The Willow Glen Resident

Photograph by Christian Del Rosario

Group Meal: Three tenants of the New Beginnings group home dined together in this Willow Glen Resident file photograph.

Glen group home wins its legal battle, but runs out of money

By Michelle Ku

Drive down Marcia Avenue on any given day, and you can't tell that the residents of one house are different from the others. The front yard of the home is as neat and attractive as the others, and nothing appears to be out of the ordinary.

Yet one house is quite different. It is New Beginnings, a group home for eight men recovering from drug and alcohol addiction. And while many other group-home directors are breathing a sigh of relief at the new city ordinance which could keep them from having to move, the New Beginnings directors feel like their troubles have just begun.

The city zoning code states that only six or fewer people may be allowed to live together in a group home that is located in a residential neighborhood. But the City Council passed an ordinance Feb. 17 that allows such group homes in residential areas if the homes are proven to be well-operated and if their residents qualify as disabled--a "reasonable accommodation" exception.

But New Beginnings' problems of late have not been legal but financial.

In March 1997, the tenants of New Beginnings received a letter from the city telling them to vacate their home by July 28 because it was violating city code. The New Beginnings directors went before an appeals board a few months later and received permission to stay in the neighborhood, said director Terry Jett.

According to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), each city needs to have a certain percentage of housing available for the disabled. Since San Jose didn't meet the minimum percentage of housing available for the disabled and because recovering alcoholics and drug addicts fall under the jurisdiction of the ADA, the men of New Beginnings were considered an exception under the "reasonable accommodation" clause.

After winning the battle with the city to stay on Marcia Avenue, New Beginnings operated for about six months without incident, but now its directors are facing a financial battle to remain in their home. Unless they raise the funds or find another financial backer, they will be forced to vacate their home by April 1.

The New Beginnings lease for the home on Marcia Avenue expires on April 1, and the group is unable to extend it because it lacks the financial power to meet the rent increase the landlord has imposed. The co-signers of last year's lease, Elizabeth Remulla and her husband, cannot co-sign this year because of financial constraints.

"We have to find a new house," Jett said. "We couldn't meet the demands of the landlord--she was concerned about her property and that rent hadn't been paid--and we don't have any money saved."

Searching for a new house for New Beginnings is a daunting task for Jett because he has not found another financial backer for the program yet. "My feeling is, if I don't have enough money to put down a deposit, I don't even need to search," Jett said. "What if, by some miracle, I do find a right house, and I can't do anything about it?"

Even if the New Beginnings directors had the money to search for another house, Carol Caulkins, executive board member for the Quality Alternative Housing Coalition, a group sympathetic to the plight of group homes, knows the search will not be an easy one.

"The city says they will accommodate [disabled people and their needs for housing], but the greater problem is finding homes for people to live in that they can afford," Caulkins said. "In an area with a median income of $72,000, these people make under $10,000. How can you pay for rent and food, much less the services they need? People who are disabled can't afford to live here."

Caulkins said one group home operator she knows has looked at more than 200 properties in three counties to find affordable housing.

Besides the financial aspect, some group homes have faced difficulties when the residents do not want them in the area.

Before New Beginnings took up residence on Marcia, neighbor Bruce Maddux lodged a complaint with the city's code enforcement department about New Beginnings, saying the group home would be operating illegally.

"They were in clear violation of building code," Maddux said. "They had too many people [living in the home] and were running a business."

Maddux, a self-professed believer in the democratic process, agrees the New Beginnings residents have a right to live in the neighborhood because the city said they did, yet he wishes they were not there.

While Maddux has not had any problems with the men at New Beginnings--he says they are all very friendly--he would prefer it if New Beginnings were not located in his neighborhood, because the men chose their fates, he said.

"The gentleman at New Beginnings home made different choices to drink and do drugs and practice debauchery, but they live in the same neighborhood as us all," he said. "I find it slightly bothersome that people get everything in life I have by making poor decisions."

If the group home in the area were for AIDS patients or blind and deaf people, Maddux said he would not have a problem with its presence in the neighborhood.

Others in the neighborhood do not have any problems with New Beginnings located there. "They've caused no trouble," said Diane Scott, a Marcia Avenue resident. "And if I had a problem with them, I just walked over and talked to them. They've just made mistakes in their lives."

Scott has benefited from their presence in the area. The men at New Beginnings would help her pick her father up from the floor when he fell and were there for her when he passed away. "I would hate to see them go, to tell you the truth," Scott said. "If I had a place, I would rent to them."

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