Administrative and planning staff concerned with the delivery of community mental health services often contemplate the reuse of existing buildings as an alternative to building new ones. Building reuse carries the promise of cost savings as well as appropriateness of milieu. The experience has varied considerably; failures have led some to believe that building rehabilitation is eventually costlier than new construction. As this controversy continues the quality of service only stands to suffer. The intention of this study is to evaluate the past experience with building reuse and to develop guidelines for estimating the feasibility of this alternative in precise terms. We propose to analyze all cases of building reuse for mental health services in Region 1 (Boston Regional Office) through site visits, examination of records, notation of the necessary physical modifications, identification of the reasons for such modifications, interviews with various administrative, planning and program staff and public officials with jurisdiction in respect to applicable life safety and land use regulations. We shall then develop a typology of cases considering the critical factors of: (a) appropriateness of setting for intended program or service type, (b) compliance with applicable standards and regulations and (c) the range of modifications necessary for meeting the requirements of (a) and (b), above. As this typology is developed we shall address a questionnaire to all other Regional Offices so as to ascertain how the building reuse experience of Region 1 varies as compared to that of other Regions. The final report will be in three sections: Section 1: Documentation and evaluation of reuse in Region 1; variations in other Regions. Section 2: Analysis of governing standards and regulations; recommendations for development of standards responsive to particular program or service types. Section 3: A workbook for evaluating the suitability and feasibility of any existing building or space within a building for the operation of various types of mental health services.