After two decades of providing free mental health services on the northshore, NAMI Southeast Louisiana’s director says the organization faces an uncertain future, as St. Tammany Parish is now asking the nonprofit to pay rent for the first time.
Since 2015, the parish and NAMI have had an agreement that essentially waives rent for the nonprofit to operate at the Safe Haven campus, a hub for behavioral health services in Mandeville. In exchange, NAMI has provided mental health services, at no cost, to thousands of people in St. Tammany — a parish that continues to have one of the highest suicide rates in the state.
But the parish, facing a budget shortfall, says it can no longer forgo rent from NAMI, which operates out of eight buildings on the campus and is the only tenant that doesn’t pay rent…