The state is re-examining the process it uses to decide where to open mental health treatment homes, after neighbors complained to elected officials about two homes that opened in Bend this fall.

Some argue the new proposed criteria don’t offer potential neighbors a real opportunity to participate in decisions on where the homes are located.

At the same time, the executive director of the nonprofit Disability Rights Oregon said the proposed requirement to notify neighbors when such a home is opening would discriminate against people with mental illnesses, because other people are not required to notify neighbors when they buy a house.

Neighbors and disability rights advocates may both show up at a public meeting in Salem on Monday, where Oregon’s Department of Human Services will hear public input. The agency is also accepting written comments.

The biggest proposed change is that the treatment providers operating the homes would be required to notify neighbors of their plans, before they actually finalize the purchase of the home.

“Depending on who you talk to, that’s either a huge change, or not,” said Darcy Strahan, the residential programs and services manager for the Addictions and Mental Health Division of Oregon’s Department of Human Services. Currently, the state has “informal siting criteria,” she said.

The idea to require notification came from the input of residents in Bend, some of whom complained they were notified at the last minute that two homes were about to open this fall in northeast Bend. The two new homes serve patients diagnosed with serious mental illnesses, who come from the state hospital, are at risk of hospitalization, or cannot live on their own without supportive services. A third, older treatment home in a different area of northeast Bend houses patients found guilty except for insanity by the courts.

“We’ve had a couple other experiences where the neighbors felt like they should be notified before, not after, the fact,” Strahan added.

The concerns neighbors have cited included safety, traffic, the effect on their property values and the last-minute notification that the homes would soon open. However, the draft siting criteria and timeline up for consideration would not change the fact that state and federal laws allow these facilities to open even if neighbors object.

The two new treatment homes each have five beds, and state law prohibits cities and counties from requiring treatment homes with up to five people to obtain special permits or go through a public hearing process before they open. Also, the Fair Housing Act prevents discrimination against individuals when it comes to where they live.

Bend plays a role

The state began developing the siting criteria to guide the treatment facility operators through the process, but the project was sidelined whenever more urgent issues arose, Strahan said.

It was prioritized, after some residents in northeast Bend mounted fierce opposition to two residential mental health treatment homes that opened in their neighborhood this fall. Neighbors learned in August that the operator of the homes, Telecare, planned to open two residential treatment homes in their neighborhood in September.

“As a result of the Bend experience, we stepped up our efforts to finalize it,” Strahan said.

The Bend residents who do not want the treatment homes next door to them are not alone. Neighbors of new homes opening across the state have increasingly expressed concerns in the last two to three years, Strahan said, “so it created more need for a formal process.”

“I think a lot of it has to do with just not a really good understanding of the facilities, the type of residents served there,” Strahan said. “I think education is something that plays a role in the whole process now.”

Criteria lacking, neighbors say

Former Deschutes County Sheriff Les Stiles, who lives with his wife and grandson near the new home on Edgecliff Circle, said the current proposal would require the home operators to contact neighbors after they have an agreement to purchase a property, and at that point it would already be “a done deal.”

“The issue for me all along has been, how government treats the people it represents,” Stiles said. “If nothing else, (with early notification) you have the moral high ground by saying, ‘Hey, we tried. We couldn’t come to an agreement.’”

Stiles said he was never concerned about safety when he learned a residential treatment home would open on the cul-de-sac where he lives, but traffic from delivery trucks and employees who work at the treatment home has been an issue. One neighbor has set up a video surveillance camera to document traffic to and from the home, night and day, Stiles said.

Another neighbor on Edgecliff Circle, Dillon Schneider, said he was “disappointed but not surprised” that the state’s proposal does not include any of his suggested criteria, which were related to the suitability of a mental health treatment home for a particular neighborhood.

“Their criteria continues to ignore the suitability of the neighborhood, for the sake of the neighborhood,” Schneider said. “They’re really not interested in how the facilities that they are proposing, and the facilities that they are operating, are impacting the surrounding neighborhoods.”

Advocate expresses some concerns

Bob Joondeph, executive director of the nonprofit Disability Rights Oregon, said Monday that he has been following the state’s proposed siting criteria, and is concerned they would discriminate against people with mental illnesses.

“Just as a general matter, the federal Fair Housing Act says you’re not supposed to discriminate against people because of their disability,” Joondeph said.

One way to determine whether a notification requirement is discriminatory would be to ask whether any other person in Bend who wants to move into a new home has to notify their potential neighbors.

“So if the question is no, or something we don’t require everyone to do, then it would by definition be discriminatory,” Joondeph said.

Kevin McChesney, regional director of operations for Telecare, said the state’s proposal could also pose a logistical problem.

State officials want operators to negotiate a waiting period with property sellers during which neighbors would be notified, McChesney said.

“I’m not certain it’s practical in the world of real estate,” McChesney said, adding that property owners usually want to sell quickly.

Few incidents at homes

So far, call histories from 911 show that no major incidents have been reported, either at the Edgecliff Circle home or the northeast 12th Street home. The home on northeast Edgecliff Circle opened on Sept. 24, while the home on Northeast 12th Street opened on Oct. 4.

In that time, there was one call to the 12th Street home, and three to the Edgecliff Circle home. On two of those calls, police were checking on Schneider, after he sent an e-mail to Telecare’s corporate office.

“Ultimately, sadly, the clients you serve will not benefit from placement in such a hostile environment,” Schneider wrote in the Sept. 28 e-mail, obtained by The Bulletin through a public records request. “While our argument is with Telecare, no one seems to be listening. We get nothing but empty platitudes from (Telecare staff) Kevin McChesney and Jay Harris. Our anger will find, must find, a target. If you are genuinely concerned with the welfare of your clients, you’ll find a more suitable, less sensitive location for them. That’s not a threat, of course, but just a natural consequence of being in a war zone.”

Schneider said Monday that upon re-reading his e-mail, he understood that it could be misconstrued, but he did not intend it to be threatening.

“The way that Telecare Corporation chose to handle my communication is really unfortunate,” Schneider said. A police officer who responded told Schneider that he could no longer communicate with Telecare, or he would risk being arrested for harassment, Schneider said.

McChesney said Monday that the situation has been resolved, and Telecare has not received any more threatening e-mails about the Bend homes.

If you go

The Department of Human Services Addictions and Mental Health Division’s Residential Programs and Services unit has developed drafts of two state documents related to the siting of residential treatment homes and facilities for people with mental illness. The division will hold a public meeting next week to solicit input on the documents.

When: 2 to 4 p.m. Monday

Where: Room 137 A-B at the Barbara Roberts Human Services Building, 500 Summer Street N.E., Salem

The division is asking attendees to RSVP to Marisha Johnson at Marisha.L.Johnson@state.or.us by Friday.

People who are unable to attend the meeting can submit written comments to Darcy Strahan, Residential Programs and Services Manager, at Darcy.Strahan@state.or.us.