By Angela Carter, Register Staff

 HARTFORD — Individuals who live in nursing facilities, but prefer to receive long-term care at home, require affordable housing arrangements coupled with any needed medical or social services, experts said Wednesday.

Such a model is known as “housing plus services” and was the center of discussion at a forum held by Partnership for Strong Communities at the Lyceum. The event was the third in a series of five forums under the theme “Housing: The Hub of Public Policy 2010.”

The housing-plus-services approach is what gave Cynthia Fenn a fresh start in life. Fenn said she ended up homeless after a divorce. The Celebrate Recovery program helped her reunite with her two children, and all three now live in a supportive housing unit in Hartford.

“I turned my life around,” Fenn said. “This gives me hope.”

Panelists John Rio, senior program associate with Advocates for Human Potential, and Lisa Sloane, senior associate with Technical Assistance Collaborative, gave examples of how some housing-plus-services models operate in other states.

A briefing memo released at the event said that, compared to a night in supportive housing, which the Corporation for Supportive Housing estimates costs $54, a shelter stay is $20. A night in prison is more than $100, while a nursing home averages more than $200 and either inpatient hospital, detoxification or psychiatric treatment can run from $500 to more than $1,200.

A study commissioned by the Connecticut Regional Institute for the 21st Century found that the state could cut long-term care costs by 25 percent through 2025 by shifting consumers from skilled facilities into community-based care.

The memo said almost 14 percent of the state budget last year was spent on long-term care for 40,000 Medicaid clients. Of those, 21,300 received home or community care at less than half the cost of institutional care. Continued...

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Peter Gioia, vice president and economist for the Connecticut Business & Industry Association, said the state must fund services in a way that cuts costs and gives people the options they are requesting. “We need to be efficient so more services can be retained,” he said.

Rep. Linda Schofield, D-Simsbury, said that for the state to save money by shifting eligible residents to community-based care, nursing home beds must be taken offline. Legislators are skeptical of doing that without evidence showing whether there is a demand looming for those beds, she said.

Contact Angela Carter at 203-789-5752 or acarter@newhavenregister.com.

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