By DAWNE LEIKER

dleiker@dailynews.net

The work of H.D. "Spec" Woods in developing housing for individuals struggling with mental illness was recognized Thursday night at a special board meeting and recognition banquet of High Plains Mental Health Center.

In Hays in the early 1990s, access to affordable and livable housing for those who had been in state hospitals was limited. Recognizing that need, Woods, together with Kermit George, former executive director of High Plains, and Homer Schwarz, longtime Hays resident, set out to find a solution to that housing problem.

Woods, manager of Woods and Starr Associates, "really found a special way of understanding how to build housing for those individuals, the elderly and those with disabilities," said Walt Hill, executive director of High Plains.

"Spec took an interest in working with us to address the need for housing for individuals with long-term mental illness," he said. "He did the heavy lifting as a developer."

Woods' development, Woodhaven, a 32-apartment unit built in 1994 for individuals with mental illness, came about through a partnership of federal, state and private partners, and was recognized nationally as a unique model, according to Hill. The unit received an award from the National Council of Community Mental Health Centers as an exemplary project.

Similar projects developed by Woods include a 15-apartment housing development in Colby and a housing development in Greensburg, which was developed following the 2007 tornado that destroyed the town.

Other speakers for the evening, Mike Hammond, executive director of the Association of Community Health Centers of Kansas, and Randall Allen, executive director of Kansas Association of Counties, talked about the challenges facing county-based public mental health systems in Kansas.

Kansas state hospitals generally are filled to capacity, according to Hammond. At the same time, community support resources are dwindling.

"We're seeing increased admissions to our hospitals," he said. "We're seeing increased suicide calls. We're seeing mental health centers having to consolidate their resources and closing local offices. We're seeing longer waiting lists for services."

Locally, he said High Plains has had to reduce office hours. Other challenges to the state's mental health systems now in the works include medication policies, which are becoming more restrictive.

Hammond said another issue at stake involves plans of the state's administration to take about $200 million out of the Medicaid system in a one-year period.

"We hope the Legislature will be involved in that, because we're not exactly sure what that's going to look like. Two hundred million coming out of the entire Medicaid system is not going to be a pretty picture," he said.

Other policy issues Hammond addressed included maintaining the "public safety net function" of the state mental health system.

When state leaders question the value of publicly funded systems in the quest to reduce the size and scope of government, it becomes a challenge to remind them of the need for access to critical social services, he said.

"The failure to keep community mental health programs adequately funded increases the census at our hospitals and puts pressure on our local jails and other social service programs and increases homelessness," Hammond said. "Part of our challenge is to remind policymakers and the government that mental health is actually part of the budget solution, not part of the budget problem."