Comments on: Group Home to Expand Despite Neighborhood Concerns

By: GMHeller

GMHeller — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 19:50:10 +0000

Drax, except that when your new raging and cursing neighbor moves into his new neighborhood he’s got a vested interest in maintaining the value of his property because he has likely just paid fair market value for the land and the house upon it.
What vested interest does the 100% publicly-subsidized group-home client have in any of that?
Remember, too, that the County is landlord of last resort and that its clients in these group-homes are individuals who have already been refused entry into private residential circumstances because their presence poses too great an insurance liability for that private owner. This could be because the client has a history of drug abuse and addiction, a history of criminal behavior, or a history of irrational and violent behavior.
What right does the County have to jeopardize both your personal safety and that of your family, along with your property rights, so that the County can engage in an grand experiment warehousing individuals in family neighborhoods who formerly would have been institutionalized and kept from harming the general public?
You’ll also note that these group-homes seem never to be placed anywhere near the private residences of elected county officials nor anywhere near the homes of officials who run these county agencies which handle placement of these people.
For example, you won’t find group-homes for indigents and schizophrenics located anywhere near the private homes of any of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors nor of the officials who run the Community Services Board which has jurisdiction over group homes in Fairfax County.

By: drax

drax — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 16:43:07 +0000

But if a neighbor simply moves in next door by buying or renting the house, and then goes in to rages and curses and all that, you have no say whatsoever whether he can live there. So why would someone think it’s different just because it’s a group home? Perhaps you have a point because there are more than one person with a mental issue there, but otherwise, the idea is that these people live in the community. Nobody likes to have to deal with it, but it’s not like people get to decide who their neighbors are.

I agree that it would be alot better if everyone knew who to call other than the police when there are problems. I’m pretty sure privacy means you will have absolutely no right to information about these people, before or after they move in.

By: in the middle

in the middle — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 13:51:17 +0000

As a neighbor to a mental health group home, I have to say that this is not a black and white sort of issue. I am not a NIMBY, and am supportive of these homes. However, when a man is standing on a table to better see over the fence into my backyard with little girls, and he is later outdoors exposing himself, I take issue with that individual. He was not a good fit for this residential situation and was removed years ago.

A second individual is slightly less clear-cut. He goes into rages and curses at the top of his angry voice. I was actually quite frightened during one ‘episode’ and called the police one day. I can tell you, I waited a lot longer than I would have it if hadn’t been a group home, but those 20 minutes were extreme.

So, my question becomes, at what point do we get to say this isn’t working for this individual? The answer is, we (neighbors) have zero say. It’s a medical decision, and a management decision and a county decision. For the moment, they get a bit more time perhaps, because the weather is cold, and our windows and doors are closed, and everybody is indoors more. But if the same behaviour is evident in the Spring, we’ll be getting to the bottom of what recourse neighbors actually have.

I feel strongly that neighbors should be invited into this hierarchy of folks who manage all this before a group home is established. I understand that there are medical privacy issues, but there are also management and permitting issues where the public should have some say! Maybe the company in this case doesn’t have to notify neighbors, but I believe the county should as the party ultimately responsible for permits and public safety. It was reprehensible that this house was put in place and these poor homeowners had no idea that there was any sanctioned refuge there. That they had no idea whom to call about truly awful behaviour.

By: GMHeller

GMHeller — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 08:55:19 +0000

SEE:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/crime-scene/post/person-stabbed-to-death-in-mclean/2012/06/07/gJQA6e0QLV_blog.html

http://www.wjla.com/articles/2012/06/tysons-stabbing-victim-was-attacked-by-someone-they-know-76735.html

By: GMHeller

GMHeller — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 08:46:50 +0000

No doubt property values are now increasing on that Arlington County street. The neighbors must have been thrilled to wake up one fine morning last Spring to find that a Group Home had just taken over a house in their neighborhood.
Fairfax County is proposing to place a similar type of Group-Home in Pimmit Hills, but the County Community Services Board (CSB) will not put in writing anything limiting either the number of residents or whether there would be prohibitions against housing ex-drug addicts or persons who had had run-ins with the law.
Oh, and lest we forget, check out the number of schizophrenics in CSB’s client base,
people who if they miss any of their daily meds, you better WATCH OUT!
Case in point: The vicious knife murder a few months back a thousand feet from Pimmit Hills on Old Meadow Road at the offices of PRS, Inc. of a 50-something ‘client’ by a 20-something ‘client’. PRS, formerly Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services, Inc., is one of CSB’s main vendors providing psych services to group-home clients. Please also note how little press coverage that bloody crime got, and there’s been little if any press follow-up in re the status of any criminal prosecution. Hell, because the killer’s court-appointed lawyer can justifiably argue temporary insanity, the guy might even now be back on the street living in some CSB group home in a quiet neighborhood (maybe in Arlington County!) whose residents, because of federal and state privacy laws regarding group-home clients, have no knowledge whatsoever that there is a killer in their midst who if he misses his meds could go berserk again.

By: Miss Manners

Miss Manners — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 03:06:31 +0000

Good to know that the arbiter of all things is on the job and approves !!!

By: Also curious

Also curious — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 02:37:17 +0000

Recognizing that the county should set the conditions for charities to help the disabled and homeless, concentrating these types of homes and shelters in a few areas can’t be good–either for those who need the help or for the neighborhoods in which they are located. Wonder if there is a map of all locations (generally) in the county, and whether this shows a North v. South divide, as I suspect.

By: drax

drax — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 01:28:51 +0000

I know I’d be glad to pay for Wagon Boy to be my neighbor if I could prevent certain other people from living in my neighborhood.

By: Seamus Puddlefish

Seamus Puddlefish — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 22:03:39 +0000

Shame on all of you who want to segregate people based on something they cannot change. Reminiscent of the arguments against the Civil Rights Act.
Haters gonna hate.

By: NHHwebDesc

NHHwebDesc — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 21:50:25 +0000

The residents for Susan’s place have “serious and persistent mental health challenges, previously lived on the streets, and were resistant to services”