Disability Housing Strategies – Part 2
In Disability Housing Strategies – Part 1, I described the two “easiest” options for disability housing:
- Stay at Home – PRO: good quality. CON: Family responsible for quality… and most of us are mortal.
- State Funded Group Home – PRO: not provided by family, state-funded. CON – at whim of state funding and individual operator business.
None of these choices are inherently bad or good… and they are what are most “directly” available to most families and disabled adults.
Here are some additional options that I’ve found (if you have more, please let me know… also your experiences with living in or implementing any of these options).
All of these options require additional financial resources and planning – either provided by the disabled individual or for their benefit by their family or others (Special Needs Trusts, ABLE Accounts)… but you may be able to trade off time for money, so it is worth planning (or plan to plan) as early as possible.
NOTE – in certain cases, there are still state facilities that provide care for disabled people whose needs cannot be met any other way. I know very little about these programs or operations… more research to follow…
Private Group Homes and Assisted Living Complexes
These are group homes that are NOT direct contractors with a government, but are funded by disabled individuals or their families. This can be a good thing or bad thing. State contracted facilities are going to meet a state standard (depending on where you live, any group facility may be subject to some level of public oversight). These facilities don’t have to “pay” to deal with the full complexities of being a state contractor and so may have simpler billing and more reliable income because they know they are being paid either by the disabled individual or their family.
There are also larger commercial complexes that provide services at scale – either dedicated to disabled adults or as part of an overall Assisted Living operation.
(I have an aunt with Alzheimer’s who is living in a small assisted living facility in Florida)
The financial model seems to either be a month-to-month model (there may also be a long-term lease option) or a “buy-in” that is similar to a condo (this later option is mostly available for some larger facilities). My direct experience with this is on the elder-care side of things… the big challenges I’ve seen are getting hit with a lot of “a la carte” pricing for additional services or cost escalation on an annual basis (my parents got hit pretty hard by this and my Dad wound up moving out).
Cooperatives
We are not the first ones on this journey. Others have solved (or are solving) the disability housing problem…
Groups of parents and disabled adults working together to cooperate in building, buying, and operating housing…. more research needed!!!! If you have additional information PLEASE let me know!
It looks like there is some funding available to help with this (though in the current US environment… who knows). But, perhaps we can work together to build better systems to help us … help us.
Housing Cooperatives for People with Disabilities
Campaign for Housing and Community Development Funding
Section 811 PRA Program – The Section 811 Project Rental Assistance (PRA) Program seeks to identify, stimulate, and support successful and innovative state approaches to providing integrated supportive housing for people with disabilities.
Consortium for Constituents with Disabilities – Housing Task Force
Some may even have space for you (or me).
Going Solo
Investing in owning a home for your disabled child for when they become an adult combines real estate investing with disability financial planning (see also Disability House Hacking). This can range from planning to transfer your primary residence to your disabled offspring (or their Special Needs Trust), buying another home, or moving up to buying a multi-family property (either dedicated to disability housing or used for general purposes). There is also the option to buy an existing disability housing business if you have the resources… as both an investment and part of your housing strategy.
Syndicates?
As with many things, including disability, we do better together. There is the opportunity to collaborate to build, buy, or invest in disability housing either for a small group working together to address their own needs or into a larger project. If you know of groups doing things, networks helping jump start these projects, case studies, or anything else… let me know!
Where?
“Go where you are treated better”…. is an important factor to consider. Do you stay where you are? Move to a different location in the US… or choose to move to another country. Income, expenses, services, portability of services to other jurisdictions, cost of labor…yep, this is tricky and there isn’t going to be a single answer.
What factors matter for you?
The Long Game… start today?
My personal timeline to solve this problem is close to 10 years.
Maybe a bit more. However, leverage in real estate investing may reward getting started early… or even just starting to save and invest money now to be available in 10 years.
Do you even need to worry about disability housing?
What is your timeline?
It feels kind of crazy for me. We’ve done a good job with all of the standard financial planning things in terms of savings and investing… but I don’t feel I have a good answer for disability housing – yet. But, it feels like a big enough of a risk area that I want to get smarter and maybe get started.
