More than 35,000 people live in over 500 adult homes throughout the state.  The state of New York spends over $80 million annually through the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program and hundreds of millions more in Medicaid for medical and mental health services for low income individuals living in adult homes.  Originally designed for the elderly, almost 30% of the people living in adult homes have diagnosed psychiatric disabilities.  Many people with these disabilities came to live in adult homes after being discharged from state or community hospitals because there were no other housing options available. 

Thirty years ago, adult homes were one of the few housing options available to individuals with psychiatric disabilities and limited resources.  Now there is a wider array of housing options that are, unlike adult homes, designed and regulated with the needs of individuals with psychiatric disabilities in mind.  These community mental health housing options are more cost-effective than adult homes because they are designed to promote skill development, independence, and recovery. 

People with psychiatric disabilities living in adult homes have lived without a voice in policy making or choice of housing for the better part of their lives.  SCAA works to insure that adult home residents are not ignored.  Toward that end, SCAA and the New York Association for Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services (NYAPRS) co-coordinate the New York State Coalition for Adult Home Reform (NYSCAHR), whose mission is to fundamentally change the living conditions, care and treatment for people with psychiatric disabilities who live in adult homes. NYSCAHR members include social services, disability and legal advocacy groups, and residents of adult homes.  SCAA also helps coordinate the Adult Home Resident Speak Out for Dignity, Respect and Choice, an annual advocacy event held in Albany.

Adult Home Resources:

CIAD videos on YouTube

"Coco's Story" and "Gary's Story", videos that follow two former adult home residents' journey to independence, are now on CIAD's YouTube page. The videos demonstrate in a powerful and personal way the importance of Judge Garaufis' decision in DAI v Paterson.

Adult Home Reform Report Card. A NYSCAHR report card that grades the progress of the Adult Facilities Work Group five years later. February 2008 download report card

A Review of Assisted Living Programs in "Impacted" Adult Homes. New York State Commission on Quality of Care and Advocacy for Persons With Disabilities. June 2007. go to pdf report

Action Plan for Dignity, Respect, Choice and Recovery for People Living in Adult Homes. February 2007. download action plan

Transforming Housing for People With Psychiatric Disabilities Report. HHS Pub. No. 4173. Rockville MD: Center for Mental Health Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2006. download report

The West Side Federation for Senior and Supportive Housing, Inc. created a March 2003 powerpoint presentation Supportive Congregate Housing, Putting the Pieces Together: Housing Persons with Special Needs in New York State. Two exhibits accompany the presentation: Exhibit A: Narrative Description of Supportive Congregate Housing and Exhibit B: Description of Operating Costs and Funding Sources

The Cause of Dignified Living: The Psychiatrically Disabled in Adult Homes
(February 2003)

There's No Place Like Home: Recommendations for Improving the Quality of Life in Adult Homes Serving People With Mental Illness (June 2000)

Judge Orders 4,500 Supportive Housing Units for Adult Home Residents

New York Nonprofit Press (March 2, 2010) - Advocates for individuals with mental illness won a major victory yesterday when a federal court ordered that New York State develop a minimum of 4,500 supported housing units over the next three years to accommodate current and future residents of adult homes in New York City. -see story

Mentally ill protest state housing plan
Advocates await court's decision

Legislativegazette.com (December 7, 2009) By Bob Bennett - While a protest by hundreds of mentally ill residents seeking community housing raged on outside the governor's midtown Manhattan office, their advocates held a press conference Nov. 24 in Albany on the same issue. -see story

Adocates to Paterson: Redirect Adult Home Dollars to Comply With Court Ruling

WAMC / Northeast Public Radio (November 25, 2009) By Dave Lucas - At the same time that adult home residents with psychiatric disabilities and their supporters demonstrated outside Governor David Paterson's New York City offices, statewide leaders of groups echoed their demand Tuesday morning in Albany that the Governor fully comply with a federal court order to move upwards of 43-hundred NYC-based residents to more appropriate community housing. -see story and play audio

Adult Home Advocates Call on Governor to Fully Comply with Court Ruling Charging He Must Find the Political Will to Redirect Adult Home Dollars -see November 24, 2009 News Release

Justice for the Mentally Disabled

New York Times (October 20, 2009) Editorial - After eight years of the Bush administration using the power of the Justice Department to undermine civil rights laws, it is good to see the department applying one of those laws, the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990. -see story

Judge's ruling rocks Staten Island adult homes
State must relocate them from 4 Island facilities that are found wanting

Staten Island Advance (September 9, 2009) By Peter N. Spencer - STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Hundreds of mentally ill people must be moved from four Staten Island adult homes that are little better than the mental institutions they replaced, a federal judge ruled yesterday. -see story

NYSAPRS excerpts of the adult home law suit ruling

(September 8, 2009) Disability Advocates, Inc. Vs NYS Governor David A. Paterson et al Nicholas G. Garaufis, United States District Judge. United States District Court Eastern District Of New York, excerpts of ruling. -download excerpts