An attorney for the state Department of Mental Health is being provided free housing. And so are more than 130 others – directors, administrators, doctors, nurses, maintenance personnel and dentists.
Those in higher positions live in 59 houses on a dozen mental health campuses across Mississippi. At the State Hospital at Whitfield, 73 employees stay in dormitories, including nurses, administrators, mental health therapists, police and maintenance personnel.
State officials put the annual cost for this free housing at more than $300,000 and the value of the dormitory and houses at nearly $6 million.
Many of those living in the free houses make more than $90,000 annually. Until last year, they didn’t pay utilities, which ran more than $5,000 in some residences.
Magnolia Tribune
