This resource and report form are available for Santa Clara County only.

What is an Independent Living Home (ILH)?

According to *Community Health Improvement Partners

An independent living is a privately-owned or operated home or complex that provides shared housing for adults with disabilities, including mental illness, and others who may benefit from a shared living environment. Tenants in independent livings are able to live independently, are often on a fixed income, and do not need supervision or care from their landlord.

In Santa Clara County and other jurisdictions, ILHs are used by service providers – mainly behavioral health and other health agencies and some homeless providers – to house their clients.

• They are group housing arrangements.  
• There is no oversight of ILHs as there is for licensed board and cares (adult residential facilities which are overseen by California Community Care Licensing).  
• ILH operators set up these housing arrangements in residential neighborhoods and operate as landlords although they may not own the property.  
• Residents frequently include a mix of low-income people with behavioral health and other disabilities. Some are able to live independently. Others need, at least temporarily, higher levels of care such as can be provided by adult residential or other care facilities. 

Why It's Important to Identify ILHs

It’s important to know where ILHs operate as too many of them are managed by unscrupulous operators. Some ILHs are managed by caring operators. The community, including service providers, neighbors, and advocates can help identify the ILHs where residents suffer due to unsafe and unhealthy living conditions and/or ill treatment by operators and staff, such as house managers. DRC is working with Community Living Coalition and Santa Clara County to identify unsafe ILH’s, provide resources to improve these homes and promote oversight to prevent abuse or neglect. If you see homes that have the characteristics below, please call the number below so we can follow up.

How to identify ILHs that may need attention: These are most commonly large houses. In the downtown area of San Jose, several Victorian houses are ILHs because they have many rooms that can be rented.  

• There are high levels of foot traffic. Visits by police and other emergency providers are common. Residents may not be well supported and experience health crises.   
• Visible cues include:  
  • Mattresses and/or large appliances left outside  
  • Clothes, personal belongings strewn on the lawn, sidewalk, or street gutter  
  • Fences surrounding the house and front yard that don’t seem to allow access  
  • No trespassing signs and cameras  
  • Broken windows and/or steps, trash, peeling paint, and other obvious blight  
  • Frequent foot traffic and people sitting outside, some smoking  
• In some cases, grounds and the outside of the house may be well-kept and attractive. 

If you encounter a home that has a two or three of the issues above, you can:

1. Call the NAMI Santa Clara Helpline at 408-453-0400, option #1 OR
2. Complete the online form provided below.

If you choose to call the Helpline, please understand that NAMI will not respond or follow up. Its role is only to receive and forward the reports for follow up by the appropriate authorities.

*Community Health Improvement Partners operate Independent Living Associations in two California counties. To become a member home, ILHs need to meet high level quality standards. The ILA project in Santa Clara County was a pilot but lost funding due to lack of operator interest. For more information see the Independent Living Association California Website.