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The authors assert that access to decent and safe housing is imperative for recovery of persons experiencing serious psychiatric problems. This imperative is embedded in fundamental principles of psychiatric rehabilitation but its practical implementation varies in different social, cultural, economic and legal contexts. The paper describes the characteristics, benefits and limitations of congregated and supportive housing models in the State of Oregon. In the United States access to housing in the community by persons with psychiatric disability is legally protected but nevertheless, often contested by local communities. The housing system for person with psychiatric disabilities in Oregon is used in this article as the backdrop for reviewing various forms of community-based living accommodations in Poland. The authors identify the organizational, legal, and financial reasons for placing so many former hospital patients in large custodial institutions (PDPS) which foster dependency and segregation from a community. The authors also describe less common forms of community-based housing such as rehabilitative hostels and the least common in Poland and yet the most promising – semi-independent apartments – the closest approximation to the integrated supportive housing model. In the conclusion, the paper advocates for the shift of a paradigm toward recovery oriented housing and lists a few universal principles for such change in Poland.