The Willow Glen Resident

Council Watch

Council OKs contentious group-home ordinance

Homes with more than six people can apply to stay in residential areas

By Cecily Barnes

After nearly four hours of public testimony and deliberation Feb. 17, the San Jose City Council finally approved the multifaceted group-homes ordinance that has demanded hours from the City Council, Planning Commission, neighborhood groups, disabled-care providers and city staff.

Some say the ordinance is one of the most complicated the City Council has ever dealt with.

"It's a very complex issue, and very, very difficult to get a level of understanding," District 6 Councilmember Frank Fiscalini admitted. "We're dealing with more than just our zoning code and laws. There's state laws, federal laws, legal opinions."

Essentially, the approved ordinance will allow group homes housing more than six people in residential neighborhoods if residents qualify as disabled and the homes are shown to be well operated.

Owners of group homes wishing to remain in neighborhoods under this "reasonable accommodation" clause must apply to the city. In addition, all group homes, despite their size, will need to apply for certification from either the city, county or state.

"After the certification program is approved, then the council is saying basically group homes will have six months to come into compliance and get certified by the new program," said city planner Stan Ketchum. "After that, the city will begin regulating homes on a more concentrated, proactive basis."

At the council meeting Feb. 17, deputy Santa Clara County district attorney Sharon Chatman outlined how the county would regulate certified programs, and what neighbors could do if they had problems or concerns.

"We have a 1-800 number... we have been able to respond within 24 hours to every call we receive," Chatman said. "We talk to the clients, the staff and the neighbors to make sure our programs are not just good neighbors, but the best neighbors."

According to Fiscalini aide Michelle McGurk, Willow Glen has approximately 15 group homes. Of those homes, five are county-certified and eligible to accept court-referred residents.

The other 10 range from assisted senior-living facilities to sober-living environments. Willow Glen Neighborhood Association president Kris Cunningham says her main concern is the homes that house court-referred residents.

"It is only normal for people to be concerned that as our jails become overcrowded... that the referral facility will be used," Cunningham said. "Many of these people have extreme antisocial behaviors. How bad does someone have to be for a judge to say, 'You can't go into a facility'?"

Group home advocate Carole Calkins, president of the Quality Alternative Housing Coalition, expressed a different concern--about nondisabled group-home residents such as battered women or pregnant teens.

No one on the council directly responded to this concern; however, Ketchum said such homes could apply for "reasonable accommodation" just like any other group home.

"Whether or not those individuals are covered by the disabled federal fair housing laws, the city attorney has not determined," Ketchum said. "But the ordinance does say that facilities of more than six can be considered in single-family neighborhoods."

The city of San Jose originally drafted the group-homes ordinance in 1995 in order to bring the city of San Jose into compliance with federal Fair Housing Act requirements. Federal law mandates that cities make "reasonable accommodations" to disabled people, who might otherwise have a difficult time finding housing.

In the process of reviewing the city's code, it became clear that many homes had been operating out of compliance for some time, Ketchum said. Thus, revising city code would open legal doors for disabled individuals but close the illegal ones that group homes had been slipping through for years.

"Not many of the actual zoning code items have changed," McGurk said. "If a facility was illegal last week, it's still illegal.... If you are a provider, [the ordinance] says, 'Here are the rules you have to go through to become a certified program.' "

If nothing else, opposing sides of the issue came together in denouncing the approved ordinance. But most speakers had a heart.

"We understand that this is a difficult and complicated issue and that everyone is trying to do their best," Cunningham said.

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