Updated: Mon Nov. 23 2009 19:32:36

ctvwinnipeg.ca

The federal government is embarking on its largest study ever, linking mental illness and homelessness. Over the course of the next few years, it will spend close to $110 million to put a roof over the heads of hundreds of people, say officials.

About 500 homeless people in Winnipeg will take part in the study. More than half of them will be given a furnished place to live, say officials.

The remaining participants will act as a control group, receiving support through existing agencies, including the Siloam Mission and the Salvation Army.

Both groups will be tracked to determine which approach works best, say officials.

"[Finding] a place to live and then treating them is a going to be a good approach," says Dianna Therriault, a person who used to be homeless.

Landlords who offer homeless people a place to stay will be subsidized. Study participants will also pay a portion of the rent and agree to meet with researchers at least once a week.

It's estimated close to half of the people on the streets have a mental illness.

Therriault was one of them; she is schizophrenic.

"It got easier after my mental illness was taken care of, then I wasn't homeless anymore," she says.

Front line workers will help choose the study's participants over the next 18 months.

The Winnipeg portion of the study will focus on aboriginal people who are homeless. The study will also be launched in Toronto, Montreal, Moncton, and Vancouver.

- with a report from CTV's Joe Olafson