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>> MICHELLE UZETA:  Hi, welcome, everyone, to our webinar, introduction to regional center services for housing advocates.  My name is Michelle Uzeta\'a0\uc0\u8209 \u8209  \
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>> VOICE:  Recording in progress.  \
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>> MICHELLE UZETA: \'a0\uc0\u8209 \u8209  from the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund or DREDF.  DREDF is a national civil rights law and policy center that advocates the center and human rights for people with disabilities through training, advocacy, public policy, and legislative development.\
We are an IOLTA funded center to help people in the state of California.\
Before I introduce today's panel for the webinar, a couple housekeeping things for what the webinar will cover.\
Tina, can you go back one slide?\
This is a Zoom seminar, all attendees are muted and cameras disabled.  There will be a question and answer at the end of the webinar, time permitting.\
So go ahead and put your questions in the Q&A box and we will get to them as we can.  We may be able to answer some during the webinar as well.\
As you notice, live captioning and tech support are available, if you have tech questions, I believe you can use the chat or the Q&A.\
If you need to enable captions, please do that through the bar on your Zoom screen.\
You can also use the link in this slide to look at captions in a web browser, and there is a dropdown menu for you to choose either in English or Spanish language option.\
If you experience any technical difficulties, go ahead and use the chat or the Q&A to let tech support know.\
And they will assist you.\
Could you jump forward two slides, please?\
What we are going to cover in this webinar today, we're covering a lot, that's why it's a 90\uc0\u8209 minute webinar.  Lanterman Act basics, eligibility for regional center services.  Regional center services and getting services authorized through the Individual Program Plan, or IPP, process.\
Regional center services that can help people find and keep housing it the community.\
And appealing regional center decisions.\
Now it is my pleasure to introduce our panelists.  With us today is Will Leiner, managing attorney of the Legal Advocacy Unit at Disability Rights California.\
Vivian Haun, senior policy attorney at the Legal Advocacy Unit at Disability Rights California.\
Wilmary Torres, clients' rights advocate Office of Clients\'92 Rights Advocacy at North Los Angeles County Regional Center.\
And Fatima Perez, assistant clients' rights advocate Office of Clients\'92 Rights Advocacy at North LA County Regional Center.\
And with that, I will turn it over to Will.  \
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\cf0 [Pause]. \
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>> WILL LEINER:  And you can move to the next slide, please.\
So good afternoon, everyone.  I'm grateful for the opportunity to be here today.\
Before we jump into things like regional center eligibility and the types of services that regional centers can provide to help people keep and find housing, I wanted to give you all some context about what regional centers are, why they exist, and the scope of their legal mandates, which we refer to as the Lanterman Act Entitlement.\
So I wanted to start with a really small history of that.  So the Lanterman Act is a state law that was passed in 1969, and before the Lanterman Act, institutions called state hospitals or developmental centers were the primary provider of state\uc0\u8209 funded services to people with I/DD.\
At their pique in 1968, California's developmental center system warehoused and isolated over 13,000 people in seven facilities.\
Now, things started to change in the late 1960's with the passage of the Lanterman Act.  It's what created our state law's entitlement and the state developmental services system.\
And there are a few things that drove this change.  First, nationally, and in California, people with disabilities began calling for a movement for equal access to all aspects of community life, and the removal of barriers that excluded and segregated them.\
Second, there was a greater public spotlight on the overcrowding, the dehumanizing practices, the dangerous conditions, and the abuse of people who lived in California institutions.\
And third, families started demanding change.  Parents were given this binary choice of either caring for their disabled children at home without support, or sending them away to institutions and they were often encouraged to send their children away to institutions.\
So they lobbied for change.  They lobbied for the community\uc0\u8209 based system of supports, because there had to be a better way.\
And they got it with the passage of the Lanterman Act.\
So, for the first time, there was this robust statutory scheme where the state accepted both a responsibility for people with developmental disabilities and an obligation that it needed to discharge.\
So, let's quickly talk about those obligations, which my colleagues will explain in greater detail later in the presentation.\
So the first obligation, the Lanterman Act requires that the State have an array of supports that meets the needs and choices of people with I/DD.\
So this is so that people and their families never have to go back to this binary choice of either no supports in a family home or having them live in an institution or out of home setting.\
Second, the services need to be designed to prevent people from being dislocated from their families and communities.  Again, no surprise, given the ugly history of institutionalization in our system.\
And third, the services need to be designed to enable people with I/DD to approximate the pattern of everyday living that is realized for people without disabilities.\
So, in other words, disabled people in our system have the right to services so they can live where they want and with whom they want; to spend time doing things that are meaningful to them and bring them joy.\
Just like we all do.\
Next slide, please.\
So, this slide describes the structure of our system.  So, in order to fulfill the obligations that I just discussed, the Lanterman Act established our developmental Disability Services system as an entitlement to services at state expense.\
And there are two primary pieces to this system.  So under the Lanterman Act, the California Department of Developmental Services is the state agency that has jurisdiction over the laws relating to the care, the custody, and treatment of people with developmental disabilities.\
In other words, the buck stops with them.\
But our California Department of Developmental Services, we also call them DDS for short, they contract with non\uc0\u8209 profit corporations known as regional centers who determine what services should be provided to people with I/DD.\
And then regional centers, in turn, contract with different agencies or individuals to provide these services; we call them service providers or vendors.\
And today, there are 21 regional centers in California that serve nearly 400,000 people with I/DD.\
And each regional center serves a different geographic area, all the way from the top of California, down to our southern border.\
And there is a map of California, that you can't quite make out, but we can share a link that just identifies the different regional centers and all the geographic regions that they support.\
So regional centers, they are all operated with their own governing boards.  And anyone that's been in this system a minute has observed that there are 21 different regional centers and that means there are 21 different ways of doing things too.\
And just one more point:  The regional centers are non\uc0\u8209 profit agencies, but don't let that non\u8209 profit designation trick you into thinking that regional centers don't have a lot of funding or a lot of power.\
On the Governor's budget, in 2023\uc0\u8209 24, allocated $13.6 billion\'a0\u8209 \u8209  and that's billion with a B\'a0\u8209 \u8209  to regional centers and 12.1 billion\'a0\u8209 \u8209  again, with a B\'a0\u8209 \u8209  to purchase services and supports for people by our system.\
Next slide, please.\
So quickly, what do regional centers do?  Well, the high level, they are gatekeepers, they assess people for Lanterman Act eligibility.  They are the ones that decide whether someone has the type of disability that entitles them to services.\
And we'll get into that in the next couple of slides.\
Regional centers also assign service coordinators to people served.  And the service coordinator is the person responsible for making sure that people get the supports they need and coordinating and advocating for those supports.\
A regional center also creates a plan about someone's needs and services.  It's called an individualized program plan.\
And then, again, regional centers contact with vendors or service providers to purchase and secure the services in someone's IPP.\
And lastly, the role of the regional center is to develop resources and there is an adequate network to make sure there are no gaps in our service delivery system.\
And next slide.\
And I'll pass things over to one of my colleagues who will talk about eligibility for regional center services.  \
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>> WILMARY TORRES:  Hello, again.  My name is Wilmary, I am the clients' rights advocate for North Los Angeles County Regional Center, and I will be going over the requirements for regional center services.\
So what do you have to be eligible for in order to become a, what we call a consumer of regional center or a client to regional center.\
You can go ahead and go to the second slide, next slide.\
So who is eligible?  So there are certain requirements that you have to meet in order to be eligible for these regional center consumers.\
And I have a list here.  So, to qualify, you must have a developmental disability, which we'll go over what that means.\
And that developmental disability must have originated prior to the age of 18.\
And the developmental disability must be substantial.  Or there's another small section that for individuals who are ages 0\uc0\u8209 5, there's also a specific qualifications which we call provisional eligibility which allows them to get services but doesn't allow them to meet the same requirements as the ones on top.\
Go ahead to the next slide.\
So, what does it mean to have a developmental disability?  So, a developmental disability includes five options that you fall into in order to meet this requirement.\
So number one is intellectual disability; two, cerebral palsy; three, epilepsy; four, autism; and number five, which is kind of the catch\uc0\u8209 all eligibility, it's called the fifth category.  \
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\cf0 And it's important to go a little bit in\uc0\u8209 depth, because sometimes you do fall into the fifth category and you want to prove that it's within the fifth category.\
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\cf0 So it's closely related to the intellectual disability and that it requires treatment similar to that required for the intellectual disability.\
Go ahead to the next slide.\
So, a little bit more about that fifth category.  A lot of our applicants that are applying do fall in that fifth category and it's sometimes a little bit difficult to be eligible under that fifth category.\
So, again, the condition must be very similar to intellectual disability.  And so we look at the cognitive skills, so they would do an IQ test and so the person may have an IQ number over 75, but still needs treatment similar to a person with intellectual disabilities.\
So that's what may qualify you under that fifth category.\
And you also have maybe an impaired adapted functioning, meaning that you have difficulties doing, you know, basic activities of daily life, like getting ready, you know, working, being able to access your home or in the community.\
So if you're applying under the fifth category, it's really, really important that you bring records and assessment that show these limitations in these two parts:  The cognitive level and the adaptive skills.\
And then the next part\'a0\uc0\u8209 \u8209  we can go to the next slide\'a0\u8209 \u8209  which is the next part which is you have to show that this developmental disability is substantial.\
So, it doesn't just qualify you if you just have autism, it doesn't automatically qualify you for regional center service.  You must also show that that autism is substantial, or cerebral palsy is substantial.\
And so what does that mean of substantial?  So, even if an individual has a diagnosis of one of the five developmental disabilities, you must show it's substantial and that means the individual has significant functional limitations in three or four major life activities.\
And so what are those major life activities?  So, what evidence do we have to show that it is substantial?\
So, go ahead to the next slide.\
So there's seven major life activities.  So think about this, if an applicant is applying for regional center services and you have to show evidence that it is substantial, so you have to show maybe through medical records, school records\'a0\uc0\u8209 \u8209  yeah, medical records, school records, psychological records, any assessments done, you must show that there is a limitation in at least three of these life activities, meaning self\u8209 care, taking care of one's self, receptive and expressive language, receiving how someone processes the language and how someone expresses language.\
Learning, mobility, self\uc0\u8209 direction, disability to regulate or adapt their own behaviors to the demands around us, making their own decisions, and then capacity for independent living and economic self\u8209 sufficiency.\
Keep in mind, when an individual is applying and they're younger than 18, we are comparing that of maybe that 10\uc0\u8209 year\u8209 old.  So they're not\'a0\u8209 \u8209  they necessarily don't have to have that economic self\u8209 sufficiency, because in a child that is 10\u8209 years\u8209 old and doesn't have a disability, would it have that economic self\u8209 sufficiency?\
And keep\'a0\uc0\u8209 \u8209  also what's really important, is that connection, yes, I have a limitation in one of these seven major life activities, and it has or it must be linked to that developmental disability.\
It can't be connected to something else, like maybe a mental disorder, it must be connected to that developmental disability.\
Next slide.\
And so that connection is really, really important and that's what regional center looks at.\
So, your mental limit\'a0\uc0\u8209 \u8209  your limitations are not solely physical disabilities, so a person with a disability that only affects their physical abilities is not eligible.\
And it's not solely a psychiatric disorder.  So a person who has social and intellectual functional issues that are caused solely by a psychiatric disorder is not eligible.\
So if somebody has a mental disorder and has limitations in one of those seven areas, does not qualify you for a regional center.\
But if you have a mental disorder but also have a developmental disability, you must show that those limitations are caused by that developmental disability and not only that mental disorder.\
So it's okay that someone might have one of those five categories, be eligible under one of those five categories, but\'a0\uc0\u8209 \u8209  and have a mental disorder, but we just want to make sure that those limitations are from the developmental disability in order to qualify for regional center services.\
Next slide.\
So, this is basically what I was discussing.  So you may have, and this comes with the law, you may have that learning, that physical and psychiatric disability and have that developmental disabilities, but you must show that those systems are from that developmental disability and not because of the other two items.\
And then next slide.\
And then I talked a little bit in the beginning, there's a provisional eligibility for children that are under five who are not eligible under the regional center, because they might not fall under one of those five qualifying conditions.\
But they might need some support, and so there's this provisional eligibility that might get\'a0\uc0\u8209 \u8209  that will give them those services and supports in those areas of need, but they do not need to fall under the five qualifying conditions.\
So instead, they must so that there is a functional limitation in at least two of the following five areas of major life activity.\
So self\uc0\u8209 care, receptive and expressive language, and learning and mobility and self\u8209 direction and it must not solely be physical in nature.\
And so I went over all of this eligibility.  So let's say you do have a client that might need regional center services and that might be eligible.  So how does one apply?\
Go to the next slide.\
And so applying for regional center services, you contact the regional center that it's closest to where you live and you make that appointment, you make that initial intake meeting.\
Keep in mind, there's 21 regional centers and you have to figure out which regional center you belong to, depending on where you live.\
And I think there might be a link or an ID sent out.  You can put your area code\'a0\uc0\u8209 \u8209  you can put them where you live and then it will let you know which regional center you belong to.\
And so you reach out to them and then that initial meeting must be held within 15 days.  It must be held within the applicant or the parent's native language.  So if it's a Spanish\uc0\u8209 speaking client, it needs to be in Spanish.\
You must bring all relevant records, like doctors' notes, school records, health insurance that shows applicant's developmental history.\
One important thing is that one of the requirements is that you must be\'a0\uc0\u8209 \u8209  you must\'a0\u8209 \u8209  the disability must have originated before the age of 18.  If you're applying after the age of 18, it's really, really important that you bring records that show that disability originated before the age of 18.\
So, what was that individual like at age five?  What was that individual like at age ten?\
So, it's really important to go all the way back and provide that information in order to meet that eligibility.\
And so once you do that initial intake meeting, regional center will decide if it will complete a formal assessment to determine eligibility for services.\
Meaning if they're going to have a psychologist hired by a regional center to conduct an assessment and create a report to determine if you meet those qualifications.\
Next slide.\
So, how long does this take?  And how long do I have to wait for?\
So after that initial intake meeting, the regional center has 120 days.  So about four months to make that decision.\
However, keep in mind that it could go a little bit quicker and if you need\'a0\uc0\u8209 \u8209  if the longer you wait, it puts the applicant's health at risk, there is a risk of further delay in the mental or physical development and there's imminent risk of replacement in a more restrictive setting.\
And one of the biggest things is that in that third one, a more restrictive setting, maybe that child needs to go into a facility if he doesn't get the services and support sooner.\
So, you must show the regional center of the circumstances by showing evidence that this might be happening in order to move this process along.\
And so let's say you do apply, go through the process, and you receive a decision.\
Next slide.\
So, the regional center approves the applicant's application.  And you receive the question, you are eligible for regional center services and support.\
And so as an applicant\'a0\uc0\u8209 \u8209  instead of an applicant, you are now becoming a consumer or a client of the regional center.\
And you must receive an Individual Program Plan, an IPP, which is a meeting, which we'll go over what is an IPP and what does that look like, what's in it.\
That meeting, to create that IPP, needs to be held within 60 days.\
And that meeting is held with your service coordinator.\
And so that IPP includes the services and supports provided by the regional center.\
So there is a discussion about what are the strengths and weaknesses of the consumer/client and how can we support that consumer/client to become as independent as possible?\
And if you have an unfavorable decision after applying for regional center services, the regional center must provide you a notice of action.  And a notice of action is basically a letter that is written and it's sent to you through mail explaining why they did not find the applicant qualifies for regional center services and support.\
If you disagree with that notice of action, you have the opportunity to appeal.  And it's really important within the notice of action, there will be directions on how to appeal.  And when I mean appeal, it's requesting a hearing from an administrative law judge and you want to make sure if you're going through this process of appealing, that you're gathering more information to provide to the regional center and the judge.\
And we have a great resource, which we'll have a resource slide on it, that has a toolkit when somebody is appealing, how to prepare for that appeal process.\
So, the next part will be my colleague, Fatima.  So, yeah, I'll go ahead and pass it.  \
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>> FATIMA PEREZ:  Hey, good afternoon, everyone, my name is Fatima Perez, I'm the assistant clients' rights advocate for Office of Clients' Rights Advocacy and our office serves consumers of the North Los Angeles Regional Center.\
And I will be talking about regional center services.\
Next slide, please.\
And when we talk about when we're looking at regional center services, we are really looking at what services a regional center could provide to the clients to lessen the effects of the developmental disability, to help them have a normal independent and productive life.\
And learn new skills.\
Next slide, please.\
And here is a list of the services that are offered by the regional center to the client.  The services really depend on the need of the clients and are designed to meet their specific needs, so it really depends on each client; each case is different.\
And as you can see, we have different services here.  We have assessment services, habitation and training, treatment and therapy, preventive services, living arrangements, community integration, employment, and family support services, relationship services, and emergency and crisis intervention, recreation services, specialized equipment, transportation, facilitation services, self\uc0\u8209 advocacy, and advocacy.\
Next slide, please.\
Who pays for the regional center services?  In general, families are not required to pay for consumer services and support listed in the IPP.\
However, there are exceptions.  Families may be required to pay for a portion of the respite, daycare, or camping services if they meet a certain criteria.\
Parents of children under the age of 18 who receive out of home care may be required to pay some of the cost.\
Regional centers cannot ask families to pay for other regional center services listed in the consumer's IPP.\
And a regional center service cannot deny services if the family cannot pay for it.\
Next slide.\
Duty to use generic resources.  Generic resources should be pursued first, as a regional center is the payer of last resort.\
They are prohibited from purchasing any service that would otherwise be available like Medi\uc0\u8209 Cal, Medicare, in\u8209 home supportive services, department of rehabilitation, school districts, and private insurance or healthcare service plan.\
And always consider whether it is needed services and whether it is actually duplicative.\
Next slide, please.\
A regional center acts like a gap filler.  If no generic resources can provide service, a regional center can provide if generic resource denies the services.  A regional center can provide them\'a0\uc0\u8209 \u8209  it's important to bring a notice, a denial notice, to prove that you have pursued generic resources first and it has been denied.\
Regional centers can provide, but rarely get funding, and advocacy assistance in pursuing generic resources.\
Generic resources should be included in the IPP.\
Next slide, please.\
And purchase of service policies.  These are guidelines for purchasing services and support from the regional center.  It explains the requirements for receiving the services and it might set time limits on them.\
Additionally, this varies from regional center to regional center.  It must be cost effective and it cannot narrow the scope of the Lanterman Act entitlement or place fixed limits on services that interfere with individualized determinations met under the IPP process.\
And Wilmary will explain the next part.  \
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>> WILMARY TORRES:  And so we keep talking about this IPP.  So it's the Individual Program Plan and you can think about this if you have worked with, like, an IEP from the school district.  It's similar, but a little bit different.\
But it's very, very similar.\
So, what is an Individual Program Plan and why is that so important when you become a consumer?\
And so we call this, an IPP can be used for the process, the actual document in the meeting.\
And so what is an IPP and what is the IPP process?\
You can go to the next slide.\
So an IPP process is basically a document\'a0\uc0\u8209 \u8209  it's a document, so it's a contract between the consumer and the regional center.  In which we discuss who the consumer is in the IPP document, so the IPP document should reflect the consumer's strengths and weaknesses, the consumer's goals and what they want to achieve and what the services and supports that the regional center would and should implement.\
And this must be held every three years, but it's usually every year.\
But keep in mind that you can request an IPP at any time.  And it must be held within 30 days of the request.\
So how do I request an IPP?  For a client, it's a quick e\uc0\u8209 mail or a letter sent to a regional center.\
If it's through a phone call, please follow\uc0\u8209 up by e\u8209 mail to make sure that you have some sort of\'a0something in writing that you had requested, to make sure that if they do not hold the IPP meeting or schedule the IPP meeting within 30 days of your request, you have evidence that it's been passed 30 days and you can file some sort of complaint.\
Sorry.\
One of the also very important things is this IPP is individualized.  It's\'a0\uc0\u8209 \u8209  every IPP should be individualized, so it should be different compared to other clients within the regional center.  What we call it should be person\u8209 centered.\
It should be the client, when we are talking in the IPP, we need to make sure that our focus is the person, the consumer.  And our focus is not the policies or anything, other factors.\
Because we need to make sure that we are following the Lanterman Act, meaning that we are providing services for this person to become as independent as possible, as they would like, in all areas of their life.\
So, that is very important.  And sometimes we need to remind everybody at an IPP meeting that this is\'a0\uc0\u8209 \u8209  our focus is on the consumer and it should be person\u8209 centered and we should be thinking of the person and the client first.\
And so let's say I have this IPP meeting and so what are the parts of the IPP?\
So, we have a section of goals and objectives.  So what does the client want?  What does\'a0\uc0\u8209 \u8209  what does the consumer think about and, you know, two months from now, what goals do I want to achieve?  Five years from now, what goals do I want to achieve?  And it can be in different areas, right?\
It can be in education, it can be community integration.  Maybe they're in a facility right now and they would like to live independently in their own home or their own apartment, with a roommate, or maybe they want to live in a group home.\
So that goat should be written in there.\
There should be an area for also recreational activities.  So that's also really great that the regional center also provides and it's kind of been reimplemented again, provides recreational activities, meaning social activities, meaning camping, if they want to go swimming, if they want to be part of a sport, there should also be a goal on that.\
When you think of an IPP, you want to think of, like, what are all the parts of a person.\
So another area is also communication.  So if they have difficulties communicating, right, expressive and receptive language, what goal\'a0\uc0\u8209 \u8209  what are we going to do in order to help that consumer achieve the goal in that area?\
And so the goals should be attached to a surface or a support that regional center might provide or maybe a generic resource will be providing at that time so that's available.\
So there should be an area where it has the types and the amounts of services and supports that is\'a0\uc0\u8209 \u8209  that regional center will provide.\
It's really important that it is\'a0\uc0\u8209 \u8209  if it is discussed and if you become\'a0\u8209 \u8209  you agree to a service that regional center will provide, it's on that IPP document.\
The IPP also has a review of the health status.  So a lot of times service coordinators will ask what's the last hospitalization?  Can you provide medical records over the past few years so we're updated?  What are the medications we are providing?  The last dentist appointment?\
We want to make sure that all aspects of the individual is taken care of.\
And then there's a schedule for review and evaluation of the IPP, the outcomes.  And so when are we going to review it again?  And how long are we going to take to get to certain goals?\
After you have this IPP meeting, you can request your IPP document, because you want to make sure you review it, and your service coordinator should give it to you in the language that you need it to be within 45 days.\
So, why is an IPP so important?  If you ever want to get a specific service, I never want my client to only send an e\uc0\u8209 mail to the service coordinator requesting the service, because it might get lost and then nothing is put in the IPP.\
And remember, the IPP is a contract.  And if it's not in the IPP, then how do you show that regional center agreed to it?\
It's a little bit more difficult.\
So, it's important because it lists those services and supports that the regional center will provide.\
And it also lists when exactly they will provide it, an approximate date, it will start and until it will last, and so if a service is written into the IPP and the regional center does not provide it, then you need to go hey, it's written in the IPP, you agreed to provide it, so the regional center must provide it.\
So it's really, really important that if there's a service in there, you're following up to make sure that service is being provided, and why if it's not, then following up why.\
And if they need to figure out some sort of creative way to make sure that service is being provided.\
And then, yep, that's the end of the IPP process.\
And we're going to the regional center housing services.  \
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>> VIVIAN HAUN:  Thanks so much, Wilmary.  Hi, my name is Vivian Haun at Disability Rights California, I am a senior policy attorney and I am part of the intellectual and developmental disabilities practice group.\
So, we are finally at the point where we are going to talk about housing specific services that are available through regional centers.\
And first I should preface all of this by saying that while we will go over the types of services that are technically available through regional centers, on a realistic local level, your mileage may vary; meaning the actual availability depends largely on which regional center you're talking about.\
Some regional centers may have some more robust offerings of these types of services, and other regional centers, not so much.\
There are some regional centers where the service coordinators might not even be very aware of what's available.\
So, I just wanted to add that note before we go forward.\
Next slide.\
So, in terms of what can be available through regional centers, there are three main types of housing related supports.  One is housing access services.  And a lot of these may be familiar to you, if some of you are familiar with Cal AIM and some of the services they have over here in the DDS/regional center services, those type services have been available for sometime, but they are not widely known about and we'll talk about those.\
Funding home modifications is also possible and available under the Lanterman Act.\
It's not always easy to get, but we'll talk about that too.\
And last, but not least, rental assistance, this is also something that is not very well known, but in certain very limited circumstances, regional centers can and will provide rental subsidies to regional center consumers if there is a demonstrated health and safety need for it.  And we will go over that too.\
Next slide.\
So, first category:  Housing access services.  There are all kinds of housing\uc0\u8209 related supports that a person can get through their IPP from a service provider, just like all the other services that my colleagues mentioned previously.\
And one of those is housing transition services.  So, the providers or I guess regional center vendors who provides this service can provide all kinds of supports that can just help the person obtain and maintain their housing.\
So, some of the bullet points you see here.  Everything from the beginning, just identify, helping to identify and articulate the need and that the person's preferences in terms of what their housing needs might be.\
Preparation of the IPP.  Helping out with possible sources of funding.\
So, in other words if the regional center says have you exhausted other generic resources, which we talked about before, if this person can help explain/talk about well, Section 8, what are some of the other things, those things aren't very available or forthcoming, so they can talk about that.\
They can help with housing applications and communication with landlords or potential landlords.\
And also develop a housing support crisis plan, which I think is really critical in case something comes up and if there's often\'a0\uc0\u8209 \u8209  if there is\'a0\u8209 \u8209  things can change on a dime for a lot of the clients that we serve and if there is not a crisis plan in place ahead of time, that can make things potentially dire for that client.\
So this is somebody that can help not just come up with a plan, but help your client have some supports in place to make sure that their housing can be maintained in case of a crisis.\
Next slide.\
So, housing and tenancy sustaining services.  So, once the person is in their own place, the provider can provide some ongoing support to help keep them there.\
So, if there are disputes or disagreements with neighbors or with their landlord, if for whatever reason they get an eviction notice or there's something brewing on their end, they could get advocacy.  It wouldn't be legal advocacy, necessarily, but they can get assistance on that front.\
Ongoing assessment to address barriers to retaining housing.\
And day\uc0\u8209 to\u8209 day type stuff, the timing payment of bills, making sure rent is paid on time, and other management issues, that could contribute to a barrier to maintaining housing.  Those are all things that these providers can support with.\
Next slide.\
Okay.  Home modifications.  And if you have helped others with other clients with housing\uc0\u8209 related needs, this is probably something you're more familiar with.\
In our system, they're also called environmental accessibility adaptations and this can include a wide\uc0\u8209 range of physical adaptions to the person's home, when they're required by their plan of care.\
And these are modifications that aren't really necessary to ensure the health, welfare, or safety of the individual or that enable them to function with greater independence in the home.\
We'll give you some examples.  Next slide.\
So a lot of you may be familiar with these types of home modifications.  These are some of the most common ones.  I've certainly seen many requests for bathroom modifications, roll\uc0\u8209 in showers, grab bars, and things like that, it's not limited to that.\
We have a visual of a ramp here, but it can also be things like flashing light alerts, for someone who may have a hearing impairment and for whom a regular alarm might not cut it.\
Other types of enabling technologies, for instance.  Sound\uc0\u8209 proofing.  Sometimes if people can be loud or if they have behavior or other things that can sometimes be overheard by neighbors, and that can contribute to issues, neighbor issues, sound\u8209 proofing can be something that can be helpful.\
So, just pointing out some of the maybe more creative supports that people with intellectual and developmental disabilities might need that can be available through a regional center.\
Next slide.\
Okay.  My personal favorite:  Rental assistance.\
Unfortunately, with the type of rental assistance that regional centers can provide under the Lanterman Act, it's not really purely need\uc0\u8209 based.\
Surely financial need is taken into account as part of this, but in addition to financial need, there does need to be a pretty significant, fairly imminent risk to that person's health or safety.\
In other words, if\'a0\uc0\u8209 \u8209  they have to not only experiencing difficulty paying their rent, being able to afford their monthly rent, you also need to be able to show that without that housing, there will be a pretty significant and immediate risk of some kind of harm.\
And regional centers generally interpret that to be a pretty high standard.\
However, if your client does meet that standard, there are a couple of other things that you should know.\
First, they need to be living in their own homes.  And that doesn't mean ownership.  It can be renting or leasing.\
But what that means is that this type of rental assistance is not available to people who are living in the family home.\
For instance, adults with disabilities who may still be living with their parents or with their conservators, for example, they, unfortunately, are not eligible for rental assistance under the Lanterman Act.\
In addition to that, they not only have to be living in their own place, they also have to be receiving supported living services, which is a type of wrap\uc0\u8209 around, really wonderful, very comprehensive set of supports that's highly individualized.\
And can really help people with even the most significant support needs to live in their own places by themselves, with help.\
So, it's pretty limited currently under the law, but it can be a huge life saver for individuals who meet the criteria.\
And in addition to meeting this critical, this type of request does have to be approved by the executive director of the regional center before it can go through.\
Next slide.\
And that brings us to Michelle's portion of the slides.  \
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>> MICHELLE UZETA:  Hi, everyone.  It's important to understand how regional center services and supports intersect with fair housing rights.  So that's what the next couple of slides is\'a0\uc0\u8209 \u8209  are going to address.\
One of the rights, perspective tenants and tenants have under federal and state fair housing law is the right to reasonable accommodations and I provided some citations in the chat for everyone.\
A reasonable accommodation, as many of you already know, is a change in a rule, policy, practice, or service, that's necessary to allow a person with a disability equal opportunity to use and enjoy their housing.\
And some examples may include adjustment of someone's rental due date to accommodate the date that they receive public benefits.\
Or the waiver of a no pet policy to accommodate someone who uses an assistance animal.\
There's really no limit on accommodations that can be provided; they just have to be necessary for the person to use and enjoy their housing.\
For a client of a regional center, housing providers may have to make reasonable accommodations such as accepting rental assistance we just heard about from the regional center, and not declining that source of income.\
Communicating with service coordinators or other regional center staff and application in housing or during the tenancy to deal with notice or to manage crises or conflicts between tenants and to deal with other kinds of disputes and address specific lease violations.\
To navigate relocation when that becomes an issue.  Sometimes people need more time to move because of a disability and need for accessible housing and the regional center could assist in helping with that process, and the landlord would have to allow that person additional time to work with the regional center in order to navigate that process.\
Housing providers may also need to make arrangements in light of regional center services and supports.  So, for example, if somebody has caregivers that come to the home or provide respite to a home, the housing provider may need to arrange for guest parking or other accommodations, to allow those types of services to be delivered at the housing location.\
Next slide.\
Housing providers are also required to allow reasonable modifications to a unit or common areas of housing when necessary for a person with a disability to use or enjoy their housing.\
The citations for that obligation are also in the chat.\
A reasonable accommodation is any kind of physical change to one's unit or the common areas.  They could include things like we saw on the slide that Vivian just went over, but also things like lowering counters or removing cabinets to make space for someone who uses a wheelchair, things like that.\
Anything on that earlier side as well, like ramps, sound\uc0\u8209 proofing, flashing alarms, et\'a0cetera.\
And a regional center can play an important role with regard to modifications that a tenant with disabilities might need.\
Because currently under fair housing law, the costs of needing modifications generally falls on the tenant.  There are a couple of exceptions to this general rule, but generally that's the rule.\
The cost of modifications may fall on the housing provider if we're talking about public housing that's owned and operated by the Government.\
And then under state law, as of January of 2020, there is additional limited circumstances where the costs of a modification can be shifted to the housing provider and those are where the housing provider failed to comply with applicable accessibility standards at the time of construction.\
This is regardless of the time of construction.  So even if a client is in housing that was, you know, built in 1995 and didn't comply with accessibility standards then, it really doesn't matter that it's years later; if the housing provider didn't comply with accessibility standards then, it's on them to pay for any modifications that might be needed as a result of that former non\uc0\u8209 compliance.\
And that's not the case under federal law.  Federal law has a strict statute of limitations for that type of a claim, that runs from the date of the certificate of occupancy, so it's really unmanageable for most people.\
And then the second exception under state law, and these are our state fair housing regulations, is that the housing provider can be held responsible for the cost of modifications where the need for the modification is due to the housing provider's failure to maintain the property.\
If a housing provider has failed to maintain an accessible walkway or a pool lift, they can't then say that's a modification, you, tenant, need to pay for that, because it's needed because of a failure to maintain.\
So the housing provider is still responsible.\
In instances, though, where the tenant is responsible for the cost of modifications, regional centers can fill that gap.  They can help with those costs under the home modification type of programming.\
Regional centers can also help with restoration of premises, and what I mean by that, is returning a unit back to its original condition.  For example, if you remove kitchen or bathroom cabinets to make clearance, knee and foot clearance for someone who is using a wheelchair, that type of modification probably needs to be fixed before a new tenant moves in who may not need that type of thing and may want the cabinet space back.\
But the regional center is a resource to look to when you need to do those types of restoration when required.\
And then also regional center potentially could assist with maintenance obligations when required.\
Because when a tenant does do modifications to their unit, they're responsible for maintaining those modifications.\
If the modifications are to a common area and the housing provider is generally responsible for common area upkeep, then that's not the responsibility of the tenant.\
But in unit, things would be the responsibility of the tenant.\
Next slide.\
And then just a couple of things to keep in mind, if you're working in fair housing and assisting somebody who is a regional center client.\
The duty to provide accommodations and modifications is an affirmative one.  So housing providers must engage in an interactive process with prospective tenants and tenants regarding any such request.\
And that is a mandatory obligation under our state regulations.\
It's a suggested process under federal law.\
And this may include having conversations with regional center staff.  So your housing provider cannot refuse to interact or discuss a tenant's needs if the tenant would like to have regional center staff involved.\
That's the type of an accommodation and also part of the interactive process that should be provided.\
Regional center services can be used to address or prevent adverse housing actions, such as eviction, neighbor disputes, or complaints.  So keep that in mind.\
Things like how Vivian mentioned, some people are loud, due to a disability.  Some people have night terrors, things like that.  You want to engage the regional center to explore accommodations or modifications like sound\uc0\u8209 proofing.\
Regional centers should be looked at for those types of things.  They can prevent adverse housing actions.  They can help avoid an eviction or threat of eviction.\
And then you may need to provide\'a0\uc0\u8209 \u8209  housing providers may need to provide regional center clients time to go through the IPP process, to gain approval for needed services and supports.\
Because, again, that is a process.  It's not something that is going to be able to get approved in a day.  There is a process that the regional centers follow and it would be a reasonable accommodation for a landlord to allow a tenant to go through that process in order to access the services and supports that they need to remain housed or to obtain housing in the first place.\
And then finally, the failure to allow or accept regional center services or supports as accommodations or modifications may violate fair housing law.\
So it may give rise to a defense in an eviction.  It may give rise to affirmative claims that your clients can pursue in State or Federal Court.  So keep that in mind.\
And the next slide I'll pass it back over to Will.  \
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>> WILL LEINER:  Thanks, Michelle.  Let's just quickly talk about appeals.  In other words, the process for people who resolve disputes with their regional centers.\
Full disclaimer on this section:  I'm really going to only scratch the surface of the appeals process because this topic by itself could be its whole 90\uc0\u8209 minute training and I want to make sure we leave time for questions.\
But my main point with these next few slides is really to let you all know that this process exists.\
Next slide.\
So like many benefits programs about which you are all familiar, people served by regional centers also have due process rights.\
This means that people have the right to a written notice, often called a notice of action, from their regional center when they disagree with a decision the regional center makes.\
And in front of you on this slide is when the regional center needs to provide this notice.\
So if someone asks to be eligible for a regional center services and the regional center says no, they get a notice of action.\
If someone is receiving regional center services and a regional center decides to terminate their eligibility or end it, the person gets a notice of action.\
If a person asks for a service and the regional center says no, again, the person gets a notice.\
If a regional center decides that it wants to change or stop someone\'a0\uc0\u8209 \u8209  stop a service in someone's IPP and the person does not agree, that's another circumstance.\
Two more things.  If a regional center says it doesn't have enough money in its budget to provide someone with services, that's another time it needs to give written notice.\
Although, I will say in my 15 years at DRC, I have never heard a regional center say or admit to not having enough money; I think they know we will try to find other ways to fit in cost controls without actually using that as a reason.\
If someone says to a regional center that they disagree with the part of their IPP, that's another circumstance where the regional center needs to give that notice of action.\
And the notice of action needs to have a few key pieces of information, including things like the reason that the regional center made its decision.  Information about how to appeal the decision, and the person's rights during the appeal process.\
Next slide.\
So, why are written notices important?  Well, it's unlawful for regional centers to change someone's services without their consent, without providing this notice.\
We do see sometimes where regional centers will try to change someone's services or say no without providing a notice of action.\
And when this happens, I usually recommend that people just appeal the action anyway.  And also file an administrative complaint with DDS; remember that's the state agency that oversees regional centers.\
So file an administrative complaint about the failure to file that notice.  We call this in our system a 4731 complaint, named for the section in the Welfare and Institutions Code that describes that complaint process.\
And these complaints are typically used for when a right has been violated or denied, as opposed to a dispute over whether a service should be funded by a regional center.\
Next slide.\
So, a really quick note on deadlines.  People have 60 days after getting written notice to appeal.\
And if the regional center tries to change or terminate a service a person's already getting, the appeal needs to happen within 30 days.\
And doing it within 30 days gets people what we call aid\uc0\u8209 paid pending.  That's just a fancy way of saying that people can keep getting their services until the appeal process is complete.\
Next slide, please.\
So this slide has more information that covers the process about filing an appeal, the options that are available to people.\
And by options, I mean that when people appeal, they can choose anything from doing an informal meeting with their regional center, to a mediation in front of a third\uc0\u8209 party neutral, or a hearing before an administrative law judge, or any combination of those things.\
I wanted to flag that we have a really good publication called Rights Under the Lanterman Act that talks about the appeal process, not just written notice and due process, but what's it like and what are the steps when someone actually tries to do an appeal and appear before an administrative law judge when it comes to proving up a case.\
Again, we're not going to get into that today, we don't have enough time.  And I see that Michelle, thank you, dropped into the chat the link into our Lanterman Act Manual too.\
Next slide.\
And resources.  The rights under the Lanterman Act Manual, we have a link to it here and we have other Disability Rights California and other information we talked about earlier in the presentation.\
Like, what's it like to do an IPP process?  What's a planning guide for people?\
We have other publications about how regional centers spend their money on people and, you know, again, this could be another 90\uc0\u8209 minute presentation, but we also see in our systems that people who receive regional center services who are white get far more funding in purchase of service dollars than people who are from communities of color.\
I think the current statistics are around 50\'a2 on the dollar.\
And we have regional center appeals and hearings toolkit which goes into greater detail about the hearing process itself and how people can essentially give people the best shot they can get at prevailing in their case.\
The next slide, I think this concludes the substantive portion of the presentation.  And it looks like we have time for questions too.  \
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>> MICHELLE UZETA:  So there's one question in the Q&A, it says:  If a consumer's disability presents a health and safety risk to others, not or not just to themselves, could that be sufficient to access rental assistance?\
And I assume this is a question for Vivian, based on one of her slides.  \
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>> VIVIAN HAUN:  Hi. \
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>> MICHELLE UZETA:  Or anyone is welcome to\'a0\uc0\u8209 \u8209  \
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>> VIVIAN HAUN:  Oh, there I am!\
I am happy to try to answer that.  And Will, please feel free to jump in too.\
I wish that I could say yes.  To be honest, we don't really know, I can't point to case law or administrative law decisions that really give us very clear guidance or a very clear answer on this.\
So just based on our own experience, my sense is that it's\'a0\uc0\u8209 \u8209  it depends on how it's framed.\
I think that if it's framed as the disability only presenting a risk to others, that that\'a0\uc0\u8209 \u8209  it might be difficult and that regional center would probably be less likely to approve rental assistance in that instance.\
However, I think that in most cases, if there is a risk, there probably are ways of framing the issue or framing the need such that it would likely be a risk to both.  If that makes sense.\
In other words, I think that it's rare [chuckles], perhaps, that it would only ever present a risk to other people and not to the individual's own safety or well being.\
So, I would think about ways to try to make that case, if that's a concern.\
And Will, you may have some thoughts too.  \
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>> WILL LEINER:  Thanks, Vivian.  I agree with everything you said.  And, you know, to get at that kind of question, could it be a sufficient argument to access rental assistance?  And I think the answer is kind of maybe, maybe.\
So the one thing about the Lanterman Act, it's like the Wild West when it comes to case law.  You know, when you do a search on Lexis or West Law, the cases that get disputes, there aren't many and we're working with principles.\
And what does it take to meet someone's IPP goals?  The health and safety risk is not defined anywhere.  So the disadvantage of that is we can't just look at a place with rules that gives us break\uc0\u8209 line answers, but the advantage of it is well, you've got a good argument and you are representing a client and make it the best you can making it the best statutory interpretation that's in front of you.\
While there's opportunity to get administrative law judges or if you're inclined to take cases up on writs that make good case law too, because, again, to Vivian's point:  It depends.\
There's nothing that says no, right?  But there could be ways to get to yes too.  We just need to be a bit more creative with our argument sometimes.  \
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>> MICHELLE UZETA:  Were there anymore questions?  Now is the time to ask.  Go ahead and type them in the Q&A.  \
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>> VIVIAN HAUN:  I would also like to just point out, since Will mentioned OAH decisions.  I am going to drop this in the chat, here we go.  Okay.  So I just dropped it in the Zoom chat for everyone.  Those of you who may be familiar with the Office of Administrative Hearings and their website, they do have a search engine on the OAH website where you can sort of do a search of all relevant ALJ decisions.\
But their search engine is pretty clunky; they don't seem to always have all of the decisions that we know are out there.  We're not really sure how up\uc0\u8209 to\u8209 date it is or on what schedule they update it.\
So, fortunately our friends at the Stanford Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Law and Policy Project, the acronym for them is SIDDLAPP, I put a link here and they created their own smart search engine which is a lot better and easier to use.\
You can type in natural language and it's lightning fast at giving you better search results, and I wanted to make sure you had access to that.  \
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>> MICHELLE UZETA:  There's no other open questions.\
Did any of the panelists have anything that they wanted to add before wrapping this up?  \
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>> MICHELLE UZETA:  Hearing nothing....\
For people who participated, I will be sending out a copy of the PowerPoint, as well as a link to an evaluation form.\
And I just want to take an opportunity to say thank you to our panelists and our interpreters and Captioner and Tina and Diana, our tech folks from DREDF.\
I hope everyone has a wonderful afternoon and a holiday season!  Take care!\
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