Florida News Straight From the Source
Olivia Babis, Senior Public Policy Analyst, Disability Rights Florida:
“It is claimed that this bill is about valuing the lives of people with disabilities. Then I would pose the question, where is the rest of the bill? [Read more…] about Health care and disability rights groups respond to House passage of abortion ban
Disability Rights Florida, Florida’s Protection and Advocacy organization for individuals with disabilities, is announcing a settlement agreement signed with the Florida Department of Corrections (FDC) which will have widespread impact on the care and treatment for persons with severe and persistent psychiatric disabilities incarcerated throughout Florida’s prisons. The suit was brought with the assistance of attorneys from Florida Legal Services and the Holland & Knight law firm. The complaint, filed alongside the settlement agreement, alleged that the FDC deliberately and consistently denied mental health care to individuals with mental illness confined in inpatient mental health care units. Disability Rights Florida alleged that lack of care contributed to several deaths, including suicides, due to the failure to provide appropriate mental health care and adequate supervision. Disability Rights Florida further alleged that persons with mental illness were denied access to programs, services, and activities due to segregation and isolation.
“This settlement agreement represents significant changes to the way that inmates with serious mental illness receive care and treatment while serving sentences in Florida’s prisons” said Maryellen McDonald, Executive Director of Disability Rights Florida. “With the dramatic rise of individuals with serious mental illness entering our criminal justice system, it is no surprise that our state prisons have sadly become the last stop for those most at risk of severe psychiatric crisis. We are very pleased that Secretary Jones and the Office of General Counsel chose to resolve this matter through mediation and negotiation rather than protracted litigation.”
The settlement agreement was the result of a multiyear investigation by Disability Rights Florida into the care and treatment of inmates with mental illness in the Florida prison system. The results of that investigation, combined with the efforts of a multidisciplinary team of experts, led to a year-long set of mediation sessions between the parties. The settlement agreement was collaboratively crafted with the assistance of Judge Harvey Schlesinger, a federal court judge in the Middle District of Florida.
The agreement includes provision for monitoring by the Correctional Medical Authority that will span over two years. During that time, FDC has agreed to make widespread changes in its psychiatric treatment system by providing individually-tailored, results-driven treatments with a multidisciplinary treatment team focus. Many of Disability Rights Florida’s complaints concerned the isolation of inmates with mental illness, and FDC will enact policies that increase the amount of time inmates spend outside their cells in therapeutic activities along with purposeful encouragement for these patients to leave their cells to engage in treatment services. Finally, perhaps most important, FDC has agreed to provide extensive training to its medical providers and security staff working with this population of inmates due to their specialized set of needs in the institutional setting.
The attorneys who participated on the case were Peter Sleasman, Kristen Lentz, and David Boyer from Disability Rights Florida; Christopher Jones and Andrea Costello from Florida Legal Services; and Buddy Schulz, Laura Renstrom, Sheila Shen, and Mindy Higby from Holland & Knight. The case is Disability Rights Florida v. Jones, 3:18-cv-179-J-25JRK in the Middle District of Florida. For more information or copies of the Settlement Agreement, please contact Peter Sleasman at Disability Rights Florida, [email protected] or 850.488.9071.
The City of Jacksonville has agreed to settle lawsuits alleging violations of federal housing and disability regulations stemming from its determination that a proposed housing redevelopment project in the city’s historic Springfield neighborhood amounted to a prohibited special use under relevant zoning laws. The project at the center of these lawsuits was the proposed renovation of a Jacksonville apartment complex to be funded under a grant obtained by Ability Housing of Northeast Florida for the purpose of providing permanent supportive housing to individuals with disabilities experiencing chronic homelessness. City officials initially nixed the project amidst public concern regarding the possible increase of social service housing projects within the one-square mile historic district.
Under terms of the city’s settlement with Ability Housing, Disability Rights Florida, and the U.S. Department of Justice – approved by the Jacksonville City Council at its May 23rd council meeting – the city has agreed to rescind its original determination relating to the project, and to revise relevant portions of its zoning code.
The revisions would require code interpretations consistent with the federal Fair Housing and Americans with Disabilities Acts, while also specifying that the permanent supportive housing at issue is properly characterized as a multiple-dwelling use that is therefore allowed wherever the city permits multiple-family dwellings. The city’s zoning code will be further amended to authorize residential treatment facilities and group homes for persons with disabilities as allowable exceptions. The amended zoning code will also include a specific procedure for individuals with disabilities to request reasonable accommodations or modifications on the basis of disability from the city’s code requirements as required by federal law.
The city has also agreed to establish and award a grant totaling $1.5 million to a qualified developer for development of permanent supportive housing units for persons with disabilities within city limits in the next year. As defined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, “permanent supportive housing” is intended to provide long-term, community-based housing incorporating supportive services for homeless individuals with disabilities to enable “special needs populations to live as independently as possible in a permanent setting.”
The dispute began in 2014, following the award of a $1.3 million grant to Ability Housing by the Florida Housing Finance Corporation to redevelop a 12-unit apartment complex in the Springfield historic district as permanent supportive housing. Under the proposal submitted by the nonprofit, the renovated units were to be offered on a permanent basis for rent to individuals with disabilities and a history of experiencing chronic homelessness. No staff would reside on premises, and residents would coordinate with outside providers for all treatment services and needs.
Although city officials initially acknowledged the project’s proposed zoning, before permits had been obtained for the project mounting pressure from concerned residents in the community led to a ruling by the city’s Director of Planning and Development that the project violated provisions in Springfield’s zoning overlay by authorizing the residency of individuals receiving treatment and related services for mental illness. Such determination was upheld across a series of appeals and related attempts by Ability Housing to obtain a Certificate of Use, during which time the nonprofit lost the grant funding it had originally secured for the project.
Both Ability Housing and Disability Rights Florida filed suit against the city in November, 2015 alleging violations of the federal Fair Housing and Americans with Disabilities Acts. In its suit, Disability Rights Florida noted that the “effect of these actions by the City of Jacksonville is that persons with disabilities are unlawfully restricted from enjoying dwellings in the Springfield neighborhood and this unnecessarily deteriorates the possibility of these individuals from fully integrating into the community.”
As a part of the city’s approved settlement of the nonprofits’ lawsuits, Ability Housing and Disability Rights Florida will each receive the reasonable fees and costs of their actions against the city, and Ability Housing will be compensated for additional out-of-pocket expenses in pursuing review of the city’s determination. Ability Housing was represented by the law firm Akerman, LLP.
David Boyer, lead counsel for Disability Rights Florida, noted, “While this is obviously a big victory for Ability Housing, it is an even bigger victory for individuals with disabilities in the City of Jacksonville. This settlement will help to ensure that discrimination doesn’t affect our clients’ and constituents’ choice to live in the community.”
In a related enforcement action brought by the U.S. Department of Justice last year, the city has further agreed to designate a compliance officer to receive complaints of alleged housing and disability discrimination against the city, and to ensure the city’s compliance with the decree. Additionally, the city has agreed to provide training on the Fair Housing and Americans with Disabilities Acts to all city officers, elected and appointed officials, and employees who have duties related to the planning, zoning, permitting, construction, code enforcement, or occupancy of residential housing. Finally, the decree also directs the city to pay a $25,000 civil penalty to “vindicate the public interest” pursuant to federal law.
“We hope that this result will show other communities that discrimination against persons with disabilities will not be tolerated,” said Curtis Filaroski, staff attorney at Disability Rights Florida. “There are individuals and organizations that will stand firm against any action that erodes these important rights under federal law.”
In her 90’s and unhappy with nursing home care, Josephine Hollister, wanted only to go back to her home of forty years to live out her life. Like more than 45 thousand Floridians who are elderly or disabled, Hollister was enrolled in the state’s Medicaid managed care program that is supposed to provide home health services for people who would otherwise need nursing home care. When Hollister went home, however, she was denied the services her doctors thought she needed. Determined to live on her own home, she exhausted her own small income and had to rely on voluntary help from her guardian to get the services she needed.
Hollister and four other citizens sued Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA), contending that the system places them at risk of having to enter nursing homes because adequate standards for home care were not in place. As the result of a recent settlement of the lawsuit, enrollees in the Long Term Care program will have significantly more protections in place to ensure that their care needs are adequately met at home. Hollister was able to get the services she needed to stay in her own home, where she passed away on January 10th with her beloved dog by her side.
Under the settlement, AHCA agreed to adopt rules requiring Florida’s Medicaid Managed Care companies “to provide an array of home and community-based services that enable enrollees to live in the community and to avoid institutionalization.”
The plaintiffs contended that the managed care organizations ignored critical issues such as need for supervision, caregiver availability, and access to community services.
Nancy E. Wright, Esq., who filed the lawsuit along with Disability Rights Florida and Southern Legal Counsel, says, “The long-term care program is supposed to substitute for nursing home care, allowing people to remain in their own homes or in less restrictive community settings. When care needs are not met, caregivers are pushed to the extreme, and enrollees are not safe or just end up going into nursing homes, like it or not.”
“The Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits discrimination based on disability, which includes being forced into unnecessarily restrictive settings to receive care,” says Amanda E. Heystek, Esq., Disability Rights Florida. “Ms. Hollister wanted to live at home and just needed the right amount of care in order to safely do so.”
Disability Rights Florida was founded in 1977 as the statewide designated protection and advocacy system for individuals with disabilities in the State of Florida. It has been advocating for access to services, education, employment, independence, and the elimination of abuse and neglect for over 35 years.
Southern Legal Counsel, Inc. (SLC) is a Florida statewide not-for-profit public interest law firm that is committed to the ideal of equal justice for all and the attainment of basic human and civil rights. SLC primarily assists individuals and groups with public interest issues who otherwise would not have access to the justice system and whose cases may bring about systemic reform. SLC uses a range of strategies to achieve its goals, including litigation, policy advocacy, and training and technical assistance to lawyers, lay persons and organizations.
The Settlement Agreement referenced above resulted from Parrales et al v. Dudek (4:15-cv-00424), filed in the Northern District of Florida on August 27, 2015.
