BLOOMINGTON - Some group homes for developmentally disabled adults in Central Illinois are closing or are not reopening, partly because of the state's budget crisis.

"It (the problem) is far greater than the public imagines," said Dreux Lewandowski, executive director of Macon Resources Inc., based in Decatur. "I haven't seen it (state funding for group homes for the developmentally disabled) this bad since the '90s."

Marcfirst, the Bloomington-based agency, is closing two of its nine group homes - one in Bloomington and one in Normal, said CEO Rick Glass. Two residents have relocated outside McLean County, five residents will move into Marcfirst apartments, and three residents will be assimilated into the remaining group homes, Glass said.

Marcfirst has 62 residents in its group homes and 40 in its apartments, but some of the apartments do not have 24/7 staffing.

"Some moves are happening this week, and some moves are happening next week," Glass said.

When the homes are closed by Nov. 1 and sold, that will mean that five Marcfirst group homes will have closed in the past three years.

Mosaic, based in Pontiac, had closed a group home for renovation, but Executive Director Rod Patterson isn't sure when it will be reopened. Mosaic has seven group homes - two with six residents each and five with eight residents each.

"We had planned to start admissions in August, but it's up in the air at this point, and we have a waiting list," Patterson said.

Macon Resources, which has 48 people living in seven group homes in Macon County, is not closing any homes now but has closed three in the past five years and has increased the number of residents in each home, Lewandowski said.

"Our staffing is to a minimum," he said. "I haven't replaced (vacated) positions in years. Everyone's got to work harder."

The agency heads said group homes for the developmentally disabled - called community integrated living arrangements, or CILAs- have been underfunded in Illinois for several years. Illinois, unlike other states, puts more money into state institutions, agency heads said. Funding has worsened recently with delays in state reimbursement payments and with a 2.5 percent rate cut for group homes, they said.

The Illinois Senate and House have voted to restore that cut, but final action is up to Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Efforts to get a comment Tuesday afternoon from the Illinois Department of Human Services were not successful.

pswiech@pantagraph.com