Toolkit Shared Housing for People with Mental Illness: Choice, Stability, and Support

Shared housing is defined by the Shared Housing Institute as “when two or more people live together and
share common space in temporary or permanent housing.” In the context of providing housing solutions
for homeless people with MI, shared housing is a model in which two or more individuals from different
households choose to live together in a unit with both common and private areas. Shared housing program
participants choose the individual with whom they live, participate in care management, and have separate
leases in their names. Care managers coordinate matching and support while keeping each participant’s
health information confidential, so a housemate is never given clinical details about the person they live
with. They pursue their journeys to housing stability with the support of community resources and, often, a
supportive living environment.

Shared housing is a flexible and person-centered housing intervention for homeless people with MI.
Designing a program with appropriate funding, effective approaches, and adequate staffing is essential to
delivering safe, affordable, and supportive living environments that affirm choice and prevent loneliness.