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Editorial: New Mexico's assisted-living homes need uniform regulation

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There's a loophole in New Mexico's and Albuquerque's regulations for assisted-living residences big enough to drive a truck through - a tractor-trailer loaded with cash.

Indeed, according to Albuquerque's Deputy City Attorney Pete Dinelli, it's tougher to put in a residential swimming pool than it is to open an assisted-living home for one or two residents in the state.

As Tribune Reporter Michael Gisick wrote, in "Elder care anarchy: Regulation lacking for N.M. assisted-living homes," on Monday, nobody knows how many such homes there are, because no license or regular inspection is required.

But they appear to be proliferating, apparently driven by the money that can be made, including through federal or state subsistence payments, and the lack of any standards or regulations.

"There are no permitting requirements, no licensing, no oversight," Dinelli told The Tribune.

Such for-profit group homes for one or two residents can charge as much as $5,000 per month per resident and don't even need an ordinary business license, let alone meet the regulations - including annual inspections - that apply to group homes of three or more residents.

And even those, of which the state regulates about 265, still aren't being properly monitored by a previously budget-strapped state Division of Health Improvement, which is trying to catch up on a seven-to-10-year backlog of inspections.

With those inspections showing what division director David Rodriguez says is "a higher level of noncompliance than we expected," the potential for abuse in the smallest, completely unregulated group homes should be obvious. But it hasn't been.

Dinelli said there is a lot of money to be made with virtually no oversight, and the practice appears to be generating neighborhood zoning fears, because federal laws and court rulings have classified such facilities as residential and the residents of them as "families."

The practice is common enough in the Northeast Heights that a group of homeowners is being represented by attorney Victor Marshall. He says, "These are for-profit businesses that are trying to weave through zoning regulations and take advantage of the situation. It's a recipe for substandard care, because they actually have financial incentive not to provide the care that's going to be needed."

State and city officials need to get a handle on the practice and provide the same level of licensing and regulation - including periodic monitoring and oversight - that protects residents in licensed residential group care facilities.

Rodriguez said his division is reviewing the regulation for possible change, and State Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones wants the state to adopt tougher regulations, as Texas, California and Arizona have done.

Because such facilities cannot legally exist in those states, she says New Mexico is attracting those who see the opportunity to operate profitably in the state's lax regulatory environment.

She is asking the essential questions.

Why should facilities with one or two residents be exempt from the licensing and regulations that apply to facilities of three or more residents?

Do one or two residents require any less regulatory protection than three or dozens of residents at large residential assisted-care homes?

Shouldn't all who require assisted-living care - already vulnerable because of their circumstances - be given equal protection under the law?

Indeed, doesn't the state have a special obligation to protect these citizens from the potential for widespread abuse for greed?

Close the loophole.