Supported Housing Is Cited As Providing Far Superior Services and Greater Opportunity for Community Integration
On September 8th, a U.S. District Judge ruled that New York State violates the Americans with Disabilities Act by isolating individuals with a psychiatric disability in privately run adult homes rather than integrating them into the community. The Judge stated that, "In some ways, Adult Homes are even more restrictive or 'institutional' than psychiatric hospitals." He further commented that the State's supported housing programs provide much more flexible support services as well as opportunities for community integration.
The judge has given the State until November 6 to propose a plan to move 4,300 adult home residents into supportive housing. The lawsuit was brought against the Governor of NYS, the NYS Office of Mental Health, and the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene by the nonprofit legal services organization, Disabilities Advocates Inc. (DAI), in 2003.
In a series of articles written by NY Times investigative reporter Clifford Levy in 2002 and 2003, adult homes were exposed to be dangerous and unsuitable housing for consumers, citing numerous abuses including lack of recreational or vocational services, inadequate case management, incorrect dispensing of medication, lack of routine medical care, and subjecting residents to unnecessary medical procedures for the purpose of billing Medicaid.
Community Access and its colleagues have repeatedly called upon the state to create appropriate housing opportunities for adult home residents. In 2005, the New York State Campaign for Mental Health Housing advocated for setting aside a portion of the projected 9,000 units of supportive housing in NYC-the New York / NewYork III program-for adult home residents. This was rejected by the State Office of Mental Health.
The Campaign for Mental Health Housing, founded by Community Access CEO, Steve Coe, in 2003, has taken out a full-page ad in The Capitol newspaper, an Albany-based publication, urging Governor Paterson to uphold the recent Federal Court decision that mandates the State to develop a plan to move 4,300 people living with a mental illness from adult homes into supportive housing. The ad was paid for with funds from the Campaign for Mental Health Housing.
