State and federal authorities have opened an investigation into a Norco housewife, alleging that her vitriolic protests against a high-risk group home in her neighborhood may constitute housing discrimination.
The inquiry makes the actions of Julie Waltz, 61, the first test of a controversial new tactic by advocates for the developmentally disabled to stop protesters from trying to drive group homes from neighborhoods throughout the state.
The tempest in Norco began in 2005 after the home next to Waltz on Broken Arrow Street was sold. She said she learned from public records that it was to be a group home for "fire-setting," "sexually inappropriate" and "physically aggressive" people.
Administrators of the new operation, Supporting Unlimited Possibilities Inc., assured Waltz that the home was only for the developmentally disabled and that the residents didn't suffer from other problems listed on the group home's mission statement.
Over Waltz's objections, the home received state funds to open in 2005. Waltz said that when her new neighbors arrived, they hurled rocks and obscenities at her. She and some neighbors then placed signs in their yards urging the group home to "get out" and warned neighbors that "your wife and kids are potential rape victims" -- driving the residents inside to tears, according to their advocates.
After months of turmoil, state officials told Waltz in September that her actions had triggered an investigation into alleged violations of state and federal housing discrimination laws that protect the disabled.
The number of developmentally disabled people in institutional settings has dropped by more than 2,600 since 1995, when the state began placing more of them in neighborhoods. It is part of the state's long-term strategy to place the developmentally disabled in its care in less restrictive environments.
Opponents such as Waltz point out that among those newly qualified for a group home setting are people charged with sex crimes who are ruled incompetent to stand trial. Using that point as a rallying cry, concerned residents have held fiery demonstrations throughout the state, including one outside a group home in Phelan with registered sex offenders that was forced to shut down out of fear for its residents' safety.
Assembly members Todd Spitzer (R-Orange) and Sharon Runner (R-Lancaster) have voiced support for legislation restricting the placement of sex offenders in group homes for the developmentally disabled.
