ABSTRACT
In common with the theme of property and obligations, this chapter considers property law in the less familiar setting of mental health and housing provision. Mental health provision has been the subject of significant policy change over the past 20 years. Greater emphasis has been placed on the provision of psychiatric care within the less restrictive environment of the community and many psychiatric facilities have closed. Many patients who would once have remained in hospital are now living in the community. This policy shift has many repercussions not least on the housing market. The role of housing in the community care policy was ill conceived. Little thought was given to how much housing stock discharged patients would need, or indeed whether they would need particular types of accommodation. Despite this, it has been acknowledged that the role of housing is fundamental in enabling a person with psychiatric problems to acquire the security they need. A patient’s shelter is vital in his overall care. 1 This chapter seeks to consider how obligations to house the mentally vulnerable living in the community are discharged in practice, narrowed with particular reference to the involvement of the voluntary sector in such lettings, the problems faced by such organisations in providing housing and recent proposals to reform the law in order to facilitate such provision.
