“It’s been a rock for decades,” Degnan said.
Places Inc., a nonprofit providing supportive housing and health care services to adults with severe mental health challenges, announced it would be closing 36 beds in four permanent housing facilities.
The closures of Places Inc. group homes comes after the Montgomery County Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services (ADAMHS) board approved funding reductions for multiple mental health agencies in the county.
Montgomery County ADAMHS further reduced the funding approved for Places Inc. two weeks after the original amount was discussed at its program and services committee meeting earlier this month, as staff and trustees conveyed they were caught off guard by Places Inc.’s decision to close the group homes.
“I was completely shell-shocked,” said Kim Roberson, who is a caregiver for her brother. Her brother is also a resident of one of the Places Inc. group homes and has schizophrenia.
“I just went into panic mode,” Roberson said after finding out they would have to find him new housing after her brother had been living in a Places Inc. group home for more than 25 years.
Earlier this month, the full 2024 funding amount for Places Inc. was disclosed as $861,161, according to ADAMHS. Places Inc.’s 2023 funding was $1,266,512 from ADAMHS.
This week, the full 2024 amount went down to $703,013 in order to account for the closure of the group homes, according to ADAMHS.
The new contract only funds Places Inc. through the last 30 days of the group homes being open instead of the remainder of the year, said Laura Ferrell, CEO of Places Inc.
“Unfortunately, that means there are no options for us to find another way in the 30 days to reverse the closing decision,” Ferrell said to the Dayton Daily News.
ADAMHS board trustees approved the funding reductions for Places Inc. and a number of other mental health agencies on Wednesday evening as staff provided board trustees detailed notes on the changes.
For the families, it’s not just about finding a group home their loved one is happy with, but they’re concerned with making sure this change does not cause a disruption in their loved one’s treatment.
The Degnan family described how they recently went through an ordeal where Chris’ medication changed during the pandemic, even causing some mobility issues due to an anti-psychotic medication he was taking.
It took them multiple iterations of new medications after that before they found one that worked, Degnan said.
“When we make this jump to whatever the new facility is, the risk of that getting screwed up again is huge,” Degnan said.
Michele Emerick had been trying to get a spot in a Places Inc. group home for her son, Christopher, for years, she said. He was finally able to get a spot after he lived in four previous group homes.
“He’s lived there for a year and a half, and this is the best group home he’s ever had,” Emerick said. Emerick, who lives in Huber Heights, travels for work since she is a flight attendant. Christopher, who is on the autism spectrum, needs someone to provide him daily support for his medication and other needs.
“Most of the people that live there, they don’t have family,” Emerick said.
ADAMHS administrators tried to make it clear they had not expected Places Inc. to close its group homes, providing a fact sheet to trustees of financial suggestions they had made to Places Inc., which they believed would keep the group homes open.
“There seems to be misunderstanding that ADAMHS closed Places or is closing the Places group homes,” said Helen Jones-Kelley, executive director of Montgomery County ADAMHS.
Multiple moves on ADAMHS’ part contributed to the reduction in funds, as well as why it took extra time for agencies to find out their full contract amounts for 2024. The Dayton Daily News previously reported on how ADAMHS has been reducing its spending by 38% and changing some of its funding cycles.
“We believe you are making errors in judgement, errors in ethics and possibly legal risk errors, which may later result in avoidable litigation,” Degnan said to the ADAMHS board on Wednesday. Degnan had traveled from St. Louis to Dayton to speak to the board on behalf of his brother.
“You have broken the continuity of care for the 36 residents of the Places Inc. group homes,” Degnan said. “You are putting 36 well-cared-for residents of Places at risk for life upheavals, homelessness and stress-induced health declines and crises.”
Degnan had a tense exchange with board chair Verb Washington as Degnan told Washington to “own” what was happening to the Places Inc. group homes after interrupting Washington’s response.
“We do not have control over Places,” Washington said. “...If the fellow taxpayers of Montgomery County provided additional funding, we would have additional funding to provide. We simply do not.”
Part of the funding reductions from ADAMHS resulted from a voluntary reduction in the allocation amount it requested from the county’s human services levy council.
“Looking at what was happening in tonight’s meeting, Places is not unique,” Washington said. “...Everybody has taken a cut. Places chose to make their cut draconian in ways that other agencies here have not.”
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