Your Rights Bytes #6 - Problem Residents

Question:  I am a manager in a mobilehome park where an elderly resident is putting herself in danger. When I call her family, they are unresponsive. What do I do to make sure she and the other residents are safe from harm?

Background:   I had been hearing of this problem for years, but I had never thought to add it to the FAQs, until one day a park manager called me and was looking for help on how to handle an elderly woman who was afraid to stay in her mobilehome.  During the day the woman would walk through the park yelling, and at night the women slept on a bench in the park across the street.  The park manager contacted the family of the woman but no one was willing to come forward to take her to safety, and yet her rent was always paid on time.  The park manager was getting pressure from residents to remove the mentally unstable woman from the park, however, the park manager was not sure how to protect both the residents and the disruptive woman.  I spoke with a staff member at the State Department of Health and Human Services who was an ardent advocate for the safety and respectful care and placement of dependent adults.  Not only did she give me the valuable information which I included in the Answer, but she relayed a heart-wrenching story of her own.  Before she became employed with HHS, she was a mental health advocate at the county level where she met an elderly woman who refused to use the toilet in her home, using wastebaskets instead.  When she interviewed the woman she found out that the woman would not step into the bathroom because she was afraid of the woman in the mirror.  This served as an example of the challenge that mentally unwell persons are suffering through.  When I composed and added this FAQ to the list, it was my hope that managers and residents could work together to use state and local resources to keep their park and their neighbors safe.

Answer:  Contact your county’s Adult Protective Services program. APS is a state-mandated program (Welfare & Institutions Code Sec. 15610.10) that provides evaluation and assistance for seniors (age 65 and older) and dependent adults (age 18-64 and physically or mentally impaired) who are reported to be unable to meet their own needs. APS agencies investigate reports of alleged victims endangered by physical, sexual or financial abuse, isolation, neglect, or self-neglect.

--Stephanie Reid, formerly with Senate Select Committee on Manufactured Home Communities