 are chronically homeless, defined as people who have experienced homelessness for at least a year, or repeatedly, while struggling with a disabling condition such as a serious mental illness, substance use disorder, or physical disability.
- Far too many people in America sleep outside and in locations not meant for human habitation. This includes more than 200,000 people (37 percent of the overall homeless population). Among individuals experiencing homelessness, the numbers are much worse, as 1 in 2 are unsheltered.
Homelessness & Mental Health
At a minimum, 140,000 of these people were seriously mentally ill, and 250,000 had some type of mental illness.
Affective disorders such as depression and bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, anxiety disorders and substance abuse disorders are among the most common types of mental illness in the homeless population.
Programs that provide long-term (a year or longer) stable housing for people with mental illnesses can help to improve mental health outcomes, including reducing the number of visits to inpatient psychiatric hospitals. A 2015 study concluded that services that deliver cognitive and social skill training, particularly in developing and maintaining relationships, would be useful in helping people with mental illnesses and homelessness regain housing.
Studies show that homelessness can be a traumatic event that influences a person’s symptoms of mental illness. Having ever been homeless and the time spent homeless can be related to higher levels of psychiatric distress, higher levels of alcohol use and lower levels of perceived recovery in people with previous mental illness.
Homelessness among people with mental illness can lead to more encounters with police and the courts. For instance, rates of contact with the criminal justice system and victimization among homeless adults with severe symptoms such as psychosis, are higher than among housed adults with severe mental illness. Homeless adults with mental illness who experienced abuse or neglect in childhood are more likely to be arrested for a crime or be the victim of crime.
One of the biggest impacts of homelessness on mental illness comes through its effect on the mothers of families. For instance, mothers who experience postpartum depression during the first year after birth are at higher risk for homelessness or factors leading to homelessness such as evictions or frequent moves in the two to three years after the postpartum year.