Featuring Panelists:  Felicia Lehner, Heidi Cartan, Trudy Gable, Patty White

Table of Contents

1. What kind of homes do your loved ones live in and/or have experienced living in? What are the different types of communities? 
2. What’s the difference between SLS and ILS?
3. What’s a community care facility or adult residential facility like? And how do they differ from all the other models that we’ve heard today?
4. Is there anyone who put their child or loved one in whatever situation you had planned for them or that you’re planning for them or that currently in and you just got it right the first month, or the first week, or the first time around? Did anyone not have to make any adjustments? 
5. How much do parents pay for their loved ones to live at Willow Commons, Common Roots, or LSA? 
6. What happens if your child doesn’t want to live there anymore? What happens if complex personalities clash? 
7. Types of Housing Video

Hadiyah: I’d like to first introduce Felicia Lehner. Felicia Lehner’s joining us, from LSA and she’s been at LSA for about 12 years now. We’re so excited to have her as part of our panel discussion today. She’s going to talk to us a lot about CCF’s and her expertise for being this long at LSA and within the industry.  The next person that I’d like to introduce is Heidi Cartan. Heidi is also a mother, as many of our panelists are today. She’s a mother of Noah, who’s a 28 year old who inspired her, along with her husband Felipe, to found Coastal Haven pocket neighborhood and the adjacent Common Roots farm in Santa Cruz. Thank you so much, Heidi, for joining us today.  Next I’d like to introduce our panelist, Patty White. Patti White is a mother of four children, the youngest of which is a 25 year old daughter who has down syndrome. Amy is now living in a house in Portola Valley with supportive staff, with SLS. Patty established Willow Commons, which is an independent apartment community for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Thank you so much for joining us today, Patty. Last but not least. I’d like to introduce Trudy Grable. Trudy Grable is a mother of an amazing and fun 40 year old woman who is on the spectrum and living in supported living services.  Trudy worked for Parents Helping Parents (PHP) for 30 years and now volunteers at PHP for the parents of adult children support group. She is also a Person Centered Thinking trainer. Trudy also ran a supported living agency for 14 years. Welcome Trudy. 

What kind of homes do your loved ones live in and/or have experienced living in? What are the different types of communities? 

Hadiyah: Let’s start with Patty, has your daughter lived in other places other than where she lives right now?

Patty: Yes, and I first of all just want to thank you and LSA for even having a panel like this because it’s exactly something like this that started my husband and I on our journey to have our daughter land in a good spot and to embark on the Willow Commons project. So I think it’s really important to have parents together sharing their experiences. So I’m going to give another shout out to Trudy’s support group for parents of adults so that we all stay connected and share what our learnings are. 

My learnings began when I, relatively reluctantly, was convinced by an advocate for my daughter to have her attend a boarding school for high school and they also had a 3 year program beyond that. I, many times, repeated a mantra many times that this is an investment in her future. It was very hard to have a very lively, engaging, loved daughter who had been such a presence in our house to be somewhere else. But now, 10 years later, I really can say that it was an investment that has paid off. When I say that it was a panel like this that started my husband and I on our journey, it was when the school that she was at would have a transition fair once a year where they would invite in representatives from different types of housing options. You could go table to table and learn about them, which was very important for us. But the most impactful part for me was always the morning that they had a panel of parents of alums of the school and we got to learn about the successes and the not quite successful situations that helped various people on their journeys. I’d say my daughter lived in a dorm room where in high school there was a lot of support from the staff that was in the dorm, when she moved into the post high school three-year transition program, there was a lot more focus on her gaining independent skills. When she came back after she finished those 3 years, which were disrupted by the pandemic as I’m sure we all experienced our versions of that, she was back in our home. But we were very motivated to make sure that we found a solution before she would lose those independent skills that it was so easy, in my case, for the parents to kind of take back away from them. I might help her to do the laundry or do things that she was doing on her own. We were fortunate to be able to find a house that could be rented and she’s in a spot where it’s a 4 bedroom home and she has one of the bedrooms. There are 3 other young women that live there that have different diagnoses and there is round the clock staff for them. We were then especially fortunate that a house across the street became available and another 4 young women of a similar capability level again with different diagnoses moved into that. So now there’s a group of 8 who are supported by the same service organization and they are really refining their independent living skills so that some or all of them will be candidates to, after it is built, then move into the Willow Commons Community. It will be their own apartment but will have a staff organization that will be partnered with it and there will always be someone on staff to be able to be a safety net for them. 

Hadiyah: That’s awesome. And I see you, Heidi, shaking your head. Have you had a similar experience or how is yours differ?

Heidi: Well, I’m just nodding because I think we’re all in the same club, right? So a lot of what Patty’s saying makes sense to me and resonates. But my son Noah is 28 and he actually has quadriplegic cerebral palsy so he’s a wheelchair user and also has developmental disabilities. He lived only in our family home until a little over a year ago. Now he’s living in the community that my husband and I founded, Coastal Haven, and right next door to that is Common Roots Farm. He is supported again by an agency that does supported living services. So we as parents are landlords to our kids essentially and own the property, but we don’t provide any services at all. Those are all done from organizations who know what they’re doing and are good at that, in our case we have 3 different SLS agencies supporting residents in our community. 

Hadiyah: That’s very interesting. Trudy, I saw you shaking your head. How was your experience different or the same to what we’ve heard from Heidi and Patty. 

Trudy: Well, Lauren wasn’t as easy as some. She does have an autism spectrum disorder. She also has intellectual disabilities and had pretty significant needs around behavior. When she was 12, I attended a presentation by Joan Schmidt, who was one of the early pioneers in supported living. Lauren was 12 but I decided right then that’s what I’m doing. That’s what I’m doing and we got it in the IPP from that point forward. So that would be the first thing that one would do. When she was 19, I decided it was time because our relationship was very difficult because of the behaviors. She would moved into her own home, had services through supported living, and it allowed us to kind of reset our relationship. So now she’s still in supported living but she lives beneath me. I live on a hill, so we were able to convert the downstairs into an ADU. She’s at peace being that close and for us, that has worked well. She’s lived in other neighborhoods in the past and it was always stressful for her. She always wanted to live on Oak Street, that’s where she lives, and she’s told me she never wants to leave Oak Street. We’re going to do our best to make that happen for her. 

Hadiyah: That sounds wonderful. I’m gonna ask because, Trudy, I’m gonna point this one back at you. 

What’s the difference between SLS and ILS?

Trudy: The difference is you’re living in your family home when you get ILS. It’s a training ground. It’s to help people learn how to shop, how to cook, how to do their laundry. An ILS worker will come into the family home and support that person to learn some of those skills. That said, I’m not sure all those people know how to do their own laundry. So you really have to work with the person coming in to make sure that they understand what you want your child to learn before you kind of cut them loose. A lot of people don’t get an immense amount of training when they enter this field. Supported living (SLS), same staffing issues, but they come into the person’s home. The person that’s actually moved out of the family home has their own residence and supported living services kind of wrap around in conjunction with in-home support services, which must be explored to help reduce the burden of cost to the regional centers. So they come in, they spend the night if that’s what the person needs, they help the person shop and do laundry and whatever it is they need to have the life that they choose for themselves. The best part of that is it’s lacking the group setting. The person can say, I want to go to CVS now and it’s not going to impact the group. Or we say, “well, we can’t do that now because the group doesn’t want to go”. So that for me was the real pull for supported living because if someone has significant behavioral support needs, they’re gonna need to have spontaneous staff and the ability to do the things that really matter to them. My daughter’s never been happier. 

Hadiyah: Oh wow. I also, I hear you spoke of group homes.

Trudy: Yes, residential care homes. 

Hadiyah: That’s it, residential care homes. And before I venture over to you, Felicia and ask a little bit about that. Heidi, I saw you shaking your head. I really wanna know. You are in a group setting, but not really, but are, but not. Can you explain a little bit more about Common Roots Farm and Coastal Haven and how that works?

Heidi: Sure. Well, we’re using the same model of support that Trudy just described really well with SLS. But it is shared housing. So we have nine single family homes in our pocket neighborhood and six of those homes are occupied by the adult children of partner families. Within those homes there are, depending on the size of the house, there is one fewer person with a disability than there are bedrooms. So most of our homes have three people with developmental disabilities living there. A couple of the homes have four because they’re slightly larger homes. But the spontaneity and the individual support tailored to that to every individual in the house as Trudy described rules the day. So people are sharing housing, they’re sharing a kitchen, they all have their private bedrooms but bathrooms in our community are shared by two people. My son Noah has his own plan every day and does what he wants to do and part of what he may wanna do is have lunch with one of his house mates or dinner with the whole house or dinner in his room by himself. However the mood strikes and whatever he wants to do that’s what he’s supported to do as is everyone else in the community. We created an architectural and physical design that encourages relationship building. So we were really trying to strike that balance between, you know, privacy and independence, if you will, interdependence, I prefer, and you know, and community. The houses all face one another. They’re all accessible because our son’s in a wheelchair, my husband and I had an eye toward physical accessibility much sooner than most people think about it or need to think about it, but we needed to think about it from the time he was 6 months old. So that’s been important to us. But, maybe also worth pointing out, our son also has a feeding tube that he’s had since he was an infant. I think it’s good for people to know that those kinds of, you know, things we think of as medical issues can be supported, in a supported living setting. But our son is super super social, we knew he would not personally be comfortable by himself in a place but we also knew he needed his own room. So I think it’s never one size fits all. 

We need all these models. It’s exciting to hear all the panelists and other things I hear about every day that are going on that are parents supported or founded. It’s really critical that we know our own kids, you know, we have a lot of parents who come here, see the place and think, ‘oh, this is great. I would love this’. My question is always, ‘but would your child thrive here?’ Because you’re not living here. Your adult child is. The idea is that we create a setting that outlasts us as parents but works for our kids and I think that’s what we’re all after in all of our different approaches.

Hadiyah: Absolutely. I think that’s a good segue because you just said one size does not fit all. And I’ve noticed that it’s our unofficial motto, when it comes to LSA. 

What’s a community care facility or adult residential facility like? And how do they differ from all the other models that we’ve heard today?

Felicia: Well, in general, we have 15 residential care homes and I think the one that we’re specifically talking about today is the 962 homes. Those are much different from the level for the ARFs, right? Their pilot program from Agnew’s and, therefore, people with more enduring medical needs. They’re different from some of the homes that I work in more regularly. Their referrals come from the Department of Developmental Services. Their model is much different in terms of staffing. They have licensed staff, RN’s, LVN’s, CNA’s. They have individuals with prohibited health conditions. But our goal there is the same as all of our other homes: quality of life and independence and choices. They have parties, they just had a Cinco de Mayo party. They have music therapists and you wouldn’t believe the big huge parties they have in these homes. It’s amazing. What I see from the families, when you’re talking about tailored to each individual, it really is so different. The level of care can be so broad, but each individual has their own tailored plan of care whether it be, their own room or sharing a room and whether they’ve lived with somebody for a long time. It really just depends. That’s one of the things that I really love about working for LSA is to see these people grow and from start to finish. It’s really just amazing. I just really enjoy it. 

Hadiyah: Can I ask what a community care facility is, what it looks like? Even for the level 4 homes now. Most people don’t know what level 4 even means or what 962 means or any of those things. Can you help us understand what community care facilities are? Or some people have called them group homes, which is what they are, but help us understand a little bit more about that. 

Felicia: So, the name ‘962’ actually comes from a Senate bill and that was a pilot program from when Agnews closed down. That specific home is for individuals with enduring medical needs. The level 4 is a level of care based on needs. So you have a level 4F, level 4C, etc. And it can be very broad. In a level 4, you might have somebody who is very capable and very Independent and out there with a job and taking their own medications. Then in another home, you might have somebody who needs a lot of support and is in a wheelchair. So it’s a very broad level, level 4. But 962 is much different from level 4.

Hadiyah: Okay. I understand. And I think one of the things that I personally have seen in some of our CCFs, it reminds me of, kinda like friends living, you know, like roommates, but, you have your own room.

Felicia: It’s like a family style home.

Hadiyah: And you live in a home within the community it sounds like. 

Felicia: Yeah, so it’s a five bed home and it’s a family style home. Most of the individuals go to the day program during the day. We do have some homes where there’s an RCFA program during the day, where maybe they have a senior. They’re older and they stay home and do an in-home day program. Most of them go to day programs during the day and come home and have, you know, their PM activities. Most of our homes are five beds. We do have some that are licensed for six. It’s set up in a family style. If I could explain it, every home that I walk into, no matter who lives there, even the newer individuals that have moved in, you walk in and it’s like this little family. We have a few new residents and it’s amazing to me how quickly they become like this little family and how comfortable they are. It just becomes like this little family, that’s the best way I could explain it. It’s a five bed home and they have 24 hour staff. Two staff, three shifts and an awake staff at night. Any more questions? 

Hadiyah: Yeah, I think that’s really good. I do wanna shift here, because I know we’re at the 30 min mark just about and I know that there’s a couple of questions that might be in the audience. I want to make sure that I tell the audience if you have questions, now is the time to ask.

I do want to say this, a lot of the models that we’ve talked about so far. They’re based on these panelists’ experiences, and what was right for their family. Just so we’re clear, I would like to live at Willow Commons and I would like to live at Coastal Havens or Common Roots Farm. Like it sounds amazing. I was ready to pull up a piña colada the moment you two started speaking. And Trudy, I am sure living nearby you would be just perfect for Thanksgiving and all the holidays, Mother’s Day weekend, all of those things. That being said, I do work for LSA and I get to partake in LSA parties often. So I’m spoiled in that regard, but just the same, what’s right for me is not going to be right for my daughter, it’s not going to be right for my son, it’s not gonna be right for many people. The type of housing that’s right, it sounds like, it’s trial and error. 

Is there anyone who put their child or loved one in whatever situation you had planned for them or that you’re planning for them or that currently in and you just got it right the first month, or the first week, or the first time around? Did anyone not have to make any adjustments? 

Heidi: I feel like we’re still adjusting. I mean, we all know our children, they’re evolving humans and so, you know, what works on one day or one week or one year may change. I think we all have thought about that, and I know LSA is cognizant of that fact. Even just looking at a lifespan, even when we don’t know what that lifespan is, being able to plan for people to move from young adulthood to adulthood, middle age, being elderly. 

We think we’ve thought of that stuff but our project has literally not been around long enough to know for sure. So we know that there’s accessibility built in. We know that there’s universal design. Whether this is gonna work for my son, if he lives long enough, when he’s 60, I don’t know. We just did our best to hope for that. But I think there are always adjustments. That’s a little long, sorry, but I think that’s just true of all of us as parents. We know that our kids aren’t static and their needs aren’t static.\

Hadiyah: I’m not static. Right. 

Heidi: That’s right. A piña colada on Monday might need to be a margarita on Cinco de Mayo. I don’t know.

Hadiyah: Switch it up. Patty, how about you? You’re shaking your head. How would you answer that question?

Patty: I was nodding my head because I’m agreeing with the same thing. And I guess for me, it just sort of jumped out that I’m not sure I would ever really say there’s any right answer. I mean, it really is that I want my daughter to be happy. Even when she calls me up and says, “Mom, I want to leave my house on Thistle and come home”. I still know that she’s happy there and it’s the right solution for now. For all four of my children, there are always adjustments, given roommates, given neighborhoods, given everything they deal with on a regular basis. So I just think overall you want to make sure that your child is thriving where they are. From those panels I sat through year after year at that school, you may notice when your child is not thriving yet and so you just make some tweaks. That’s always our goal. You rejoice in the times that they are and appreciate that it may not last forever and they’ll be ready to make another adjustment in the future. So it’s sort of a ditto to what Heidi said and I see Trudy nodding so I think we all live with that.

Hadiyah: Trudy, would you agree?  

Trudy: Oh, wholeheartedly. One of the things, when I’m talking to families or groups about ‘is my child happy?’, ‘are they satisfied?’, ‘how am I going to make sure they’re going to be okay when I’m gone?’ is really it’s never gonna be home, but that’s true for all of us as we move out of our family homes. My mother’s not there to do what she used to do for me. But it’s a growth opportunity and a learning opportunity for our kids and for us.  To know that they will be okay without us. It may be hard. They’re gonna grieve just like anybody else would grieve. And they may have, you know, a period of time where they’re just really struggling. But it’s important for us as families, I just really want to emphasize that, we stay heavily involved because you’ve got people who don’t know your kids. Who are going to take over for you and they often think they know how to do it better than you did. You probably have relatives like that. If they just had a weekend with your kid, that kind of stuff wouldn’t happen anymore. Well, there is always a honeymoon period when there’s new staff involved. But it’s a process for both of us because we grieve, having to take that step. And that is really hard for us to do. I never thought my daughter would move out at 19. I thought she’d be home much longer, but she was hurting me and I decided that this is not okay anymore. And so we got staff, we trained them, we worked with behaviorists. So, the question is, is it good enough right now? Is she safe? Is she happy? Is she going to be happy every minute? No, she’s not happy here, where she lives below me every minute either. So it’s a big shift for all involved. But like I said, it helped to reset our relationship. We have a much better relationship than birth through when she moved out. And so there’s a lot of positives that can come, there’s a lot of challenges that will come. And it’s just rolling with it. Somebody asked about supported living, a question I could hit. Yeah, the staff may pay rent. Or they may not live there. Lauren has no roommates, including staff. She doesn’t want a roommate.

Hadiyah: I do wanna take the time to address that for each person and thank you so much Trudy for your answer just now just before we segue to that. You touched on a couple of important things and I do want to make sure that we acknowledge them. One of the things that I heard everyone say on the panel is that the right fit right now may not always be the right fit going down the line. And I think we’ve kinda had a running theme this week. We talked about forever homes. We said there are no forever homes. We talked about when’s the right time to transition, there is no right time to transition. There’s a right time for you. And then we’re talking about types of housing, the right type of housing, maybe the right type of housing right now, but that may change. And then also that the level of comfort, safety, and needs might change. So therefore, housing might change. That being said, there’s quite a few people who’ve asked about SLS paying for rent. Trudy,  you just talked about that, thank you. But then there’s a couple of people who also asked about the cost at all of these places.

How much do parents pay for their loved ones to live at Willow Commons, Common Roots, or LSA? 

Felicia:  Oh, I would have to look at, to be honest, an email to be sure of that. So I know that it would depend on what the person gets in Social Security. And then whatever the difference is. So their social security would cover a portion of it and San Andreas would do a purchase of service and then if there’s a difference, either San Andreas would cover some of that or the family would cover some of that. It just really depends on how the purchase of services worked out with the regional center. That’s I couldn’t give you a hundred percent details on the price to be honest. I think it’s different with every person because of the amount that they get from Social Security. 

Hadiyah: But in general, there’s no cost to the families, is that right? In general.

Felicia: I don’t believe that is 100% true. I do believe that sometimes families do pay a portion but don’t quote me because that’s not my area of expertise. I don’t do the finances, okay? 

Hadiyah: Okay. Sure, sure, sure. I was just gonna say because I am a part of the executive team. And happen to know that LSA costs are covered by the regional center and SSI and that there’s typically no cost to the families. It would be a very rare case where there’s a cost to the families of this because we’re a nonprofit, we’re not for-profit. So, the cost would directly go towards their things and their needs. That being said, Patty, maybe you can address that question next and talk about the costs for living at Willow Commons. 

Patty: So Willow Commons isn’t fully built yet, so there aren’t people living in it yet, but when it is ready to go it is going to be owned, like LSA, by a nonprofit organization. Rents will be established very much with the Social Security amounts that regional center clients typically are qualified for. That’ll be looked at because the whole point was to make it something affordable to everyone and not private pay. The much larger dollars associated with what we call housing or living independently really has to do with the services. So the eight young women who are currently living in the Thistle houses and they’re supported by a service organization called Branch Services, they all have. SDP, so the self-determination program dollars to support their services. So, I would say for parents that are getting ready to have your children, if they’re past that 22 years of age and moving into that next phase of working with your regional center. SDP is an option that did not exist when our children were born, but it does exist now and it’s exactly those SDP dollars that are used for SLS services. You’ve heard everyone talking about SLS on this call already today, but there are certain buckets for those SLS services. So there’s a certain amount of community integration time. That might be the music classes that I decide that Amy is going to take at a local organization. Activities that happen out in the community, there’s another set of dollars that will be for community living services and that will be that in-home training that we’ve heard Trudy talking about earlier. Amy is fortunate to have been hired in a couple places in our own community and they’re also some of those SDP dollars that support a job coach and making sure she has some assistance in what her employment is. So I would encourage each of you, as you head towards this stage, to work with your case manager to understand what kind of budget you might get as part of SDP. However, also recognize that since this is new enough in the state of California, there is a long backup of getting approved for your SDP budget. So I would say as we work with families who are starting to show interest in applying to Willow Commons, a lot of our advice is to get your SDP plan in place because those are the dollars that will pay for the staff services that all of our children need. 

Hadiyah: Thank you, Patty. Heidi? 

Heidi: Yeah, so we’re a little bit of a different animal. We’re, we’re an equity model. So the parents own the property, own the homes. Our rentals are, I believe, $1,400 a month. I’m not entirely sure but it’s in that neighborhood. I don’t do this part of the project, so I’m not certain. And probably about half or so of our residents are using Section 8 vouchers. So as landlords, we can accept those kinds of subsidies. I know that rate is adjusted based on your geographic region, right? So the housing authority makes those determinations about how much you know rent can be charged for a tenant. All of our leases are compliant with the home and community based services rule, which is probably a different webinar. But it’s an equity model, which means that parents purchase in and then if the model doesn’t work, as we talked about earlier you may not get it right the first time or not forever, that initial investment comes back to families plus some inflationary adjustment for that. That price is about $500,000. So that purchases you know what we say ‘a home for life if you want it’ and your money back if it doesn’t work but there’s no government or public money in our model to have created this. So the neighborhood we created has nine homes, a common garage, and a guest unit. We’re about 3 quarters of a mile from downtown Santa Cruz and then have a four and a half acre farm next to us, that all got funded by the families whose children live here. We have had a couple families leave for whom it didn’t work. One young woman, we consider it a success story, tried us out for about a year and decided, kind of like Trudy’s daughter, that she wanted to live on her own. The parents were able to take the investment they had made here and purchase a condominium for her where she’s still getting supported living services, but in a setting that was more suitable to her, which is to say no roommates. So again trying to build in flexibility. One of the reasons we chose an equity model is we had heard some scary stories about properties that parents had done, the generation of parents prior to us. Those properties were not secured and they could be and were sold. People had to leave and sometimes after their parents had passed away. That was not an acceptable option for us so we wanted to design something where that didn’t happen. But again, you know, sort of more details about that if people are interested, but I think the rent is what you would call market rate in most places, that’s what we’re encouraged to do with the housing authority as well. And so that’s, yeah, that’s our structure. Hope that helps. 

Hadiyah: It does. It really, really does. I’m gonna move back to Heidi and Felicia to talk about this group home setting or roommate model, if you will. And talk a little bit about the internal workings. Specifically there’s some questions about some of the challenges, for example, what if your child doesn’t wanna live there, which I think we covered a little bit. Also what about if complex personalities clash? And they wanna go home. Those are some of the questions that are. Ask in the chat. 

What happens if your child doesn’t want to live there anymore? What happens if complex personalities clash? 

Heidi: Sure, and if it’s okay, I’m gonna broaden a little to the first part of what you said, Hadiyah. I would hate to have parents leave this session feeling like they’re trying to figure out which of these are right for them, you know, I would hate to have people think that. Because I used to say to my husband, ‘if we don’t finish this project and I die first, call LSA’. I think the model in terms of a group setting would have been very appropriate for our son. It is very appropriate for him and I think honestly my son would be equally happy in an LSA home. And so I think parents hopefully understand that there are many options and many ways to do this, not enough supply but many variations. 

That said, we actually have a conflict resolution committee. What we talk about is each individual home in our community is what we call a micro community within the larger pocket neighborhood. So it’s really not necessary, it’s great if it happens and so far it has, but it’s really not necessary for people to get along with everybody in every house. They have to get along with their household. And so, what we do is a lot of work in the front end of making sure people are compatible. This is where we were impacted by COVID because we had families coming and spending quite a bit of time, barbecues, potlucks, work days on the farm so their children could get to know one another because that’s what really mattered was there a fit there. Some families had a start of a household of two people and they invited a third family whose child they felt would be compatible. So there are different ways to do it. But we do have a conflict resolution process in place and it’s what you might expect, at a low level somebody designated to try to talk to both parties about what’s going on. Maybe it involves the parents or the SLS agency. The SLS agency is really responsible for that now. Again, Coastal Haven as a landlord. I mean, we’re a landlord with a vested interest, but we’re not a service provider. So we really trust and hand over and have had excellent experiences with those supported living agencies managing those conflicts. They are good at it, it’s what they do. We’re fortunate to have top flight agencies, I think, here. Only if and when parents are asked to contribute information or participate in the meeting, would they be called on to do that. But really the effort is to build relationships between people and find ways to work it out. And, and I think it’s been successful to date. 

Hadiyah: Thank you so much Heidi. That was very detailed but also very informative. It’s a cool model. Felicia, can you speak a little bit towards conflict resolution in our LSA homes? 

Felicia: You know, I think we spend so much time in our roommate selection process, that I really can’t think of too many homes where we have conflict. Granted, we have had some homes, but I mean, I think that was because maybe the person wasn’t a great fit and they ended up needing a different level of care at some point and they ended up moving on to another placement. Other than that, I really can’t think of anybody in the homes that have arguments or things like that. I honestly can’t think of anybody that argues in the home. Like I said, when you walk into the homes, it really is like a family environment. They’re like brothers and sisters. Honestly, I really feel like we do our due diligence when we choose the people that are moving in. Not only do we meet the families and go to their day programs and have them come over and meet their roommates and have dinners. We take into consideration everyone that lives in the home. We don’t just make hasty decisions, it’s supposed to be a lifelong commitment and it has to work for everyone so I really can’t see anything standing out to me when I’m thinking of any conflicts, honestly. And of course, if there were conflicts, we would find a way to work it out. I can’t think of any off the top of my head.

Hadiyah: I love that. I know that you guys also have family meetings in each of the homes. You guys plan things like trips. That’s enough to make me wanna take notes and send some letters off to my family about how to do things. 

Patty: I just wanna build off what Felicia said. As a parent, when you think about applying to one of these places for your child, Felicia talked about how there is a thorough process, and when you’re on the side of thinking something’s perfect for your child, it’s frustrating to feel like you have to go through all of these hoops. Given the way you described it Felicia,, it’s such the right answer, that by having the organizations go through such a thorough process, that’s what makes it work without a lot of hiccups along the way. So as much as you really want this and are frustrated about this qualification process, recognize that that is the characteristic of a healthy organization. 

Felicia: Yeah, I’ve had, in fact, with one of the most recent admissions, the mom, she was really amazing, but we kept having to say, ‘if he moves in’ and she was very patient and very understanding of the process. And like I said, he is so comfortable and so happy there. That’s the reason we have those processes in place because it’s so important for everybody in the home. And we had a lot of people tour that home. A lot of great, wonderful people tour that home. I personally did a couple of the tours and I told one of the moms, ‘do you really think he would be okay here?’ Because I personally couldn’t see it. This other individual, I couldn’t see it. And they weren’t interested, it turned out they weren’t interested and now they’re interested in a future home. So that process is really key and I think that’s why maybe we don’t have those conflicts. Don’t get me wrong we have had a few people but like I said it was because they weren’t in the right placement they needed a different level of care.

Hadiyah: Thank you so much, Felicia. And thank you, Patty, for that segue. Trudy, I see you raising your hand and I wanna make sure we acknowledge you.

Trudy: Yeah, I wanna make sure that people understand the difference between funding for residential care, which is a combination of Social Security or SSI and regional center but not parent funding. And Heidi had mentioned the model of using Section 8 to help fund the housing expense. But for supported living, it’s important. And we’re in Santa Clara County. Section 8 hasn’t even been open for the wait list for 15 years and before that it was 30 years or some ridiculous number. So that is not easy to come by. But you can sign up for any county like in your surrounding area for section 8 and then you can transfer your section 8 to the county that you’re in. So that is one option, it’s a whole other presentation. But, like for my daughter, nobody pays her rent but me or her. So there has to be funding to pay for the cost of the housing, the physical structure, the utilities, the cable TV. All of that is generally a part of a residential care facility. You’re gonna have that expense in a supported living setting. 

Hadiyah: Trudy, you keep describing. I’m sorry for interrupting, but I am going to move in with you.

Trudy: Yeah, I’ll pay your rent too.

Hadiyah: Yeah, do all the things. I know we’re just about at time and I don’t want to cut you off but I do want to say what I’ve heard today is I’ve heard a lot of hope. Informative and real. I think we’ve kept ourselves honest. But a lot of hope that there is something out there that’s right. We know in a lot of the country they’re not as many options, amazing options as there are in California. So I do want to say specifically in Santa Clara County, in Silicon Valley we have this unique kind of hub of innovation, if you will. And I believe, as we get many people who we cannot provide services to who cross our path on the website, that if at the very least no one’s heard anything else today, they’ve heard to be creative and have hope. The innovation that is leading forward and moving forward, these different models that are, not forever homes, but more permanent long-term solutions. I think that they’re gonna make a difference, not just now, but the generations to come. How do we handle this problem? How do we solve this problem? And that’s why I’m very honored to be with you all today. 

I do want to take a couple of moments, if you’re just at the 4 o’clock mark and you need to go, please go, this again will be recorded. But I wanted to make sure that I said thank you to all of our panelists today. I wanted to personally thank Felicia, Heidi, Patty and Trudy for their contributions. I also wanted to give you an opportunity again to see our ways to contact us. I would love to hear from you. If your questions didn’t get answered, please, please feel free to reach out to us again. That page I put in in chat earlier. I do want to acknowledge that we’re taking questions and we will continue to take questions after this so don’t feel like you won’t be heard or that no one’s willing to have a conversation with you. Happy to do that and we’re standing by to do that. That being said, if you like to see more of these types of things, please respond to us on social media. Reach out to us on social media or info@LSAhomes.org . It was a pleasure and wonderful doing this. Next week, we’re gonna have a big celebration. We’re gonna be celebrating 22 years of impact and we are really excited to be celebrating at the Campbell Community Center just down the street from our new headquarters. We tend to have a really good time together as we already mentioned with all of our parties. We do Home is Where the Heart is once a year. Finally, I’d like to thank our SV@Home partners again for allowing us and helping us to put on these events this week. It’s been a wonderful week and we wish it wouldn’t end. Please feel free to contact them and connect with them. Their information is up on the screen and if there is nothing else to be said we appreciate you joining us and thank you again for coming to all of these webinars. Have a wonderful evening. Have a great Mother’s Day ladies, it happens to be the last panel of the week is all moms. So happy Mother’s Day and Happy Mother’s Day to myself. And thank you again for joining us.

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