Locational decisions based on stigma and low funding have handicapped the efficiency of community based mental healthcare in the United States since 1963. However, the pattern of services in the 21st century American South remains largely unknown. This thesis addresses this gap in knowledge by using a mixed methodology including location allocation, descriptive statistics, and qualitative site visits to explore the geography of community clinics offering both physical and mental health services. The City of Houston has proposed using these facilities to anchor new supportive housing, but introducing more fixed costs to a mismatched system could create more problems than solutions. The findings of this study suggest the presence of an unnecessary concentration of services in the central city and a spatial mismatch between accessible clinics and the poor, sick people in need. Furthermore, this research reveals a new suburban pattern of vulnerability, calling into question long-held assumptions about the vulnerability of the inner city. Building supportive housing around existing community clinics, especially in the central city, may further concentrate vulnerable people thereby contributing to intensifying patterns of service-seeking drift and the continued traumatization of mentally ill homeless persons in Houston.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:unt.edu/info:ark/67531/metadc799532 |
| Date | 12 1900 |
| Creators | Lester, Katherine Ann |
| Contributors | Oppong, Joseph R., Tiwari, Chetan, Henry, Doug |
| Publisher | University of North Texas |
| Source Sets | University of North Texas |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | vi, 67 pages : color illustrations, color maps, Text |
| Coverage | United States - Texas - Harris County - Houston |
| Rights | Public, Lester, Katherine Ann, Copyright, Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. |
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