Examples of Olmstead Complaints with a Request for Declaratory Judgment

NEXT THURSDAY   --- UPDATED:    

• We're going to provide a DRAFT generic Demand Letter that could be used for any State.
• With respect to Colorado --- we're going to be asking that the State communicate to STAKEHOLDERS directly in writing regarding the Budget request regarding some type of "OLMSTEAD COMPLIANT" effort.
  • ​We've heard this is going to involve some housing vouchers and is going to be led by the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy & Financing & the Division of Housing
  • We'd like to get specifics and we're sure that others would as well.
  • We're going to be looking for commitments to:
    • Meausurable Goals
    • Reasonable Time Frames, and
    • Funding to Support the Plan --- PLUS
    • INCLUSION

​Draft Demand Letter to a State on Disability Housing --- requesting a INCLUSIVE STAKEHOLDER GROUP to Develop:

• Measurable Goals
• Reasonable Time Frames, and
• Funding Strategies

to bring DISABILITY HOUSING to SCALE.  This includes issues of ACCESSIBILITY, HOMELESSNESS, INSTITUTIONS including Nursing Homes, Mental Institutes and people with DISABILITIES being released from Jails and Prisons.

In the alternative, seeking a DECLARATORY JUDGMENT that Colorado's current provision of DISABILITY HOUSING violates Title II of the AMERICANS with DISABILITIES ACT.

Ideally, such a letter would come from a wide range of Stakeholders.  Further, the LEGAL FRAMEWORK and RESOURCES for such a DECLARATORY JUDGMENT ACTION need to be FIRMLY ESTABLISHED.

Georgia: Georgia Network for Educational Support & Therapeutic Support Program

Issue a declaratory judgment that Defendant has violated Title II of the ADA by
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(1) failing to make reasonable modifications to the GNETS Program to provide students with disabilities access to necessary mental health and therapeutic educational services and supports in the most integrated setting appropriate to their needs, and

​(2) providing students with disabilities services, programs, and benefits that are inferior and unequal to those provided to other students served in the general education environment.

​US Dept. of Justice Complaint against the State of Georgia regarding Georgia's Network for Educational and Therapeutic Support Program.

New York:  Adult Care Homes

​DOJ Complaint against the State of New York regarding "Adult Homes"

C.        Issue a declaratory judgment declaring that:
                        1.         Defendant has violated title II of the ADA and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act by failing to make reasonable modifications to services, programs, and supports for persons with mental illness residing in, and at risk of entry into, Adult Homes to enable them to receive services in the most integrated setting appropriate to their needs; ​

MISSISSIPPI ---  Programs & Services for Adults with Mental Illness
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​DOJ Complaint against the State of Mississippi to enforce the rights of adults with mental illness to receive services in the most integrated setting appropriate to their needs.

C.  Issue a declaratory judgment that Defendant has violated Title II of the ADA by failing to make reasonable modifications to services, programs, or activities for adults with mental illness to enable them to obtain the services, programs, and activities they require to reside in the most integrated setting appropriate to their needs;

​1.  The United States brings this action against the State to enforce the rights of adults with mental illness to receive services in the most integrated setting appropriate to their needs. 

The State discriminates against adults with mental illness by administering and funding its programs and services for these individuals in a manner that has resulted in their repeated, prolonged, and unnecessary institutionalization in state-run psychiatric hospitals, and placed them at serious risk of such institutionalization, in violation of Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (the “ADA”), 42 U.S.C. §§ 12131-12134