Fifteen residents of the Montana Developmental Center in Boulder will be moved to group homes over the next month, in part because of a staff shortage at the Center.
Since April, when the Montana Legislature voted to shut down MDC over the next two years, the state has had trouble filling job openings there.Budget director Dan Villa says the state will close one housing unit, and use federal grant money to move clients with developmental disabilities or mental health issues to private care:
"The goal would be to move a sufficient number out of MDC to be able to close a unit." Villa said. " Use the staff that is currently there in training. I believe we’re looking at about 13 and 15 placements, to be able to accommodate that closure."
Villa spoke Thursday to the committee overseeing the facility's closure. The legislature ordered the facility completely closed by July 2017, following reports of clients being abused or neglected by center staff and other clients.
The Center currently houses 53 people who were placed there by court order, because they are a danger to themselves or others.