Care Facilities and the Poor

* Thank you for “Profiting by Preying on the Poor,” Dec. 22. There is another side to this issue, the impact on communities of having these “board-and-care facilities” appear in their midst. Councilman Rudy Svorinich’s task force on “special needs” housing has identified between 60 and 70 unlicensed facilities in San Pedro alone.

These facilities are by no means limited to lower-income neighborhoods. This is made possible by the economics outlined in your article. Imagine the effect on a quiet suburban neighborhood when one of these “homes” housing, say, drug rehabilitation clients, springs up next door.

These facilities receive no oversight from any governmental agency. Federal law supposedly allows six unrelated adults to live together in a home with no interference from local authorities. Operators buy the properties, fill them up with “clients,” and claim that they are “group homes.”

Our local officials appear to be paralyzed by fear of lawsuits from the home operators and/or the federal government and do nothing to control the situation.

NOEL PARK

San Pedro

* Your article is unfair to the many homes that provide a clean, wholesome home as an alternative to living in a cardboard box in the streets. Why does the press not showcase the nicer homes? The majority of the “poor residents” have a history of drug addiction and/or alcohol abuse and mental illness. They do need help. The licensing people should work with the operators of these homes and show them how to provide good care for homeless people.

SY EPSTEIN

Covina