SR-306-001-02
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r:'allfornia
CA.~SSS:se
Councll Meetlng 09jOQjSO
Santa BonIca,
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S'1'Ar"" R.RD()RT
TO: ~ayor and Cltu CouncIl
FR()~: CIty Attornev
SUB.:rECT: R.eoort reqaralng Pro~ect l\10~!l\
On Ju1v 21, 1980 (IteJTl 11-,,), the CIty Council
dIrected staff to:
"pursue an Investlqation '''ork~nq WIth
NOVA and the var~ous lndlvldua1s who
have made charqes to ascertaIn the truth
of the ~atter an~ find out what the
sltuatlon IS in regard to the appro~rc-
ateness of the Cltv contlnUcnq such
funalnq and to release Su~flclent funds
for ~O~7A to cover theIr payroll under the
pending contract unt~l thE r~Dort IS
receIved and decI."led upon by the Council."
~he CIty Attorney's 0~flce has conducted an
Inves~iqatlon; ItS report IS attached.
TO elate, the CIty has paId '\IOVA :;i'5,586 to neet
lts payroll commItment throuqh August 31. Pen~Ing CouncIl
actIon, no contract has heen executed.
prepared bv Stephen Shane Stark, I\.ctlno CI~Y Attornev
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There are two other organizatIons WhICh help the men-
tally dIsabled in Santa Monlea.
The flrst is the ~ental
Health Assoc1atJOn. The Mental Health AssocIation, WhICh
won the Department of Mental Health grant for 1980, WIll be
establlshlng communIty centers throughout Los Angeles County,
Including one in Santa Monica.
The Department of Mental
Health has saId that the Mental Health ASSOCIation was picked
over NOVA because 1t 1S a countY-WIde organlzation WhLCh has
a WIder approach, and is linked to the Department of ~ental
Health's PatIents' RIghts Office In Los Angeles.
Patlents'
RIghts is one of the State watchdog agenCIes In Los Angeles.
rlnother local watchdog IS the Mental Health Advocacy SerVIce,
WhIch provides legal serVIces to reSIdents who have IndIVIdual
legal disputes. There IS also the board and care Llcenslng
Agency, WhlCh responds to reports of Code violatIons In the
homes. Both NOVA and the Mental Health Assoclatlons have used
all three of these agencles.
The agency In Santa MonIca WhICh serVIces the elderly
residents of board and care facilItIes IS the Westslde Ecu-
~e~lcal CounCIl's Ombudsman program.
State law reqtures the
operators to permIt workers from this organlzatlon lnto the
homes (Welfare and Institutlons Code, SectIon 970l). The
Ombudsnan PrograP'l is deSIgned to ensure that good condltions
prvail WIthIn the homes.
They have four or fIve volunteers to
cover the 11 board and care faCIlItIes in Santa ~onlca. The
program IS linkled WIth the Grey Panthers and other advocates
for the aged as well as the L~censlng Board.
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FVt.JDING
NOVA's total budget for 1980 1S $256,585.00. They
have gotten commItments from the CETA program (TItle VI) for
$214,450.50 of theIr budget. The balance of $42,134.50 was
requested from the State through the BId to ASSIstance to
CommunIty Care FaC1Ilty ReSIdents progra~ (DMH-RFP 80-1).
Rather than fundIng NOVA, the Department of Mental Health
gave $59,700.00 to the Mental Health ASSoclatlon. With a
lImIted amount at money to spend, the Department of Mental
Health felt that the Mental Health ASSOCIatIon was the best
group to fund. The Mental Health ASSOCIation depends upon
volunteers and contrlbutlons to supplement theIr program.
The Ombudsman Program, whIch IS prImarily staffed by volunteers,
has a budget of Just over $10,000.00 thIS year.
NOVA IS request1ng $42,134.50 from the City of Santa
Monlca to supplement the amount already promIsed by CETA.
Title VI allows NOVA to receIve supplemental fundIng. ThIS
amount wlll supplement the lncome of every employee In the
program as well as help pay for overhead. NOVA presently
operates In one board and care facility In Santa MonIca, and
in four other faC11Itles elsewhere 1n Los Angeles County.
Thus, twenty percent of NOVA's activitIes are conducted In
Santa Monica. Twenty percent of $42,134.50 lS $8,426.90.
As mentioned above, NOVA has expressed a deSIre to enter a
faCIlIty for the aqed ~n Santa MonIca but as yet they have not.
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DUPLICATION OF SERVICES
NOVA organIzers spend four hours a day, four days a
week in the board and care faCIlItIes makIng cOntact WIth
the res1dents.
The organizers are dIrected to arouse the
"moral outrage" of the resIdents and encourage them en masse,
to take thelr grievances to the management.
NOVA uses a
sOC1al worker approach as opposed to a psychological apDroach,
wh~ch they feel ~s not sensltlve to the needs of the resIdents
as self-respectIng IndIVIduals.
The Mental Health Assoclation plans to set up co~~unlt~
centers for the residents, ~ncludlng one ln Santa Monlca.
There are no plans to have anyone go into the homes on a long-
term basis. The most beneflclal effect of the Mental Health
AssocIation will go to those res1dents who can leave their
facilltles and go the the centers.
Their ultImate goal 1S the
same as NOVA's; to InstIll a sense of self-worth 1n the reSIdents
and encourage them to help themselves and eventually re]Oln
SOClty.
There are some nembers of the Mental Health Assoclation
who dlsapprove of NOVA's methods because of the potentIal danger
of arOUSIng lnstabillty In certaIn mental patlents. However
other me~bers, lncludlng the PreSIdent, BIll Thomas, a former
mental patIent, feel that the NOVA approach IS good, so long as
it does not qet too "radical."
The Ombudsman Program works closely with both the elderly
resldents of the board and care facIl1tles and the operators.
The program IS funded bv Los Angeles County. There are about
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150 commun~ty volunteers working for the program.
Tom Levine, Executlve Director of the Westslde Volunteer
Center and a coordInator for the Ombudsman Program, suggests
that 15 the CIty funds NOVA, the money should be qranted
wlth the contingency that NOVA work with the Ombudsman
Program.
Sister Pat Murphy, head of the Westslde Ecumenical
CouncIl, feels that NOVA's approach may be too radIcal
for the senior citlzens. She expressed concern that, were
NOVA to work In these facIlltles, they should try to coordlnate
theIr actiVIties through the Ombudsman if an accord can be
reached.
Another concern of NOVA's IS that the reSIdents who
receIve SSI money must pay a fIxed amount In rent to the
facillty. At ~resent, the faCIlItIes get $411.00 per month
and the reSIdents get $54.00. Many people 1n the fleld be-
lleve that thlS percentage, set by the CalIfornia Department
of Mental Health, glves too little to the resldent. The
Hental Health Association is planning to lobby the CalIfornIa
Department of Mental Health to lncrease the benefIts to the
res1dents so they can save enough money to move out of the
facllltles. NOVA 1S also concerned with this problem and would
lIke to pursue the same course of action.
The board and care bUSIness IS, by theIr own admISSIon,
very profitable for the operators. The Cal1fornla AdmInIstra-
tIve Code allows an operator to put two reSIdents In each room
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In the facilIty. ThlS guarantees the operator $822.00 a
month for each room. There IS substa~tlal overhead in paYIng
staff, taxes and mortgages, but the operators agree that they
can proflt whlle stIll provldlng adequate serVlces. However,
a great concern of the operators is the posslbIllty of rent
control. A recent declslon of the Rent Control Board (ApplI-
catlon for ExemptIon of Bayslde Manor, May 17, 1980) held
that board and care facIIltles are subJect to rent control.
HaVIng heretofore depe:1ded upon the Department of Hental Health
to set the percentages of rent Increases, the operators are
now faced with a local control. The Rent Board's declSlon IS
be~ng appealed. SInce ~OVA IS very vocal ~n Its mIstrust of
the operators and SInce NOVA had recommended that the reSIdents
of Bayslde go to Legal AId to try to keep from belng evicted
when the owners trled to close down, the board and care
operators are uneasy about NOVA.
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ALLEGATIONS
There have been some allegations that crimInal complaInts
were filed agaInst NOVA. In a check with the Los Angeles Pollce
Central Dlvlslon, the VenIce PolIce Department and the Santa
Monica PolIce Department, there was no record of any crImInal
conduct by NO\TA members. There is one letter, in the posseSSIon
of Wllliam Nelson, president of the Board and Care Operators'
ASSOCIatIon, alleging that a conversatlon about a drug sale
between two ~OVA workers was overheard by a board and care reSI-
dent In Los Angeles. No arrest was made. At the Portland VIlla
vacIIlty ln Los Angeles, a viSltors POllCY was Implemented WhICh
effectIvely excludes NOVA organIzers from enterlng the premises.
LItigation IS pending on the rIght of entry Into the facIllty by
NOVA organIzers. There lS also a petition, SIgned by resldents
of Portland VIlla and accompanIed by several letters, WhlCh states
that the residents want NOVA out. NOVA members contend that the
petitIon was signed under condItIons of trickery and duress.
In regard to the many letter of support from State offICIals,
the CounCIl should be aware that many of the cONmendatlons were
not made on the basls of fIrst-hand experIence with NOVA. An
example IS Assemblywoman MaXlne Waters' letter of May 26, 1980
to the Department of Mental Health. When Informed that NOVA
dId not have the support of the Board and Care Operators' Associa-
tIon and certaIn members of the Mental Health ASSOCIation, her
office, through her aSSIstant, Rod Wright, retracted the letter.
Mr. Wright emphasized that the retractlon was not a vote agalnst
NOVA, but a confeSSIon of Ignorance as to the true sIstuatlon.
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SUm1ARY
NOVA lS prI~arIly funded bv CE~A ~itle VI. The
request before Council IS to supple~ent thIS Income. Twentv
percent of NOVA's services GO to resIdents In S~nta MonIca.
SupplementatIon of twentv percent of 'JOVA I s budget would
total $8,426.90
Proiect ~OVA is not a duplication of serVIces In
that theIr method of trYing to get the residents of board
and care facllltles back lnto SOCIety l~ dlfferent fro~
that of the ~ental Fealth Associatlon.
Thev claIm to reach
more people through theIr approach of gOiDg into the homes.
Their organlzinq approach is a controverSIal one WIthIn the
mental health co~unltv.
NOVA has t\-lO organizers in Hirschorn
Nanor and periodicallY send superVIsors.
The board and care operators and NOVA are un-
questionably at odds.
The operators feel NOVA is responsible
for the recent Rent Control Board deciSIon regardIng BavSlde
Manor. NOVA claIms it IS not. Allegations of crimInal charges
agalnst ~QVA are unsubstantiated.
Prepared by Stephen Shane Stark
Sheldon ,}. Cohn
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REPO"RT "REGARDP,G T>RO.TECT 'W"l...
DESCRIPTION OF PROTECT
ProJect NOVA is the sole functIon of the Center for
Human RIghts in Mental Health. NO\lA IS a non-profit carpor-
at10n WhlCh seeks to organIze the mentally dIsabled In res1-
dent1al board and care homes Into self-advocacy groups. Its
purpose 15 to get the resIdents to speak out for better con-
dltlons and thereby learn how to beco~e contrIbutIng members
of society and, ultimately, leave the homes. NOVA works ex-
cluslvely In homes for the ImpoverIshed mentallv dIsabled.
These people receIve $465.00 from SuppleMental Securltv In-
come (SSI), WhICh 1S a JOInt federal and state program. The
California Department of Mental Health establishes the amount
of rent the board and care facIlltles can charge.
There are two hOMes for the Mentally dlsable~ In Santa
MonIca, houslng a total of 150 people. NOVA operates In The
Manor (formerly Hlrschorn Manor), the only S8I funded home,
which has 106 resIdents. NOVA has two organIzers In Hirschorn
Manor for four hours a day, four days a week. The organizers
spend one day a week In traInIng. SuperVIsors come to the
faCIllty perIodIcally to oversee the organIzers' work. NOVA
also would lIke to organIze In a board and care home for the
elderly, ~h1Ch have a hIgh percentage of mentally dIsabled
resIdents. There are 11 such homes In Santa ~onlca (excludIng
nurSIng ho~es), hOUSIng about 600 people. About half the
reSIdents rece1ve SSI beneflts.
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