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New Documentary Chronicles the Challenges of New York’s Supported Housing Program for People With Mental Illness

On Feb. 26, the documentary premieres on PBS. Sign up for our newsletter and we’ll send it to you when it’s live.

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Thousands of New Yorkers with severe mental illnesses won the chance to live independently in supported housing, following a 2014 federal court order. Frontline and ProPublica investigate what’s happened to people moved from adult homes into apartments and find more than two dozen cases in which the system failed, sometimes with deadly consequences.

Our joint reporting has shown how the government wasn’t tracking outcomes as some of the most vulnerable residents languished without the necessary support. We told the story of Nestor Bunch, whose road to independence was paved with hunger, violence and death. In response to the reporting, a federal judge ordered an independent assessment of the state’s incident reporting system, and the nation’s largest mental health organization urged more supported housing reforms.

Tune into the premiere on PBS on Feb. 26 at 10 p.m. Eastern, 9 p.m. Central and online at pbs.org/frontline. Sign up to be notified when the story and documentary are online.

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