Supportive Housing

River Edge Behavioral Health is a Community Service Board (CSB) that receives funding from the Georgia Department of Community Affairs (DCA) in the form of Rental Assistance funding under the McKinney Continuum of Care (CoC).  This program is known as the River Edge Georgia Housing Finance Agency/Permanent Supportive Housing (formerly know Shelter Plus Care (S+C) Program), which provides Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) in seven (7) Georgia Counties to include Macon-Bibb, Baldwin, Jones, Monroe, Putnam, and Wilkinson for persons who meets the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) definition of homeless and have a mental health, substance abuse or dual diagnosis.

The program allows for a variety of housing choices, and a range of supportive services funded by other sources, in response to the needs of the hard-to-reach homeless population with disabilities.  River Edge Permanent Supportive Housing program participants will be offered home and community based supportive services that are typically needed for homeless persons with disabilities that enable them to eventually succeed in a permanent housing setting.

River Edge provides permanent housing and support services to individuals and families with a disability, prioritizing those who are chronically homeless. The program is designed to reintegrate this highly vulnerable population into the community by addressing their basic needs for housing and providing ongoing support.

Recruiting of Program participants

Participants must be homeless and referred from COC in the Macon-Bibb, and Baldwin area at the time that they enter the program. Prior to entry, consumers must be assessed by the VI-SPDAT and score 8 or above.  Consumers who have exhausted family and caregiver supports and cannot return home or who have been evicted from their residence following an incarceration or hospitalization will be referred to the program through the Macon-Bibb (CoC) or other community partners. All consumers referred must meet HUD’s definition of homelessness.

Definition of Homelessness:

Must be documented and meet the following criteria:

Chronically Homeless (HUD Definition):

  1. A “homeless individual with a disability,” as defined in section 401(9) of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11360(9)), who:
    1. Lives in a place not meant for human habitation, a safe haven, or in an emergency shelter; and
    2. Has been homeless and living in a place not meant for human habitation, a safe haven, or in an emergency shelter continuously for at least 12 months or on at least four (4) separate occasions in the last 3 years, as long as the combined occasions equal at least 12 months and each break in homelessness separating the occasions included at least seven (7) consecutive nights of not living as described above; and
    3. Can be diagnosed with one or more of the following conditions: substance use disorder, serious mental illness, developmental disability (as defined in section 102 of the Developmental Disabilities Assistance Bill of Rights Act of 2000, post-traumatic stress disorder, cognitive impairments resulting from brain injury, or chronic physical illness or disability.
  2. An individual who has been residing in an institutional care facility, including a jail, substance abuse or mental health treatment facility, hospital, or other similar facility, for fewer than 90 days and met all the criteria in paragraph (1) of this definition, before entering that facility; or
  3. A family with an adult head of household (or if there is no adult in the family, a minor head of household) who meets all of the criteria in paragraph (1) of this definition, including a family whose composition has fluctuated while the head of household has been homeless.
     

At Imminent Risk of Homelessness (HUD Homeless Definition Category 2):

Individual or family who will imminently lose their primary nighttime residence, provided that:
Residence will be lost within 14 days of the date of application for homeless assistance;
No subsequent residence has been identified; and
The individual or family lacks the resources or support networks needed to obtain other permanent housing.

Fleeing domestic abuse or violence (HUD Homeless Definition Category 4):

Any individual or family who:

  1. Is fleeing, or is attempting to flee, domestic violence.
  2. Has no other residence; and
  3. Lacks the resources or support networks to obtain other permanent housing.

Please Contact River Edge Behavioral Health Permanent Supportive Housing Department:

Deadra McCray
PSH Team Lead, Macon
175 Emery Highway, Macon, GA 31217
p. 478-803-7630  
dmccray@river-edge.org • www.river-edge.org