SURREY – A mobile mental health program is hitting the streets of Surrey, taking aim at helping the area's most vulnerable.

The new Surrey Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) program is the first of its kind for the Fraser Health Authority.

ACT, a specialized outreach program, will take mental health support outside the walls of traditional treatment facilities, such as hospitals, to community settings that are comfortable and convenient for vulnerable and hard-to-reach clients.

The ACT team will be mobile with 75 per cent of their services delivered in settings such as a person's home, shelters, drop-in centres or parks.

Jonquil Hallgate, executive director of the Surrey Urban Mission, said this type of program is exactly what Surrey needs. “I don't think it's any secret that issues around homelessness and poverty go hand in hand with mental health issues. If you don't have access to services, you can't become well.”

Hallgate said she's particularly excited about two aspects of the program: that it's mobile and that it has extended hours.

She pointed to the extreme weather beds the mission operates.

“That starts at 7 (p.m.). By that time, all the psychiatric services are closed and we're kind of at a loss,” she said.

With the extended hours and mobility of the new ACT team, the mission will now have an efficient way to get people the help they need.

“We can call the program and ask them to come out and assess people we see who we think are in need,” she said.

Many times, Hallgate has seen people struggle with mental health issues, only to go through the revolving doors of the medical system.

“It's frustrating the number of times a person ends up in the psychiatric unit and is discharged to the street. They are healthy at that point, and there's been a significant cost to the health-care system to get them to that point,” Hallgate said.

“But a few months go by, they're not on their meds, they're on the street, perhaps using drugs, and they end up back in the hospital. We know of people who've gone through this cycle two, three, fours times in a matter of 18 months.”

Hallgate hopes the new ACT program will be able to intervene and stop the cycle.

Once up and running, Fraser Health estimates the program will be able to help 80 to 100 individuals.

Will that be enough to meet the need in Surrey? “It's a good start,” Hallgate said, but added she hopes this is just the start of an integrated service model that looks at all of the issues surrounding addictions, housing and mental health.

Lois Dixon, executive director of mental health and substance abuse services for Fraser Health, said it was easy to pick Surrey as the location for the ACT program.

“Surrey is the fastest growing population in the Fraser Health region. It's our largest community. Because ACT is a specialized, intensive model, it was easy to put it in the community that was the largest and that had a great need,” Dixon said.

Dixon said many of the patients to be helped are homeless, at-risk of being homeless or struggle with addictions. In other words, patients with serious mental health or functional impairment issues who haven't responded well to traditional services.

“We'll not only improve their health and quality of life, but also stop the revolving door to the emergency department and to lengthy hospital stays,” Dixon said.

The ACT team will include a co-ordinator, psychiatrist and 10 or more mental health staff, including social workers, nurses and mental health-care workers. Services in the program will include assessment, treatment, rehabilitation and support activities.

Dixon said this model has had great success in the many other health authorities that utilize it and it has been internationally recognized for its effectiveness.

“We're very excited,” Dixon said.

Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts said she thinks the program will help Surrey's most vulnerable citizens get the specialized care they need.

“A mobile team is more effective at connecting with those individuals who are hard to reach or need more specialized care than can be provided under the traditional model of care,” Watts said. “The program is comprehensive, convenient and innovative, and we believe it will make a real difference in our community.”

Fraser Health has committed $1.9 million annually to support the program.

areid@thenownewspaper.com

© Copyright (c) Surrey Now

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New mental health program goes mobile in Surrey

SURREY – A mobile mental health program is hitting the streets of Surrey, taking aim at helping the area's most vulnerable.

The new Surrey Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) program is the first of its kind for the Fraser Health Authority.

ACT, a specialized outreach program, will take mental health support outside the walls of traditional treatment facilities, such as hospitals, to community settings that are comfortable and convenient for vulnerable and hard-to-reach clients.

The ACT team will be mobile with 75 per cent of their services delivered in settings such as a person's home, shelters, drop-in centres or parks.

Jonquil Hallgate, executive director of the Surrey Urban Mission, said this type of program is exactly what Surrey needs. “I don't think it's any secret that issues around homelessness and poverty go hand in hand with mental health issues. If you don't have access to services, you can't become well.”

Hallgate said she's particularly excited about two aspects of the program: that it's mobile and that it has extended hours.

She pointed to the extreme weather beds the mission operates.

“That starts at 7 (p.m.). By that time, all the psychiatric services are closed and we're kind of at a loss,” she said.

With the extended hours and mobility of the new ACT team, the mission will now have an efficient way to get people the help they need.

“We can call the program and ask them to come out and assess people we see who we think are in need,” she said.

Many times, Hallgate has seen people struggle with mental health issues, only to go through the revolving doors of the medical system.

“It's frustrating the number of times a person ends up in the psychiatric unit and is discharged to the street. They are healthy at that point, and there's been a significant cost to the health-care system to get them to that point,” Hallgate said.

“But a few months go by, they're not on their meds, they're on the street, perhaps using drugs, and they end up back in the hospital. We know of people who've gone through this cycle two, three, fours times in a matter of 18 months.”

Hallgate hopes the new ACT program will be able to intervene and stop the cycle.

Once up and running, Fraser Health estimates the program will be able to help 80 to 100 individuals.

Will that be enough to meet the need in Surrey? “It's a good start,” Hallgate said, but added she hopes this is just the start of an integrated service model that looks at all of the issues surrounding addictions, housing and mental health.

Lois Dixon, executive director of mental health and substance abuse services for Fraser Health, said it was easy to pick Surrey as the location for the ACT program.

“Surrey is the fastest growing population in the Fraser Health region. It's our largest community. Because ACT is a specialized, intensive model, it was easy to put it in the community that was the largest and that had a great need,” Dixon said.

Dixon said many of the patients to be helped are homeless, at-risk of being homeless or struggle with addictions. In other words, patients with serious mental health or functional impairment issues who haven't responded well to traditional services.

“We'll not only improve their health and quality of life, but also stop the revolving door to the emergency department and to lengthy hospital stays,” Dixon said.

The ACT team will include a co-ordinator, psychiatrist and 10 or more mental health staff, including social workers, nurses and mental health-care workers. Services in the program will include assessment, treatment, rehabilitation and support activities.

Dixon said this model has had great success in the many other health authorities that utilize it and it has been internationally recognized for its effectiveness.

“We're very excited,” Dixon said.

Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts said she thinks the program will help Surrey's most vulnerable citizens get the specialized care they need.

“A mobile team is more effective at connecting with those individuals who are hard to reach or need more specialized care than can be provided under the traditional model of care,” Watts said. “The program is comprehensive, convenient and innovative, and we believe it will make a real difference in our community.”

Fraser Health has committed $1.9 million annually to support the program.

areid@thenownewspaper.com

© Copyright (c) Surrey Now

Go here to see the original:
New mental health program goes mobile in Surrey

Life's about to get harder for nearly 300 low-income senior citizens and disabled people in Escondido, city officials said this week.

The city has decided to end its 12-year-old rent subsidy program because the $373,000 annual cost had been covered by Escondido's redevelopment agency, which state officials abolished last year to help shrink a large budget deficit. 

“Many of the people who get the subsidy are living on very fixed incomes, so they may be in danger of not being able to pay the rent,” said Jerry Van Leeuwen, who oversees the city's housing division as director of community services. “But because there's no money now, the program has to be discontinued.”

The popular program's 276 participants —- 141 in apartment complexes and 135 in mobile-home parks —- were sent letters last week notifying them that March is the last month during which they'll receive a subsidy. Apartment residents receive $125 per month, while mobile-home residents get $100 per month.

Leaders of the city's 7,000-resident mobile-home community, where news of the program's demise has created an uproar, said paying rent without the subsidy would force many residents to make tough choices.

“Some of our people will have to decide, 'Do I want to pay for my medication or pay for food?'” said Donna Martin, leader of a local mobile-home advocacy group. “I'm very concerned.”

Martin said she hopes to find donors to cover part or all of the program's costs, adding that she was also hopeful that Interfaith Community Services might help.

Bruce Simms, whose rent is $565 instead of $665 because of the subsidy, said the city's decision would damage a lot of lives.

“It's really causing a lot of headache and heartache,” said Simms, 65, a resident of Carefree Ranch Mobile Home Park. “That was money that stocked refrigerators, so this is going to impact how much some people eat.”

Toni Showerman, 88, said losing the subsidy would force her to rely on more help from two daughters who live nearby.

“It means a lot because I'm just barely getting by,” said Showerman, who lives in Ponderosa Mobile Home Park.

Showerman's rent has been reduced from $608 to $508 by the subsidy. Her only income each month is $1,121 from Social Security and a $69 pension from the clerical job she had decades ago, she said.

“It won't take over my life, but I will have to redo my budget,” she said. “I'm lucky my children want to help me as best they can.”

Don Greene, leader of another mobile-home advocacy group, said he's planning to gather residents together to lobby the City Council to at least partly preserve the subsidy.

Council members Ed Gallo and Olga Diaz, both strong supporters of the program, said they were open-minded about extending the program a few extra months to soften the blow for many participants. But they said the city's general fund, which covers police and firefighters, could not afford to begin paying $373,000 per year for the program.

“We're giving them 60-day notice to find a new way of life,” said Gallo. “But it's pretty much dead —- or at least on life support.”

The subsidy was established in 1999 for mobile-home residents and expanded to apartment dwellers in 2001. To qualify, residents must be age 62 or disabled, be a citizen or legal immigrant, and have less than $25,000 in total assets. In addition, they must apply for federal housing subsidies.

The city subsidy had been covered by the city's redevelopment agency, which generated about $25 million in annual property tax for the city. Twenty percent —- $5 million —- of that money had to be spent on low-income housing each year. 

Escondido has spent most of the money on building subsidized apartments for low-income residents, but it has been spending between $350,000 and $400,000 per year on the rent subsidy

Diaz said it's ironic that residents recently began relying even more on the monthly subsidy, which went from $75 to $100 for mobile-home residents and from $100 to $125 for apartment residents on Oct. 1.

Diaz said another problem was how suddenly redevelopment was abolished in late December.

Gov. Jerry Brown threatened to end redevelopment districts in early 2011, but he and the state Legislature agreed last summer to a compromise that would have kept them alive on a smaller scale.

But on Dec. 29, the state Supreme Court struck down the compromise legislation and upheld the legislation killing redevelopment.

That has forced many cities to scramble and make quick decisions about how to react, and Diaz said it's forced Escondido to make some decisions without knowing how the results would play out.

Diaz said she hoped the program would be revived someday.

“This doesn't necessarily mean we'll never be able to do it again,” she said.

Call staff writer David Garrick at 760-740-5468

Continued here:
ESCONDIDO: Decision to kill rent subsidy creating uproar

12-01-2012 13:57 Firwood RV and Mobile Home Park Tacoma WA local.seattlepi.com rv spaces, perminat spaces, temporary stalls, rv park, friendly community, security gate,pets allowed, mobile home spaces, convenient location, mobile home park,

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Firwood RV

MARK YOUR CALENDARS The Bryan Elks Lodge 859 is holding a Garage Sale from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday. The lodge is located at 304 Mobile Avenue in Bryan. All proceeds will be donated to help support the Elks Children's Camp for special needs chil …

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Factory Homes Outlet (a New Manufactured & Modular Home Dealership) and Bakken Development LLC are Currently Developing a 180 Lot Subdivision (Lukenbill Estates), Conveniently Located in Williston, North Dakota — Home Payments will be as Low as $1,000 per Month (OAC).

(PRWEB) February 01, 2012

Factory Homes Outlet and Bakken Development LLC plan to provide affordable housing for the local community in the Lukenbill Estate’s subdivision is only three and a half miles from Walmart, yet is still able to provide you with a rural setting. The subdivision is in the beginning phases with 10 lots currently available, and with reservations being accepted for the remaining 170 lots. Land has been surveyed, roads have been cut and foundations were poured in December. Homes will range in size from 1500 to 2200 square feet, starting in the $190’s with financing options available. This will be a family/community environment with a park and clubhouse on site.

Factory Homes Outlet has been a leading home dealership for over 20 years with locations in Hyde Park, Utah, Rock Springs, Wyoming, Idaho Falls, Idaho and Williston, North Dakota. Factory Homes Outlet has completed many land home projects throughout the Western United States. Factory Homes Outlet will also sell and sets homes in mobile home parks, subdivisions and on customer’s personal land.

With the increase of jobs in the community and insufficient housing alternatives, Factory Lukenbill Estates is a very affordable option for families. The development features several custom floor plan that allow customers to choose interior and exterior colors, appliances and more. Each of the homes is built for our North Dakota winters and is protected by a 10 year extended warranty.

For more information on this project or other services please contact the local Home Design Center located at 4710 2nd ave West in Williston (2 blocks north of Walmart on the east side of road) or by calling 701-369-0266. You can also visit us on the web at http://www.factoryhomesoutlet.com and find us on Facebook.

# # #

Georgia Reeder
Factory Homes Outlet
4355129057
Email Information

Read more:
New 180 Lot Subdivision in Williston, North Dakota

Judge sides with park owners who wanted to work around rent control by offering their land for sale to tenants.

Continue reading here:
Mobile home park effort to stop renting spaces could set a trend

The transformation of Fresno's parks system could take another step Thursday when the City Council debates whether to ask nearby residents to tax themselves for maintenance of a proposed neighborhood park.

Visit link:
Fresno City Council ponders park tax district

When Samuel Rybski drove into Greene
County to work on a natural gas pipeline for the Marcellus
shale industry, he couldn't find a spot to park his
recreational vehicle.

“Every place you looked was full,”
said Rybski, 23, of Spencer, Wis.

For a time, he and fiancee Danielle
Ertl, 24, and her son, Elliot, 3, lived in their RV at a mobile
home park in Washington, a one-hour commute to his job.

When his employer, Precision Pipeline,
found RV space at the Greene County Fairgrounds, Rybski jumped
at the chance to live in a quieter, safer site that is closer
to work. He pays $500 a month — $200 less than a co-worker pays
for a small apartment in Waynesburg.

“It's way cheaper than rent,” Ertl
said.

The shale gas industry's growth is
bringing the sting of high rents and housing shortages —
previously felt in northern counties — into Greene and
Washington counties, experts say. In some areas, pickups line
parking lots of hotels and motels, which have no vacancies.
Enterprising property owners in Greene County set up makeshift
RV parks for workers.

“It was so unplanned, and now you're
trying to back-plan,” said Karen Bennett, Greene County's human
services administrator. “You wake up, and overnight Main
Street's full of trucks, and restaurants and motels are full of
industry people.”

Rents doubled and even tripled in
northern counties as shale workers moved in, said Bonita Kolb,
an associate professor of business at Lycoming College and
co-author of a study on the Marcellus shale's impact on
housing, commissioned by the Pennsylvania Housing Finance
Agency.

“You're seeing that same type of
pressure happening in your area; it's just you've had
developers down there. We didn't have that here,” she said.
“It's just taking time, because you had some available housing
to respond.”

Westmoreland and Washington counties
had the advantage of having housing, Kolb said, but “other
areas … when you get away from the Pittsburgh area, have much
less housing.”

Greene County reactivated its dormant
redevelopment authority.

“We have very old housing stock, and
with the population of roughly 40,000, we don't have an
overabundance of housing, and we are really challenged on all
levels,” said Pam Snyder, county commission chairwoman.

A hotel is under construction along
Route 21 near Waynesburg; another hotel plans to expand. A
64-room Microtel Inn and Suites opened in Franklin Township two
years ago to accommodate gas industry workers, office manager
Marcia Gregan said.

“It's nearly impossible, especially
during the week, to get a room here,” Gregan said. “We turn
people away all the time, so it doesn't seem to be slowing
down.”

About a year ago, property owners in
Franklin started applying to build RV parks, township
Supervisor Corbly Orndorff said.

Nine are approved — including one on
the county-owned fairgrounds — and the township is rewriting
its RV ordinance to strengthen regulations, particularly
mandating access for emergency vehicles. Officials tried to
keep the parks on commercial or agricultural land.

The county rented 14 RV hookups at the
fairgrounds for workers after Precision Pipeline couldn't find
space elsewhere, Snyder said. The six-month lease generates
$7,000 a month for the county. Orndorff said the RV parks help
businesses and might bring in tax money.

Randy Rohanna, owner of Rohanna's
Restaurant and Golf Course in Franklin, welcomed gas workers
with campers to a former mobile home park he owns across the
road. The site had utilities, so it made sense to open the 30
spaces.

“The influx of these people in the
county has helped everything,” said Rohanna, who said his
tenants work long hours and cause no problems. “And it should
be getting better every day.”

Mary Lou Hagman of Keller Williams
Real Estate Professionals in McMurray, the president of the
Washington-Greene County Association of Realtors, said because
of the gas boom “the rental market is full.” The demand for
rentals “has just driven the price of a rental double or triple
what it should be,” she said — and that worries people working
with social service agencies.

In some areas, low-income permanent
residents no longer can afford rents.

“Our caseworkers have to really
stretch to find places for folks to go,” said Jeff Fondelier,
vice president of operations for Community Action Southwest,
which provides rental and utility assistance in Washington and
Greene counties.

Housing idea

The housing shortage brought about by
the influx of workers in the Marcellus shale gas industry might
have a solution within the industry itself, said Liz Hersh,
executive director of the Housing Alliance of
Pennsylvania.

Gas well impact fees that state
lawmakers are negotiating could provide $5 million a year —
which would cover the payment for $70 million in bonds — to
build houses, rehabilitate old housing and provide rental
assistance for people who can't afford rising rents in
Marcellus regions, Hersh said.

“Being able to do some immediate
intervention to aid the supply of homes that are affordable
would be really helpful,” Hersh said.

Follow this link:
Greene, Washington counties scramble to find shale employees places to call home

04-12-2011 15:34 www.tourfactory.com This home is located in Spokane, WA. Contact Jeannette Karis, ABR,CRS,GRI for more information. RE/MAX of Spokane (509) 994-8246 Manufactured home in Mission Meadows Spokane’s Premier Mobile Home Park, a gated community. Upgraded home has wood cabinetry, Hardi plank siding and an attached 2 car garage, located in a cul-de-sac. Community club house has a library, pool table, sitting area around the fireplace with flat screen TV, large kitchen and eating area, a great gathering place. Home has a no step entry, large kitchen with breakfast nook and a spacious living/dining room. A large master with 2 sinks in the master bath, a private shower/bath and a large closet. Outside there is a patio with a remote operated Sunsetter awning. RV parking is also available. Lot rent is $385 including sewer

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NEW PRICE – Mission Meadows 55+ Community – Video