Abstract
Few people doubt the fundamental importance of housing. It is, after all, where we live. It gives us shelter from the elements; thus, we want it to be decent, safe, and sanitary. We also want our housing to be affordable, giving us security against eviction and displacement. More fundamentally, housing gives us respite from the congress of social life. It is where we want to be nurtured and where we nurture our families. Without a home, we have no center, no stability.1
Brian S. lived in a privately owned and operated group home funded by the state department of mental health. The home suffered from a series of physical conditions that violated local health and safety law. Brian complained to program staff about the bad conditions. He was ignored. He then called the local board of health, which inspected the facility and confirmed the existence of the unsanitary situation. Following the inspection, the program staff told Brian that his complaint to the board of health indicated that he was uncooperative and not ready for community living. He was offered a choice: voluntary commitment in a local state hospital or an immediate eviction from the group home. He declined to be hospitalized and was put out of the home that afternoon. He remained homeless for several days.
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© 1996 Springer Science+Business Media New York
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Korman, H., Engster, D., Milstein, B.M. (1996). Housing as a Tool of Coercion. In: Dennis, D.L., Monahan, J. (eds) Coercion and Aggressive Community Treatment. The Springer Series in Social Clinical Psychology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-9727-5_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-9727-5_7
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