Group home opens to help fill mental health housing gap

CINCINNATI —   In Ohio, thousands of people living with mental illness are struggling to find stable housing, according to data from the National Alliance on Mental Illness. The group reports that one in five Ohioans experiencing homelessness also lives with a serious mental illness.

For Jeno Shanklin, the crisis is personal — and the solution; he hopes starts with the home he recently bought. 

Walking through the doorway of a Cincinnati house, Shanklin pauses at the decoration on the wall and the furniture arranged just as it was years ago.

“That’s actually an old picture my mom had,” he said. “These couches are actually my grandfather’s.”

The memories still bring him to tears. Shanklin says he spent part of his childhood living in and out of shelters before his mother moved in with a man who he says struggled with mental illness, a situation that often turned volatile.

“It was tough being in a house with someone who one second can be laughing and smiling, another second being physically aggressive, verbally abusive to whoever crossed their path,” he said. “I had to grow up really fast being the oldest of four.”

Shanklin later moved in with his grandfather, and he credits his faith with helping him understand the long-term impact of a stable home.

“A lot of people overlook adults,” he said. “They think they’re grown; they can handle it. But there are a lot of adults out there that, if they just had some type of stable environment, it would help them.”

Shanklin recently purchased a home and is turning it into a group home for men living with mental illness — a place he calls the Safe Haven for Healing home in Cincinnati. He said the house will offer group classes, art and music therapy and other programs meant to support mental health and long-term independence.

“I felt like I could be making a bigger impact on my community and my people,” he said. “So I did some research and found the model group home.”

Shanklin hopes this first site will be one of many. He plans to open additional group homes and eventually a day center focused solely on mental health services.

“Come as you are,” he said. “We will do our very, very best to see that when you walk back out these doors, you are better than when you came inside them.”

As Ohio continues to grapple with gaps in mental health housing, Shanklin said he’s committed to helping one person at a time.