Judge Calls for Examination of Quality Controls in New York Supported Housing System

 

The day ProPublica and Frontline reported how people with mental illness are slipping through the cracks, federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis questioned state officials, suggested more help and requested a report on oversight. 

by Joaquin Sapien

This story was co-published with Frontline.

At a court hearing Thursday, U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis questioned New York state officials and disability advocates about people with mental illness dying or coming to harm after moving from adult group homes into “supported housing” apartments, problems raised in a ProPublica and Frontline investigation published that day with The New York Times.

He ordered an independent report to assess the effectiveness of the state’s incident reporting system, got the state to commit to examining its service-coordination program and suggested the state develop a program to help residents learn and practice basic life skills in supported housing.

Four years ago, in a landmark settlement secured by advocates, Garaufis issued a court order offering more than 4,000 adult home residents in New York City a chance to move. The idea was that many did not need to live in such facilities — which can house hundreds of residents and have a history of abuse and neglect — and could instead thrive in their own apartments with the right support. The order instructed evaluators to presume that all residents would be fit to do so.

But ProPublica and Frontline found that clinicians evaluating adult home residents for the transition felt censored when they raised concerns about a person’s ability to live alone, and that workers felt pressured to “sell the move,” even to people who they thought were ill-equipped.

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Source: ProPublica