Earlier this month, the full 2024 funding amount for Places, Inc. was disclosed as $861,161, according to ADAMHS. Places, Inc.’s 2023 funding was $1,266,512 from ADAMHS.
This week, the amount went down to $703,013 in order to account for the closure of the group homes, according to ADAMHS.
The new contract only funds Places, Inc. through the last 30 days of the group homes being open instead of the remainder of the year, said Laura Ferrell, CEO of Places, Inc.
“Unfortunately, that means there are no options for us to find another way in the 30 days to reverse the closing decision,” Ferrell said to the Dayton Daily News.
ADAMHS board trustees approved the funding reductions for Places, Inc. and a number of other mental health agencies on Wednesday evening as staff provided board trustees detailed notes on the changes.
Staff also made it clear they had not expected Places, Inc. to close its group homes, providing a fact sheet to trustees of financial suggestions they had made to Places, Inc., which they believed would keep the group homes open.
“There seems to be misunderstanding that ADAMHS closed Places or is closing the Places group homes,” said Helen Jones-Kelley, executive director of Montgomery County ADAMHS.
Multiple moving parts contributed to the reduction in funds, as well as why it took extra time for agencies to find out their full contract amounts for 2024. The Dayton Daily News previously reported on how ADAMHS has been reducing its spending by 38% and changing some of its funding cycles.
“We believe you are making errors in judgement, errors in ethics and possibly legal risk errors, which may later result in avoidable litigation,” said Steve Degnan, who traveled from St. Louis to Dayton to speak to the board on behalf of his brother, Chris Degnan, who is a resident of a Places, Inc. group home.
“You have broken the continuity of care for the 36 residents of the Places, Inc. group homes,” Degnan said. “You are putting 36 well-cared-for residents of Places at risk for life upheavals, homelessness and stress-induced health declines and crises.”
Degnan had a tense exchange with board chair Verb Washington as Degnan told Washington to “own” what was happening to the Places, Inc. group homes after interrupting Washington’s response.
“We do not have control over Places,” Washington said. “...If the fellow taxpayers of Montgomery County provided additional funding, we would have additional funding to provide. We simply do not.”
Part of the funding reductions from ADAMHS resulted from a voluntary reduction in the allocation amount it requested from the county’s human services levy council.
ADAMHS is in a spend down mode, Jones-Kelley said.
“We also have an extreme increase in the number of needs in the community as a result of coming out of the pandemic,” Jones-Kelley said.
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