Handicapped Funding Crisis Claimed : Welfare: A Tustin-based watchdog group threatens to sue, charging that state officials have violated the rights of the disabled who need better housing.

Orange County advocates for the handicapped threatened to sue state officials Monday, declaring that tight-fisted funding over the past four years has violated “the human, civil, legal and service rights” of handicapped people in need of better housing.

The handicapped children and adults affected include those unable to walk, some who are blind and deaf, and some who have brain disorders.

In an unusual move, the Tustin-based watchdog agency, known as the Area XI Developmental Disabilities Board, formally charged in a Dec. 13 letter to the state Department of Developmental Services that the agency is “out of compliance” with state laws protecting such handicapped people. Calling the situation a “crisis,” the board cited the cases of about 200 handicapped people in Orange County who have “inappropriate” housing.

If more state money is not made available, the board may pursue legal action against the state, warned Rhys Burchill, executive director of the watchdog agency.

A state official, however, denied Monday that there has been inadequate funding for the handicapped in Orange County or any other part of the state.

“We don’t see it as a crisis,” said Greg Sandin, assistant to the director of developmental services. Sandin added: “The (Deukmejian) administration has adequately funded the programs (for the handicapped) and will continue to do so.”

At issue are community-based homes, such as board-and-care facilities, that can house small numbers of handicapped people who don’t need to be hospitalized or committed to institutions. Burchill said such small homes, located near the families of the handicapped, can offer residents individual care.

But because of the high cost of housing in Orange County and other parts of the state, many of these care homes are going out of business, Burchill said. The displaced handicapped then have to be moved into already crowded, large state institutions. In some cases, the handicapped must return to relatives who are hard-pressed to properly care for them, Burchill added.

“Unfortunately, this situation is not limited to only Orange County,” Burchill said. “It is occurring all over the state.” She said that the state has not been keeping up with the cost of living in providing funds for housing the handicapped.

The problem is particularly severe in expensive areas such as Orange County, she said. “The state doesn’t have a differential for costs according to area,” Burchill said.

‘Out of Compliance’

In the Dec. 13 letter to Gary Macomber, developmental services director, the watchdog group formally charged the state agency--which funnels aid to the handicapped--with being “out of compliance” with state law. The charge triggers an internal administrative review, Burchill said.

“After receiving the letter, the (state) department has 30 days to respond and to modify their policies and practices,” Burchill said. “If they don’t, the board can hold a public hearing where people testify about our allegations (of insufficient housing aid to the handicapped). At that point, the board could then request money from the state Council on Developmental Disabilities for litigation and take the matter to court.”

The little-known developmental disability area boards are citizen-watchdog groups that, under state law, have the power to look over state and federal programs for the handicapped. The Orange County board made headlines in the fall of 1988 when it accused county education Supt. Robert Peterson and the county Department of Education of violating handicapped children’s civil rights by not providing adequate school busing for them. The county department ultimately remedied the shortage.

Burchill said the current battle by the Area XI board is simply to enforce state law that mandates that adequate housing be provided to disabled and handicapped people.

“At the present time individuals with developmental disabilities find themselves pawns of a rapidly growing trend back toward institutionalization and are often faced with no option other than inappropriate placement at state development centers,” board chairman Ronald Mincer wrote in the Dec. 13 letter.

Local board members, he continued, “believe that violation of the human, civil, legal and service rights of persons with developmental disabilities must not be tolerated any longer. . . . This letter serves to officially notify the Department of Developmental Services that Area Board XI is initiating noncompliance proceedings against the department. . . .”

Sandin, of the state department’s Sacramento office, said he could not comment specifically on the local board’s letter on Monday “because we have not yet received it.” But Sandin denied the board’s overall allegation that Gov. George Deukmejian’s administration has provided insufficient funding for the handicapped.

Burchill, however, said the watchdog agency for the handicapped “has been very concerned (about state aid to the handicapped) for the last four years. . . . ‘Crisis’ is the right word to describe the situation.”