Panel approves bill to protect psychiatric ex-patients from unscrupulous landlords
SANTA FE – They end up in backyard sheds, unfinished garages and crowded trailer homes.
Discharged from New Mexico’s psychiatric hospital in Las Vegas, ex-patients find shelter wherever they can.
Sometimes that’s in boarding homes run by caring operators who help administer medication and charge reasonable rent. And, lawmakers were told Friday, sometimes it’s with less scrupulous landlords who take advantage of people struggling with mental illness.
A proposal headed for a vote on the House floor aims to address that – by imposing a licensing system to identify boarding homes and allowing local governments to adopt standards for living conditions. The homes aren’t regulated now.
Read more: https://www.abqjournal.com/947728/bill-on-egregious-boarding-homes-heads-to-house-floor.html