Make Room for Hospices

The Los Angeles Office of Zoning Administration really had no choice but to find illegal the operation of an AIDS hospice in a single-family home in an R-1 residential zone. There is no provision in law for this use, however compelling the reasons or however effective and efficient the operation.

There are remedies, however, and we think that they should be pursued promptly, because the need for this sort of intimate, compassionate facility will grow in the days ahead.

The preferable remedy is through state legislation, already taking shape in Sacramento, that would license the special care facilities and at the same time make them exempt from local zoning restrictions. This has already been done to create state-certified or licensed family-care homes, foster homes and group homes for not more than six mentally disordered or otherwise handicapped persons or dependent and neglected children that are now operating in residential zones. The state is clearly the appropriate agency to do the licensing. There is a further advantage to state licensing in that it specifies minimum standards and controls to ensure quality care. The AIDS facility challenged in the case in Los Angeles meets appropriate standards, according to a county health officer, but there has been controversy about some other AIDS residential-care facilities in the county.

Pending state action, the city has two options. It can change the zoning code to permit this use, and it can grant a special use permit to the facility that has been challenged in the zoning case. We think that both responses are appropriate. Certainly every effort should be made to see that the facility at issue at 1308 N. Ogden Dr. remains in service.

Large and bipartisan support is developing in the California Legislature for licensing legislation. It is urgently needed. It is needed for several levels of care to meet the growing need in the AIDS pandemic as well as the broader health needs in the community. Hospice care for the terminally ill is important. But so also are intermediate congregate-care facilities for those no longer able to care entirely for themselves but who do not require the more skilled services of specialized nursing homes or acute care in a hospital setting. Small residential settings as well as larger institutional facilities should be utilized. Existing residential-care facilities have shown that there can be small operations in single-family dwellings in R-1 zones without doing harm to the residential character of the neighborhood. Indeed, the residential surroundings can enhance the quality of the environment for these critically ill persons--a reflection of the community’s compassion for them.