Lawsuit Seeks Wider Housing Options For Those With Disabilities

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A lawsuit was filed on behalf of people with disabilities who say they should be able to choose where they live. Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid claims the state doesn't offer individualized housing options. And that's why they sued the Minnesota Department of Human Services.

Jenna Gordon is in her fourth group home in six years. The 24-year-old's dad Marvin says she wants to have control of her own life, in her own space.

"We would like to, and she would like to, have her own apartment or maybe in a duplex or a four-plex or some space where she's got not just her own bedroom but her own home," parent Marvin Gordon said.

He said living in a group home with three or four others doesn't work for his daughter, and it causes her to act out.

"Most of her issues result in the fact that she has no control in a group home, that she has to follow all these rules that other people are making for her," Gordon said.

Jenna is one of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed against the Department of Human Services.

"Everyone with a disability, if they're getting services from the state, has the right to live in the most integrated setting, meaning the ability to interact with the public, with the community, with people who don't have disabilities, to lead as normal life as possible," attorney Sean Burke said.

Burke said people with disabilities are instead segregated from the rest of society.

Human Services Commissioner Emily Piper told WCCO, "Minnesotans with disabilities should have choices about where they live. Minnesota's Olmstead Plan is our path forward to increase opportunities for Minnesotans living with disabilities to live, work and succeed in our state in the most integrated setting possible."

"We feel like the plan itself doesn't address the over-reliance on these corporate foster care facilities and it doesn't address the possibility of individualized options," Burke said.

Each plaintiff receives a disability waiver from the state to pay for services. They would like for the resources to be reallocated to go to group homes and individualized housing.