2,000 Disabled Residents Might Be Evicted Soon : Finances: State budget impasse has stranded the private tri-county agency responsible for their care and housing. The center is not eligible for IOUs.

The agency that pays for the care and housing of about 2,000 handicapped Ventura County residents will shut its doors next week unless a new state budget is adopted, the agency’s director said Tuesday.

The stalemate in Sacramento has choked off financing to the Tri-Counties Regional Center since July 1, Administrator Barry Kaufman said.

The agency obtained a $4-million bank loan to continue serving mentally retarded adults and children and those with cerebral palsy, autism and epilepsy.

But that money is nearly exhausted, and the center has been unable to get another loan. As a private agency, the Tri-Counties Regional Center is not eligible for the IOUs that have kept other state services afloat.

“It looks like we may have to close down and put the staff on unpaid leave, starting Sept. 1,” Kaufman said.

The prospect frightens some disabled people who reside in the hundreds of care homes in Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties that receive funding from the Tri-Counties Regional Center.

“I’d just have to live on the streets,” said Peter Husted, 34, a physically disabled man who lives at the Training for Independent Living complex in Ventura. “It would be really rough. I wouldn’t know what to do.”

As the Legislature and Gov. Pete Wilson continue to wrestle over a new spending plan, area managers of care homes for the disabled are concerned that they will lose employees and run out of money to feed and shelter their clients.

“We serve people who would be unable to care for themselves,” said Antoinette Mitchell, who runs two Ojai Valley homes for the developmentally disabled.

She worries how her 24 clients will survive. “You’re talking about a population that would be victimized out on the streets. They couldn’t fend for themselves.”

Mitchell is uncertain how long she can keep her employees without an infusion of promised state revenue. “You’re faced with the serious problem of telling your staff they’re not going to get paid,” she said. “It’s very unlikely that many of them will stay on if they do not get paid.”

The home administrator has begun writing to her clients’ families for donations to help her homes for the disabled survive the funding crunch. But she said some of her clients have no living relatives to offer support.

The nonprofit Tri-Counties Regional Center is one of 21 centers statewide that distribute money to those care homes that help 110,000 developmentally disabled people throughout California. The Tri-Counties Regional Center itself employs 145 social workers, other professionals and clerical workers who aid handicapped residents. Its entire $31-million annual budget comes from the state.

“This is a statewide issue,” said Randy Ferguson of the California Department of Developmental Services. “We deal with 21 regional centers, and so far, all but one of them have indicated that their closure is imminent at the end of this month or possibly into September.

“It’s essentially a problem that doesn’t have a solution. The only way to get money is to have a budget.”

Ferguson, chief of the adult and family services branch, said the department is encouraging regional centers to draw up plans that would refer their clients elsewhere in an emergency. “The problem is, everyone they would refer people to is pretty much in the same boat,” he said.

Camarillo State Hospital has little room to accommodate many handicapped people who might need shelter if the county’s residential care homes close, said Myron Dimmett, the hospital’s interim executive assistant.

The state hospital is licensed for 613 beds, and Dimmett said, “We are near that capacity now.”

The loss of state funding has forced Celia Gonzales, who owns two Oxnard homes serving 18 handicapped people, to draw from reserve funds and cut staffing.

The budget impasse “is threatening the lives of these people,” she said. “They should not play politics anymore.”

If the money crunch continues, Gonzales said, “we’re going to have to look for funding or a loan someplace else.”

But she added: “We won’t put these people out on the street. They’re like a family to us now.”

The budget crisis has stirred anxiety among some handicapped people who have followed news reports about the impasse, Gonzales said. Some of her clients recently registered to vote, she said, so that they can express their displeasure on Election Day.

The Training for Independent Living facility in Ventura, where Husted lives, is financed almost entirely by the Tri-Counties Regional Center.

The Independent Living staff helps prepare people with disabilities to live on their own. And, Husted hopes to be out on his own in January, as he recovers from a fall from the fourth floor of a hotel in 1985.

Husted still walks and talks with some difficulty because of his injuries. But he said his life has been on the upswing since he moved into the 16-unit apartment building in July. He began a janitorial job this week.

“I’ve made a lot of progress in my life (because of) the ability of the people here,” said Husted, who once worked as a lifeguard and a bartender. “They treat me like a normal person. It’s like a family here. They really care about you.”

Another resident of the center, Matt Powers, 21, said he would have to move back in with his parents if the center is closed. Powers, born with Down’s Syndrome, has been living at the facility for about one year. He works at a video store shelving tapes.

The Independent Living center is run by the Assn. for Retarded Citizens in Ventura County, which serves about 600 people. Executive Director Fred Robinson said his organization can cover the loss of state funding for a short period. But he is growing impatient with the budget impasse.

“This has gone on for two month now,” he said. “Most organizations, including the larger ones like ours, have very limited resources that we can fall back on. If they do not have a budget by the end of September, I think you will see programs closing down or at least cutting back on services.”

Times correspondent Jane Hulse contributed to this story.