Today I am still just a bill......

What a whirlwind week....or weeks. We are deep into subdivision plans for a new housing project for my work and today I took part in something that made me really proud to be a citizen of Washington County. Well it happened today but really it started about 6 weeks ago....

The project we are building is a 5 lot subdivision in Aloha. There will be 5 houses for families, and 5 ADUs (accessory dwelling units) which are basically like mother-in-law flats. These 1000sq ft homes would be for the adults with disabilities who want to live near family but not WITH family anymore and can't quite live without support.

There are a ton of reasons to do this....costs....rising age of caregivers...budget cuts...whatever. but the most compelling reason is the fear that parents have that there will be no one to take care of thier son or daughter after they are gone. This way, families can settle her and establish a relationship with Edwards as a care provider and then we will continue to provide the care after they are gone.

The tricky part. Land use ordinance in our county requires the owner to live in either the house or the ADU. That is just fine for the families, but our clients can't own their homes or they risk losing benefits. Plus whose to say what might happen to a house after a parent dies if there are sibling arguments or something. So Edwards Center wants to own the homes and lease them out on our terms. That way we control who goes in and our plus we control the rent and can keep them affordable for people on low income.

We proposed (or my attorney did) a change in the land use ordinance that would allow an ADU to be owned by a non profit serving people with disablities. Today was the board of county commissioners meeting and I had to go and give testimony on the proposed change. They voted unanimously to adopt the proposed change. Yipppe!

The final ruling will come in the fall but for now I am feeling very happy and proud that we are going to be able to take the next step forward. Amazing process really. And a cool thing to be a part of!