CLASP House Bill 216 Article

Joan Bartz is the Chairperson of the UHNA Group Home Task Force whose goal is improving the health and safety of the disabled residents at rogue home locations through a city licensing ordinance, based on state rules, requiring licensing with trained staff at all such locations. She clearly states that this is not a zoning matter based on the federal law, the Fair Housing Act, which prohibits the use of zoning as a means of removing homes for the disabled out of any section of a city.

No help has been available from the city since it initiated a temporary suspension on matters concerning group homes in 1996. The Task Force went to the legislature for help and found it in the 2009 legislative session with HB 216, sponsored by San Antonio Representative Jose Menendez, which requires all locations serving the disabled, lumped together as boarding home facilities, to be licensed according to a strict criteria (the model standards) listed in the bill which was passed by both the Hou

se and Senate and signed into law by the governor on June 19th, 2009.

Currently, the Task Force is working with the state other cities on finalizing the bill's model standards which must be done by September 1, 2010. In that regard, there will be a public hearing by the state's HHSC on February 16th to accept testimony on the initial draft of the model standards. The UHNA Group Home Task Force will be involved in this hearing.

The notice for the meeting on the 16th can be found at http://www.hhsc.state.tx.us/news/meetings/past/2010/021610_HB_216_BoardingHouseModelStds.html. You can get a copy of the initial draft at http://www.hhsc.state.tx.us/news/meetings/past/2010/BoardingHouseModelStandards.pdf.

The Austin City Council approved a resolution directing the city manager to utilize city staff to work with the state's bureaucracy in formulating these state model standards. The task force has requested an amendment to include their group as a stakeholder in the process because of their knowledge base, prior research and track record on the subject. They await word on whether they will be included in city staff discussions on the model standards prior to the September deadline, at which point the standards will be finalized and approved.

When September rolls around, Austin may either OPT IN or OPT OUT of this regulation of group homes. Austin can also choose which model standards they will follow. This will be the test of whether Austin chooses to get on board with officially identifying these homes that now operate 'in the shadows' with no oversight. Only then will these group homes come out into the open and give their paying tenants the services, living conditions and dignity that they deserve. It will be up to the citizens of Austin to make their voices known.

The Group Homes Task Force encourages all who read this story and would like to help to contact city council members and ask them to support the OPT IN process so that these people who are part of the fabric of the neighborhoods named above can live out their lives in a more dignified and less chaotic environment.

Some have viewed this issue as a choice between allowing the status quo to remain or forcing people out on the street. If Austin handles the issue in the right way, any homes under threat of closing down could be identified and tenants (who receive Social Security, food stamps and other public assistance) relocated elsewhere. The Task Force believes that Austin can choose to do the right thing, or we will just continue to look the other way.