Court Ruling On Disabled Will Tax NY Budget

Court ruling on disabled will tax NY budget By Barbara Benson

In the wake of Tuesday's landmark federal court ruling that New York state violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by warehousing some 4,300 mentally ill people in large group homes—institutions in all but name—officials face the daunting task of finding large numbers of affordable housing units in the city and elsewhere.

The judge said the state should be integrating those New Yorkers into communities by placing them in alternate housing, such as apartments. Albany must create a remedial plan by next month.

“Real estate is a huge, huge problem,” said Melanie Shaw, executive director of the New York Association on Independent Living, an Albany group that helps the disabled obtain services. “The court was clear. People end up in adult homes because they don't have housing.”

And so while advocates such as Ms. Shaw are thrilled with the lawsuit's outcome, the true victory cannot come until New York can devise a plan that places the mentally ill in affordable housing, with access to supportive mental health and case management services.

“We're thrilled with the court's decision,” said Susan Dooha, executive director of the Center for Independence of the Disabled. But the state also faces a major challenge because “locating low-income housing in New York City is enormously difficult.”

Ms. Dooha noted that many of the city's mentally ill residents survive on Social Security Insurance payments and end up living “from couch to couch with friends.” For those on SSI, “housing opportunities available to you are extremely limited.”

The court decision addressed the state's cost of housing the mentally ill in group homes, as compared to the cost of paying for smaller supportive housing settings. The judge determined that if the state factored in the cost of Medicaid services delivered onsite at group homes, supportive housing actually was cheaper.

In theory, the state can take savings in Medicaid and use the money to move the mentally ill into supportive housing. But with 4,300 city residents currently living in large group homes, that task is daunting—and expensive.

With the state's current budget deficit “the need just completely outstrips the state's resources,” said John Richter, director of public policy at the Mental Health Association of New York State. “That need is so massive that is will be hard for the state to solve this problem.”