Boeger apartments a good fit in Arlington Hts.

The Task Force on Supportive Housing for Individuals with Mental Illness in Arlington Heights has teamed with other entities, Thresholds and the Daveri Development Group, to create an excellent solution to a problem that we have lived with in Arlington Heights for decades: How to best serve the needs of village residents suffering with mental illness.

The project on 120 Boeger Drive will create a supportive environment for our fellow residents to receive treatment, support and encouragement as they battle with their illness. That the village desperately needs this project is easily evident. With a population of 75,000 people in the Village of Arlington Heights, mental health experts estimate that there are about 5,000 people living among us with severe mental illnesses like major depressive disorder, schizophrenia, and bipolar syndrome.

Currently, residents suffering with these disorders are housed with parents, family members and friends. Sadly, some of these people do not even have homes. These living arrangements are, at best temporary, and do not provide the best environment for people with these illnesses to receive proper treatment.

As usual, the NIMBY ("Not in My Backyard") coalition has succeeded in throwing up roadblocks for this worthy project. What these folks fail to recognize is that people with bipolar syndrome, schizophrenia and major depressive disorder are already living in and among us. This project will simply allow a small percentage of them to live in a place that can properly support them while they recover from their illness.

The mentally ill people in our community are residents. They are our parents, siblings, sons and daughters, and friends. Let's not continue to abandon them to suboptimal care out of the irrational fears that inevitably crop when forward looking projects like this are proposed.

Chris Mier

Arlington Heights