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LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Los Angeles City Councilwoman Nithya Raman introduced a motion Wednesday calling for the city to ease the process of re- establishing eldercare facilities, in part to provide mental health services to the city's homeless population.
The motion requests the City Attorney's Office to prepare and present an ordinance to repeal municipal code 14.3.1, which currently imposes a series of requirements for re-establishing eldercare facilities that have been abandoned or discontinued for a year.
In California, people experiencing serious mental illness are often looked after in "board and care" facilities, known as residential care facilities for the elderly and adult residential facilities, or eldercare facilities, the motion states.
Eldercare facilities provide 24-hour care to people who might otherwise be homeless, and are largely funded by Social Security income from each individual client. The State Supplementary Payment for each person also supplements funding for the operation of these facilities.
But funding is not always stable and ongoing, according to the motion.
The city's current code for eldercare facilities states that if a facility is discontinued for a year it may not be used unless authorized with procedures outlined in the policy.
"It is important to remove any prohibitively burdensome requirements that introduce significant administrative cost for operators so that we can ensure that we preserve as many eldercare and board and care facilities as possible," the motion reads.