New Federal Policy Threatens Decades of Disability Rights Progress
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thresholds’ Statement on U.S. Department of Justice Olmstead Memo
Chicago, IL – For more than 60 years, Thresholds has provided community-based behavioral health and supportive housing services across Chicagoland, helping more than 13,000 people with serious mental illnesses each year find home, health, and hope. The heartbeat of our mission is to empower clients to live independently in their communities and avoid unnecessary institutionalization.
This is why we are sounding the alarm about the recent Department of Justice (DOJ) memo that lays out a deeply troubling and significantly narrower interpretation of existing statute and case law pertaining to disability rights, particularly for those disabled by a behavioral health condition.
While the federal position does not change existing law, it signals a dangerous retreat from decades of progress protecting the right of people with disabilities to live in the least restrictive setting possible. By adopting a significantly narrower interpretation of Olmstead’s community integration mandate, the Administration risks undermining hard-won protections and raises concerns that longstanding protections supporting community-based services may be severely weakened. Along with the Administration’s previous Executive Order, the memo reinforces longstanding misconceptions about people experiencing homelessness and mental health conditions that adversely influence public policy, despite substantial evidence that these individuals are far more likely to be victims of crime than perpetrators.
The Administration’s stance could significantly limit critical federal enforcement if states begin to move away from community reintegration. This could have significant consequences for access to various optional Medicaid services as well as the implementation of the Williams and Colbert consent decrees in Illinois. These consent decrees represent Olmstead-related settlements resulting from years of illegal institutionalization of thousands of Illinoisans with mental health conditions in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Rehabilitation Act.
In the years since, Thresholds has proudly transitioned 1,784 class members of the Williams and Colbert consent decrees out of nursing homes and Specialized Mental Health Rehabilitation Facilities (SMHRFs) back into the community. This powerful work builds on the legacy of the important safeguards established by the Community Mental Health Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Olmstead decision.
The evidence is clear – pairing affordable housing with supportive services is a powerful combination. It is successful by the outcomes – of the 1,784 individuals Thresholds helped move, 1,255 have avoided any return to institutional care. It is successful by the cost – a housing voucher and the highest level of community care Thresholds offers is less expensive than nursing home care.
But it is most clear in the stories of those whose lives have been transformed by deinstitutionalization. Laney is a client of Thresholds who lived in a nursing home due to her bipolar disorder, her only option besides living on the street. She says it was only a place to survive, not to get better. With the support the consent decrees gave her, she has now been living successfully in her own apartment for three years. She says, “My experiences and expectations are different since living independently. I was in a place where I didn’t feel safe. But when you have a roof over your head, you have the stability to focus on what comes next.”
With our partners in the Healthy Minds Healthy Lives Coalition, Thresholds helped pass HJR52 this spring to remind legislators of the critical bipartisan work Illinois has done to strengthen our community-based, evidence-backed system of care. We urge reconsideration of the DOJ’s new position and call on Congressional and state leaders to hold the line on what has proven to be effective and cost efficient – community-based treatment and permanent supportive housing.
We cannot return to the dark days of institutionalization. The well-being of our communities and our nation depends on continued investment in care that honors our shared humanity and fulfills the promise of the Community Mental Health Act.
Thresholds provides services and resources for persons with mental health and substance use conditions in Illinois. We work with many populations, including youth and young adults, veterans, young mothers, deaf, and individuals experiencing homelessness, among others. We believe that everyone deserves the opportunity to live an independent, healthy life.
MEDIA INQUIRIES:
Emily Moen – Chief Communications Officer