Proposed Rules For Group Homes Get Mixed Reaction
February 07, 2011|By DON STACOM,
dstacom@courant.com, The Hartford
Courant
Last summer's controversy over proposed group homes in Bristol is generating a
struggle at the state level between the rights of homeowners and the legal
protections for residents of group homes.
Dozens of people on Monday filled a hearing room at the Legislative Office Building;
some were demanding new safeguards for communities that don't want group homes,
while others were warning that such safeguards would violate state and federal
law.
Legislators
from Bristol
and surrounding towns are sponsoring a bill to require a public hearing before
any new group home may open. Sen. Jason Welch, R-Bristol, said that such a law
would protect residents from learning too late about unwanted group homes
opening down the street.
Homeowners in two Bristol
neighborhoods were furious last summer when they learned that Klingberg Family Centers was negotiating with the state to
house troubled teenagers and boys there. Klingberg
dropped the matter after public protests.
State Rep. Whit Betts, R-Bristol, and Rep. Frank Nicastro, D-Bristol, endorse the early notification concept.
But state Sen. Steve Cassano,
D-Manchester, the committee's co-chairman, sided with the many social service
providers who attended the session to argue against that idea. It's too broad,
he said, because it also would apply to group homes for the physically or
mentally handicapped.
Opponents cautioned that state fair housing law and
federal civil rights protections make it impossible for a state to place
demands on a group of disabled people living together that it wouldn't require
of other groups, such as large families.
http://articles.courant.com/2011-02-07/news/hc-group-home-hearings-0208-20110207_1_group-homes-bristol-neighborhoods-homeowners