BC government offers a cup of tea to douse a raging kitchen fire

$6 million won't stop group home closures, cuts, waitlists or growing safety risks

The BC government today announced $8.9 million in new funding to address the crisis in community living.

The announcement follows a recent statement from the BC Community Living Action Group (CLAG) , based on analysis of CLBC's own data, which showed that an immediate injection of $70 million is required just to cover the unfunded needs of some 1,400 new adults who qualified for CLBC services in for 2010 and 2011 -- a period during which CLBC's budget has been frozen.

CLBC projects a similar net increase in demands for 2012 and 2013, although its budget has been frozen by the provincial budget until 2014.

This growing funding gap explains the growing crisis in community living since 2010. Families are facing tremendous pressures and anxiety due to growing waitlists. CLBC's solution has been to "rob Peter to pay Paul" (for example by forcing adults out of group homes or clawing back services) in order to crisis-manage only the most urgent "health and safety" needs.

Back to the government announcement, actually only $6 million of that is new funding, as $2.9 million refers to previously-committed funding (the 2-year old Personalized Supports Initiative) to provide support for young adults in crisis who are not eligible for CLBC services (e.g. youth in foster care with FASD or autism who are released into the community with absolutely no support after age 19).

The province and CLBC claim the $6 million will provide "new and additional supports and services" for 540 people.

The reality is rather more stark.

• Based on CLBC's average per person costs ($48,800 annually), the $6 million would only cover the needs of 123 new adults from the estimated unfunded backlog of 1,400 who qualified for CLBC services since 2010.
• This is one-time funding only, so it only offers a 12-month stop-gap.
• If, as CLBC claims, the funding is being directed to adults with the most pressing needs, it will only address the needs of far fewer than 100 individuals.
• If CLBC intends to stretch the money five times further to serve 540 adults, it would fund only minimal crisis intervention services.
• The new dollars will do nothing to meet the additional unfunded needs expected for future years.

This is not a solution. The positive part is that after months of inaction, Premier Christy Clark has finally acknowledged that we have a crisis. But the solution shows that her government has failed to listen to families and to understand the seriousness of this crisis.

More group home cuts expected

The new funding will NOT stop CLBC's program of group home closures and service cuts. A series of ministers have repeatedly promised that no one will be forced to move out of their group home if that is not their choice. But scores of residents have been forced out of their group homes and into often transient and unstable "home share" care arrangements in the past two years. Those devastating moves are expected to continue unabated.

But at a technical briefing today, CLBC Director Rick Mowles made no apologies. Instead, he tried to justify the forced moves by regaling the media with rosy accounts of home share clients who enjoy 6-course gourmet dinners and spend happy weekends out camping with their host families.

That experience is certainly not typical of the heart-wrenching reports that MOMS continues to receive from families whose lives are in turmoil, with relatives passed from pillar to post in a series of disastrous residential placements, all to save a few dollars annually.

CLAG partners call for external review of CLBC

In addition to immediate funding, MOMS and other members of the Community Living Action Group are calling for a stop to group home closures and cuts, establishment of an independent Rep to investigate and report on the health and safety of adults, especially those in unregulated home share placements, and new legislation to clarify rights, standards and duties in supporting adults with devleopmental disabiltiies in BC. Growing concerns about CLBC's practices and operating procedures have also prompted a new call for an external evaluation of CLBC.

Taking action

The failure to adequately fund community living represents a failure of political will, leadership and misplaced priorities.

Media reports around the province panned the $8.9 million announcement as inadequate. A strongly-worded editorial in the Victoria Times Colonist blasted the response as "inept" and "an admission of failure."  BC CLAG also issued a statement pointing out that the new funding is little more than a temporary band-aid.

Supporting adults who cannot live safely on their own is a moral societal obligation that cannot be ignored in a modern civil society. This is not discretionary spending to be set aside in tough economic times. The adults and families supported by CLBC have been asked to tighten their belts for a decade, through good economic times and bad. This is about fiscal priorities and political will.

MOMS and other partners in the Community Living Action Group will be presenting detailed budget submissions to the Provincial Budget Committee starting at its hearing in Vancouver tomorrow. We encourage families who have concerns to consider participating directly as well.

Find out how you can have your say on BC's budget priorities and add your voice!

Dawn & Cyndi, MOMS