NY State Discriminated Against Mentally Ill In Adult Homes
A federal judge today ruled that the State of New York discriminated against the mentally ill by forcing them to live in crappy adult group homes–in effect, little more than replacements for shuttered state psych hospitals–when the state could’ve paid for them to live in apartments and likely would’ve saved money in the deal. The judge ordered the state to submit a remedial plan to fix this mess.
And quite a mess it is. Some of the homes house hundreds of people and are rundown and unsafe, and staffed by incompetent people, in some cases. That’s what a NY Times series found back in 2002. I’d strongly recommend taking a look at it.
These kinds of adult homes are present all over the country and they’ve essentially become the new form of long-term institutionalization. Although most states regulate the homes, in my experience I cannot tell where regulations have helped patients. I visited one in Seattle several years ago and within about 30 seconds I could tell I was in a fire trap. It’s since been torn down and replaced by expensive town homes, but not because of a state inspection but because the agency that owned the property could make a ton of money selling to a developer. I have no idea what they did with the proceeds.
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