Operation of care home where 19 people with disabilities were murdered put out for tender, hope for new management in April 2023

By Barrier Free Japan with extracts from NHK

June 10 2023

KANAGAWA – The Kanagawa Prefectural Government has announced that it will transfer the operation of a facility in Yokohama City, where some of the residents of a Kanagawa prefectural facility for people with intellectual disabilities, where 19 people were murdered in Sagamihara City six years ago, to another corporation starting next April.

Tsukui Yamayurien, a prefectural facility for the people with intellectual disabilities in Sagamihara City, was rebuilt last year in two locations, one in Yokohama City and the other in its original location, after most of the building was demolished following the murder of 19 people in 2008.

The prefectural government has entrusted the management of the two facilities to the social welfare corporation “Kanagawa Kyodo-kai,” which has operated “Tsukui-Yamayuri-en” since 2005, but after April next year, the decision will be made through public solicitation, and the selection results were announced on June 10.

According to the announcement, two applications were received for the designated manager of Serigaya Yamauri En, which opened in Yokohama City last November, and as a result of the selection process, a group consisting of the social welfare corporations “Doaikai” and “Shirane Gakuen” was chosen for both.

The prefectural government gave the reason for the selection as “they are practicing support from the perspective of the people concerned and are expected to improve their services.

On the other hand, only Kanagawa Kyodo Kyodo-kai applied for the Tsukui-Yamayuri En, which was rebuilt in its original location, and the prefecture plans to entrust the management of the facility to them after next April.