National Housing Act Amendment Targets Mortgage Assistance for Mental Health Facilities

(KNSI) — Minnesota’s Sixth District (R) Congressman Tom Emmer has introduced a bill to eliminate a portion of the National Housing Act banning inpatient psychiatric hospitals from applying for mortgage assistance.

Emmer says currently, those hospitals are the only type of healthcare facility prevented from accessing mortgage assistance through the Section 242 program of the Housing Act since they do not meet the patient-day requirement. Under the law, qualifying hospitals must have more than 50% of the patients receive acute care services like same-day surgeries and treatments for short-term illnesses. Inpatient psychiatric hospitals cannot meet this requirement because they treat their patients for longer periods.

In a statement on his website, Emmer said, “80% of Minnesota counties have a health care shortage. Patients in our community are being denied potentially lifesaving care due to outdated laws that should no longer be on the books. We’re proud to continue this bipartisan effort to offer care to those who need it most.”

A 2021 study published by the National Institutes of Health reports that the United States has 21 psychiatric beds per every 100,000 individuals, approximately 40% lower than the estimated number of beds needed. With that major shortfall, the Securing Facilities for Mental Health Services Act would help keep those in need of psychiatric care out of homeless shelters and jails. If passed, the bill will help alleviate the inpatient bed shortage nationwide and eliminate further barriers to expanding psychiatric inpatient hospitals.

Emmer and the bill’s coauthor, Democratic Congressman Ritchie Torres (NY-15), sent a letter in 2022 to Comptroller General Gene Dodaro of the Government Accountability Office asking for an independent study of the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) mortgage assistance to acute care hospitals and what steps HUD will have to take to implement the bill.

The study has been completed, and the bill is endorsed by the Mortgage Bankers Association, Minnesota Hospitals Association, National Association of Behavioral Health, and National Alliance on Mental Illness.

If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts, contact the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988. Veterans can call that number and press 1.

___