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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 18, 1988)
Monday, January 18,1988AThe Battalion/Page 7 low Houston economy meowners’ groups to suffer )USTON (AP) — Abandoned Is, frequent foreclosures and Ish new home sales have placed icial squeeze on some of Hous- 4,000 homeowners’ associa- I groups with the power to levy icnts on residents and ban the ' bedsheets as curtains. )r economic conditions have some of the associations to khe levies, upsetting some resi- icse days, people in condos Subdivisions are all bitchin’,” ittorney Richard C. Lievens, [r president of the Houston |er of the Community Associa- istitute. associations, which maintain ling pools and green belts in /isions and perform basic re land maintenance in condomi- and townhouses, also have suffering because in hard homeowners frequently can- bay their association “assess- |an Hill of Houston Proud said, ise of the abandonments and “Because of the abandonments and foreclosures, homeowners’ associations are facing problems they never faced before. ” Susan Hill, Houston Proud foreclosures, homeowners’ associa tions are facing problems they never faced before,” And the lack of an ac tive association can hurt home va lues, she said. In the early 1980s, the Forest Wood subdivision was left with an inoperative swimming pool Filled with algae, unkempt esplanades and darkened street lights after the de mise of its homeowners’ association. The developer of the 130-house subdivision went out of business and 40 percent of the houses were va cant. But in 1986, subdivision resident LaFranda Sanders, with the help of a volunteer lawyer and other profes sionals, organized a new homeown ers’ association. Supported by regular payments from residents, the association has the street lights back on and swim ming pool reopened. Now, only 20 percent of the houses are vacant. “It’s really almost incalculable what a homeowners association or a civic club can do to maintain a subdi vision’s integrity,” Hill said. A 1986 study by the University of Houston’s Center for Public Policy found that an active, strong associa tion improved home values as much as 15 percent in neighborhoods plagued with foreclosures. Houston Proud, an economic de velopment group, has subsequently helped 10 subdivision associations through its Adopt-A-Subdivision program, which enlists the aid of volunteer lawyers, accountants, ar chitects and property managers. Homeowners’ associations, through deed restrictions, can dic tate the color of house paint and the installation of burglar bars and bas ketball goals and ban the use of bedsheets as curtains. Deed restrictions also can stip ulate that association employees can enter someone’s house uninvited if a safety problem is suspected. Attorney Lievens said there is no direct legislation regarding town- home or subdivision associations, but Texas laws do specify some of the powers of condominium associa- dons. Last July, the Texas Supreme Court gave homeowner associations more power by ruling the associa- dons can foreclose on people who refuse to pay their dues. itional study lows shortages nursing field LLAS (AP) — Temporary loyment agencies specializing oviding nurses to hospitals, es for the elderly and resi- es flourished in a nationwide ing shortage, a study ed. e Dallas-Fort Worth Hospi- ouncil estimated a 12.7 per- :nt vacancy rate existed for lining jobs in the area and xiut 50 companies were trying ifill that gap. The council said the nursing lortage has spurred growth of imporary agencies and raised incerns about the quality and K of short-term hospital em- loyees. ‘There are many good nurses ho work through agencies and se it as a way to work in different ospital systems,” John Gavras, resident of the hospital council dd. “But more often than not 3U don’t get the level of commit- lent and quality that you get om your own employees.” Concerns over quality and cost ave led the council to sign con- acts with a consortium of tem- orary providers setting mini- lum quality standards and a tiling on hourly billing rates. Registered nurses generally art at $10 an hour and receive ay raises based on experience, jmcials said. But nursing agen- ies generally pay their nurses rom $15 to $20 an hour. Most people feel that higher ay and professional treatment is Hpfied for today’s nurses. Texas child abuse services receive criticism in legislature AUSTIN (AP) — Chris Johnson is gentle as she meets three children who have recently been taken from a home plagued with physical, sexual and emotional abuse. The child abuse caseworker tells the oldest child, a third-grade girl who has reported sexual abuse by her father and her mother’s com mon-law husband, she is working to find a loving foster home. “We want a place where you will feel safe,” Johnson says to the wide- eyed girl, who smiles shyly and nods. Her younger brother and sister stick close to her. Because of the severity of the chil dren’s abuse, they were removed from their home quickly and brought to an emergency shelter near Austin. But if the abuse had been less severe, an investigation could have been delayed for days. It is those delays — in some cases ones so lengthy that children have died before action was taken — that have sparked criticism of how Texas handles child-abuse reports. The issue has undergone several studies, including Legislative scru tiny that continues Tuesday when the Senate Health and Human Serv ices Committee holds a public hear ing in Houston to identify weak nesses in the program. Sen. Chet Brooks, D-Pasadena and chairman of the Senate commit tee, said his panel’s investigation will be conducted in tandem with the De partment of Human Service’s initia tives. As with the children Johnson was helping, only the immediate threat of serious physical harm or death re quires investigation within 24 hours. \ N - Investigation^ of other abuse and neglect must be initiated within. 10 days. i : Even a few days’ delay cpuld W di sastrous, but staffijq^'Shortages do not allow immediate investigation in all cases, James Marquart, assistant commissioner for protective services for families and children at the De partment of Human Services said. Johnson is responsible for 18 chil dren who have been harmed by their parents or other guardians, and Travis County Program Director Tim Gebel, who has a staff of about 73, said his office investigates 130 re ports each month. Although she said her caseload is manageable, Johnson says she could do much more for each child if there were fewer cases to handle. “I could work full time with two cases,” she said. “It’s how much more can you do?” Johnson is one of 1,500 casework ers statewide in the child protective services program, Marquart said. Ca seworkers in rural areas often must be on call 24 hours a day, Gebel said. The Legislature increased the program’s budget for 1988-89, but staffing has not kept pace with the increase in the numoer of child abuse reports that require investiga tion. The department probed 32,417 reports of child abuse and neglect with 2,798 child protective services staff members in fiscal 1976, accord ing to a recent staff report. In fiscal 1987, the department had 2,979 staff members, including casework ers, and investigated 67,731 such cases. The lack of staff contributed to the recent death oTat least one child, who died in Harris County after his case was not given immediate prior ity, Marquart said. “I think the day, or two days, be fore we were scheduled to see the child, the child turned up dead,” Marquart said. “That is a function of not having enough staff. Clearly, if we got on every case within 24 hours, that one could have been pre vented.” The program has come under scrutiny because of several recent cases of children who died after so cial services workers were notified that the children were being abused. Another death occurred when a caseworker mishandled an abuse re port and it was not investigated, Marquart said. That caseworker has since been dismissed. Death also has occurred after a child has returned home with court approval, when caseworkers be lieved a family was rehabilitated, Marquart said. “Some of those are indeed diffi cult decisions to make,” he said. “We balance the right of a kid to be pro tected against his right to be with his family.” The number of child deaths inves tigated by the department has aver aged about 115 per year since 1980, according to a staff report. The way caseworkers make judgments, the priority system for investigating abuse reports, pro gram policies and procedures will be examined in separate probes at the Department of Human Services, Marquart said. 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