D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams yesterday ordered the evacuation of two group homes for the mentally retarded where neglect and life-threatening conditions had been ignored by city officials for years. The removal of residents from the homes was one of several steps the District government took yesterday to address problems in the city's group homes for the retarded.

"I ordered patients put in the right facility regardless of what the impact will be on the facility itself," Williams said yesterday.

"This is something we've been working on for some time," he said. "We believe that the responsible thing to do was to work as we did to get those patients into the right place, and we needed to act decisively, and that's what we've done."

The actions came after a Washington Post investigation that found 350 documented cases in this decade of abuse and neglect in the city's expensive group home system, as well as financial mismanagement by group home owners poorly monitored by several city agencies. Between 1990 and today, the city failed to issue a single fine against a company found to have mistreated the retarded.

Department of Human Services Director Jearline F. Williams said that she and Mayor Williams had asked the D.C. inspector general to launch inquiries into the Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Administration, as well as the providers that serve the agency. The city also requested the help of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in accelerating the pace of reform.

The Minnesota Avenue homes closed yesterday were operated by longtime city contractor Rollie Washington and his wife, Dorothy. In its series, The Post found that city officials had known for at least five years about life-threatening conditions and what federal court monitors called "serious" neglect of retarded residents of the Washingtons' homes. In that time, the Department of Human Services paid the Washingtons $ 4 million to run group homes. The Washingtons were not licensed to run a business in the District.

The Washingtons also received Department of Human Services funding to run a day program for the retarded at their Manor Farm in Upper Marlboro. Human Services officials assigned some of the city's retarded wards to shovel manure and haul hay at the farm for wages of $ 2.50 to $ 5 a day.

Yesterday, the Department of Human Services said that no more retarded workers would be sent to the farm.

"We have terminated our relationship" with the Washingtons, said Human Services Director Jearline Williams, who emphasized that other contractors identified in The Post's series were now receiving careful and regular monitoring.

At the Minnesota Avenue homes yesterday, Rollie Washington said that the city had given him no reason for closing his homes. In earlier interviews, Washington said the services he provided clients met or exceeded what the city required of him.

Meanwhile, D.C. police officers supervised as city officials and staff packed up the residents' clothes and 10 years' worth of possessions in trash bags to be moved.

Jearline Williams said the residents would be transferred to other homes temporarily, while social workers assess their mental and physical conditions and determine what treatment they need.

Mayor Williams said that the Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Administration "has been involved in the legal process of trying to close this facility [Minnesota Avenue] since 1996, and is in fact still attempting to do so.

"But the urgency of the situation at this facility made it necessary to circumvent the red tape in favor of the well-being and safety of the patients involved. This move is reflective of a proactive agenda being implemented by [Human Services] to ensure the safety of the citizens it serves.

"When measured on a scale, the quality of life of District residents will always outweigh the need to maintain the bureaucratic process."

One resident of the homes -- a nearly blind man who, according to city records, tried to kill himself last year after months of harassment by a fellow resident -- was surprised to learn that he would have a new place to live.

"Change is a nervous question," said 39-year-old Elroy, "but it's not upsetting, it's nice. I would say it's an interesting thing." Rollie Washington, operator of the two group homes that were evacuated yesterday, leaves one of the residences as a police officer stands by. Washington had said that the services he provided the retarded wards met or exceeded what the city required.