Advocacy Spotlight: Hugh Brady

Hugh Brady is the Executive Director of the Housing Task Force, and a major part of his advocacy work is rooted in NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness. He is on the board for the NAMI Northwest Suburbs of Chicago chapter and chair of the legislative committee of NAMI Illinois. Hugh describes his and the Task Force’s work as being the catalyst to make affordable housing happen. Therefore, they do not own or operate buildings, but connect developers with community members and stakeholders to create permanent supportive housing in various communities. ​

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Hugh spent 38 years teaching eighth grade history and government in public schools. This job influenced his future advocacy work because he was active in the teachers’ union, the Illinois Education Association. The advocacy he did in this role involved various kinds of political work, including talking to legislators. Since Hugh has a family member that’s living with mental illness, he discovered NAMI and, with an interest in starting a new chapter shortly after, he volunteered to be on their board.  
 
NAMI started nearly 50 years ago as family members of people with mental illness joined together to work for more effective treatment and policy. NAMI Illinois started about 40 years ago, serving as the umbrella organization for 19 chapters in the state. Many of these chapters are based in the Chicago area. These chapters provide services to people with mental illness and their families, including free courses that teach family members how to cope with people with mental illnesses. They also operate support groups that are facilitated by people with mental illness, and they do advocacy work for better federal and state legislation regarding mental illnesses. A specific state issue they’re advocating for is changing Illinois’ laws to allow the same kind of insurance coverage for mental illnesses that people get for physical illnesses.  

The other part of Hugh's work, the Housing Task Force, started about 15 years ago by a group of families with adults who have mental illness that needed a place to live. These families were connected through NAMI, but the Task Force is its own 501(c)(3) that’s independent from NAMI. Rather than building, owning, or operating developments, this group of volunteers works to bring developers, municipal officials, community groups, political groups, and churches together to make affordable housing happen in their communities. They specifically focus on permanent supportive housing (PSH), which means that residents have the rights of tenancy, and supportive services are provided to them on site. PSH units are funded in such a way that tenants only pay a third of their incomes on rent and utilities. So far, the Task Force has been the catalyst for five of these buildings in the Northwest suburbs:

• Myers Place, in Mount Prospect, with39 units of PSH
  
• PhilHaven, in Wheeling, with 50 1-, 2-, and 3-bedroom units, where many of the heads of households live with a disability, and only have to pay 30% of their income on rent.
  
• Heart’s Place, in Arlington Heights, with 18 PSH units.
  
• Spruce Village, in Palatine, with 40 PSH units.
  

The fifth development, with 40 units, which just opened in September 2023, is a little different because the developer and Hanover’s Township Mental Health Board basically took over the project after the Task Force connected them.  
     
The first project Hugh worked on was defeated by NIMBYism. Even though there were many supporters for the development at the Village Board meeting where the development was being voted on, there was also a strong NIMBY presence. Most of the NIMBY opposition for this project was rooted in the community’s fear of being near a building that housed people with mental illness. The opposition even made a Facebook group that spread misinformation about people with mental illness being dangerous to the community. Another person who opposed the development mentioned “protecting the sanctity of the Village’s zoning code.” From this, Hugh found that NIMBY opposition is usually stronger among wealthier communities since this development would have been about a mile away from an affluent neighborhood. On the other hand, he faced no opposition for the Mount Prospect development, which was near other apartment buildings and commercial properties.  

Overall, he believes that NIMBYism towards mental illness isn’t as much of a factor as it was 15 years ago because of people’s awareness today. PSH has also become disability neutral, which means that they accommodate people with physical and mental disabilities instead of one or the other.  ​