RESOLUTION #2005-2

 

Mayor's Disability Council (MDC) Resolution

Endorsing the Long Term Care Coordinating Council's Recommendations Concerning the need for supportive housing and assisted living in San Francisco, and specifically the need for assisted living as part of the rebuild of Laguna Honda Hospital.

 

 

WHEREAS, the 1999 Olmstead decision of the U. S. Supreme Court determined that communities must expand community-based services for persons with disabilities as an alternative to institutionalization; and

 

WHEREAS, housing and services are the cornerstones of a continuum of home and community-based long term care services for persons with disabilities; and

 

WHEREAS, the 1999 Laguna Honda Hospital bond measure included $15 million to construct a minimum of 140 units of assisted living as well as the reconstruction of a new skilled nursing facility; and

 

WHEREAS, approximately one-fifth of

San Francisco

's population (approximately 150,000 people) has a disability: and

 

WHEREAS, people with disabilities of all ages face an ever-increasing demand for home and community-based long term care; and

 

WHEREAS, people with disabilities, when no longer able to remain in their own housing, may need intermediate level assistance and not necessarily the 24-hour skilled care provided in a nursing facility; and

 

WHEREAS, as recognized in the City's Housing Impediments Report*, available, accessible, and affordable housing is key to enabling adults with disabilities to remain living in the community; and

 

WHEREAS, the 2000 Consolidated Housing Plan, developed by the Mayor's Office of Housing, states that the City must develop 940 additional supportive housing units (i.e., affordable housing that provides a broad range of on-site and off-site services) for older adults and adults with disabilities who require long-term care; and

 

WHEREAS, the City's Long Term Care Coordinating Council, which is the civic body charged with implementing San Francisco's "Strategic Plan to Make Improvements in the System of Community-Based Long Term Care for Older Adults and Adults with Disabilities" has recognized the need for supportive housing and assisted living in a Resolution that it adopted on February 17, 2005;

 

NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Mayor's Disability Council (MDC) be on record as endorsing the Long Term Care Coordinating Council's Resolution "concerning the need for supportive housing and assisted living in San Francisco, and specifically the need for assisted living as part of the rebuild of Laguna Honda Hospital."

 

Specifically, the Council urges the Mayor and the City's policy makers to:

 

1. Continue and expand efforts to increase the amount of accessible, affordable supportive housing and assisted living for adults with disabilities and seniors in San Francisco, so as to allow residents to age in place;

 

1. Provide assurances that the commitment to include 140 units of assisted living at Laguna Honda Hospital, as specified in the bond measure implementation plan, will not be compromised as plans for the replacement of Laguna Honda Hospital are finalized;

 

1. Explore ways to move up the scheduled construction date of the assisted living units on-site at Laguna Honda Hospital; and

 

1. Support the Long Term Care Coordinating Council's efforts to ensure that there is a successful implementation of these policy recommendations.

 

* Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing, Appendix B: Housing Impediments/Disability, Mayor's Office of Housing, December 2003.

 

 

 

March 18, 2005 Mayor's Disability Council – ADOPTED

 

Ayes: 9 - Jack Fagan, Jul Lynn Parsons, Norma Block, Ed Evans, Elizabeth Grigsby, Richard Ow, Robert Neil, Denise Senhaux, and Tatiana Kostanian

 

Nays: 0

 

Absent: Eugene Flannery and Ruth Nunez