Brother's legacy lives on at Dave's House

SOUTHWEST ORANGE  When Lin Wilensky was entering college, she was excited she would get to attend with her brother, Dave Jeffreys, whom she considered a great mentor growing up.

Today, eight years after his death, Dave’s influence is still front and center in Wilensky’s life. He is the name behind Dave’s House, the organization Wilensky and her husband, Ron, launched in 2007 to provide help for those with severe mental illness. 

Earlier this month, Dave’s House celebrated a huge milestone — the creation of permanent supportive housing — at its inaugural Happy Days Soiree. At the event, held at Wyndham Grand Orlando Resort Bonnet Creek, the Wilenskys honored Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs and retired Judge Belvin Perry Jr.

“Both Mayor Jacobs and Judge Perry have demonstrated their commitment to ending homelessness throughout their careers,” Lin Wilensky said. “We were delighted to honor them for their efforts to champion this cause at our soiree.” 

Dave’s House will continue its efforts with four new projects: two Dave’s House homes, one Dave’s House home for veterans and 10 apartments for veterans. The two Dave’s House homes will be based upon the group’s Traditional Home Model, which keeps individuals from the streets — creating a single-family residence for four to five individuals. Funding comes from a $500,000 grant from the Orange County Board of County Commissioners. Mental health services will be provided through a partnership with Aspire Health Partners.  

An in-kind contribution from Wells Fargo will fund the Dave’s House residences for veterans. The new apartments follow the group’s Housing First Model, which takes individuals off the streets — providing apartment homes for those with severe mental illness alongside co-occurring disabilities, requiring a much greater intensity of services. Residents of these homes will receive services and support through a partnership with Pathway Homes.

DAVE’S STORY

One night in Lin Wilensky’s freshman year, Jeffreys asked her to dinner. As they walked down the staircase to the dining hall at Allegheny College in Pennsylvania, Jeffreys turned to her and asked her why all the people were staring and laughing at him.

The comment startled her, because no one in the dining hall was looking at them.

“I was frightened, and of course, he was frightened as well,” she said. 

They left the dining hall and walked across the street to a convenience store, where they ate hamburgers while Jeffreys told her all about his fears and paranoia. She took him to the clinic, where he stayed overnight before his parents picked him up and took him home.

That night began the family’s 40-year journey with schizophrenia. 

For the next 25 years, Jeffreys struggled to gain stability — even with a supportive family. 

Jeffreys was supposed to walk Lin Wilensky down the aisle in her wedding in 1992. But the night before the wedding, he went missing. He had a breakdown and took off in his car. It was the night the families were supposed to meet each other for the first time, but instead, Lin Wilensky was in the police department filing a missing person report. On the wedding day, the family didn’t know whether he was alive. 

Within a few days, he was found. He went to a hospital, but when he left the hospital, he was unable to return to his apartment because he had done damage to the apartment. The family didn’t know at the time that the apartment was too isolating — he needed professional care.

The family found a solution — permanent housing that allowed him to stay with two other housemates and get care. 

“He lived his best years possible in that environment,” Lin Wilensky said. 

He made friends with his housemates, worked part time and volunteered at a church. He was never hospitalized for mental health issues again. In 2007, he died of natural causes.

DAVE’S HOUSE

After Jeffreys’ death, the Wilenskys started Dave’s House. The organization gives permanent housing to people with mental illness who have been homeless at one time or are at risk for future homelessness. Currently, the organization has seven houses serving 34 residents. The experience is similar to Jeffreys’ situation. No one lives in isolation. 

They work with Aspire Health Partners to get the care they need. During the day, residents attend day programs that cover anything from learning job skills to how to best manage illness. 

Dave’s House monitors the homes to make sure the residents are being well cared for and the houses are in excellent condition. 

By 2020, they hope to have 20 houses and 100 residents.

BREAKING THE CYCLE

In the Orlando area, 40 to 60% of homeless people have some form of mental illness.

The cost of keeping someone with mental illness living on the street is three times greater than providing permanent housing for them, according to Dave’s House. 

A common misconception is that living on the street doesn’t cost anything.

“The cost of homelessness is not nothing,” Lin Wilensky said. 

If people live on the street, they go to jail over a nuisance crime, such as sleeping in a doorway. While in jail, people with mental illness are assessed as needing mental health care, so they are sent to the hospital. When they are stabilized, they are discharged from the hospital and sent back home — which, for them, is the streets. 

The phenomenon is known as the revolving door. Dave’s House hopes to see that cycle end. 

“There is a huge, overwhelming need for the word permanent,” Ron Wilensky said. “There’s some transitional housing, but when they leave transitional, when they get stable, they get on their meds, they learn social skills, they get job skills. When they leave transitional housing, where do they go? To the street. Permanent housing—this is a big deal—solves that problem of going to the street when you get out of transitional housing.”

To learn more about Dave’s House or to get involved, visit the organization’s website, DavesHouse.org.

SAVE THE DATE

The Leadership Excellence with Dennis Snow seminar and breakfast, a benefit for Dave’s House, will take place Feb. 25, 2016. For more information, visit DavesHouseEvents.org.

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Contact Jennifer Nesslar at [email protected].