8,000 people with developmental disabilities are waiting for housing

From the Newark Star-Ledger:

A legal advocacy group and a prominent law firm yesterday sued the New Jersey Department of Human Services, saying 8,000 developmentally disabled people have had their rights violated because they have been waiting — some for a decade — to move into government-sponsored community housing.

The federal lawsuit alleges the state is failing to meet its legal responsibility to provide housing for people who want or need to live outside of their family homes. The department has established a waiting list, but few ever leave it unless a parent or other caretaker becomes ill or dies, the lawsuit said.

“These individuals have been for years diverted to a so-called ‘wait-list’ for such services, with no guarantee, and little hope, of accessing the services they need,” said R. Scott Thompson of Lowenstein Sandler, which is representing the federally funded legal rights group, New Jersey Protection and Advocacy Inc., for free.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 18th, 2008 at 12:28 pm and is filed under NOT2BEMISSED, housing, independent living, institutionalization, intellectual/developmental disabilities, law, waiting list. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.  Email This Post