Mental Patients Living in Their Own Apts: Good Idea?

On Monday a federal judge ruled that the state must begin moving mentally ill New Yorkers out of "warehouse-like" institutions into more normal quarters, but concerned parties are already voicing their objections. "We are ground zero of this grand experiment that the judge has unleashed," City Councilman James Sanders Jr., a representative for Far Rockaway which houses many of the group homes, told the Daily News. "No one knows what this is going to do." A patient at a facility in the area worried that though mentally ill New Yorkers want to "live their lives the way the rest of us do," it might not be possible. "These people don't even know how to shower or shave, let alone shop or cook," said Robert Evans, who plans to move out of his group home. "It won't work out."

Judge Garaufis's contentious ruling doesn't require mental patients to go live on their own, but it says the state must provide that option by building individual or smaller group units and allowing residents to move out of for-profit facilities. Cliff Zucker, executive director of Disability Advocates, said the order will be a "boon" for the area. "What is better for the community—to have a scattering of people who have psychiatric needs throughout the community or have 250 of them living on your block?" he asked. But Sanders worried the new demand for housing will outweigh the supply: "There is no room at the inn, so is there really freedom?"

Jeffrey Edelman, owner of the Wavecrest group home, was concerned for the facility's patients. "They are taking residents who are really not able to live on their own," he said. Last year Garaufis ruled that requiring mental patients to live in group homes violated the the Americans with Disabilities Act because, hidden away from society, the residents had no incentive to learn how to work, socialize or live normal lives.

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By Sabrina Jaszi in News on March 3, 2010 1:15 PM

Comments [rss]

HOTCUP

HMM, I wonder what sabrina things ((HEADLINE))

gothamist sucks.

theLtrain

They should make them all live in one building together, or several buildings on the same grounds.

It worked for poor people didn't it???

frankbooth

Basically another handout to the landlords that can't rent out their units because they refuse to lower their prices. The city will be sure to pay top dollar for the units, thus making rents less affordable for the working/middle class. Same old story.

Trilby16

I have mental patients in the apartment above me.

Politburo

I'm confused.. Mr. Evans has been in one of these facilities for 4 years? So isn't he one of "these people" he refers to?

riotturtle

I think most of the hostility toward this ruling is based on misinformation. Residents of the large group homes are free to come and go as they please, so the idea that the doors are suddenly being flung open is BS. There is research to show that people go way crazier in these prison-style mass housing situations. Most people with mental illness are NOT a threat, and those who are are specifically accounted for in the ruling, as the option to live independently does not apply to them. This is huge step away from the mental health industrial complex and toward a decent standard of living for all New Yorkers. Way to go, Garaufis!

longacre

At group homes they have things like supervision and people to cook for them. Would you want to live above a heavily medicated person who has never had his own stove before?

riotturtle

I'd rather live near a person with mental illness than live with the knowledge that people who have committed no crimes are incarcerated.

ANGRYGOD11

The other major misconception is lumping the mentally ill together. Some of the people in these warehouses are functional and just insist on a chance to control their own lives.

really!?!?

then why are they in there in the 1st place?

NannyState

When the mentally ill are finally re-institutionalized in huge ugly buildings, I hope they name one of them after that stupid judge.

Angelheaded Hipster

felix lives in his apartment just fine

Willie Nillie

Two words: Muppets Take Manhattan

fuboy

Wasn't there a movie about this in the late eighties? A band of mental patients lost in New York who get into trouble by terrorizing the populace but, by strange fate, they end up solving a murder and toppling a city-wide conspiracy?

This will be like that movie, except instead of blundering justice we'll just have incoherent babbling and unprovoked, violent episodes.