First Place is an apartment complex in Phoenix. It was built and designed for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, sometimes called IDDs.

IDDs include:

• Autism
• Down syndrome
• Cerebral palsy
• And more

The residents who live at First Place are often living on their own for the first time. First Place is an example of how an apartment complex can be built for people with IDDs.

Lauren Heimerdinger is 35 years old and lives at First Place. She moved into the apartment complex when it first opened in 2018.

Before First Place opened, Heimerdinger was part of a focus group for the complex. She and others were shown the blueprint for First Place. They were asked what they would like to see from a place like it.

She moved into First Place because her parents thought she was ready to live on her own. hey told her they knew she could succeed. Heimerdinger said: “Since I've been a part of it from the very beginning, I thought it would be nice for me to live here.”

She said she was scared when she first moved in and thought to herself: “I don't know how I'm going to do this.”

Heimerdinger adjusted to living on her own at First Place quickly despite her initial fears. Many things helped her adjust, such as:

• Her friends at First Place
• The community bond that has formed
• And the help she gets from the staff at the complex

These three things are also what have made her stay at First Place.

Denise Resnik is the president and CEO of First Place. Resnik said First Place is an example that people with IDDs can live on their own when a space is designed for them and they receive the help they need.

First Place has many features that make it different. Some features include:

• Housing sensitive to sound and light
• Trained staff
• Community events like yoga and book club
• Help to get jobs

It’s hard to live on your own

Maureen Casey is a leader at First Place. She said the complex is unique.

First Place is the first place like it in Phoenix. Housing designed for people with IDDs is important.

Research has shown many people with an IDD live with a caregiver over the age of 60. Most live with their families.

Casey said when caregivers die, people with an IDD then can end up homeless.

The leaders of First Place want to change this. They want to make it easier for people to live in places like First Place. They also want the government to give more money to places that help people with IDDs.

Living at First Place is not cheap. Rent starts at $4,200 for a month of living there. The rent includes:

• The apartment
• Utilities, like electricity to watch TV
• A washer and dryer for your clothes
• And support services like help to get a job

The average rent in Phoenix is $1,200 a month. But apartments that price are not like First Place. They do not include the support services, staff or design of First Place.

First Place also has only 55 apartment units. Only a small number of people can live there.

Jed Young lives at First Place. He said the price is a challenge. Young said: “It can be difficult at times, and it does add stress to the living situation.”

The leaders of First Place want to help change this. Casey said: “We recognize that we need to push some of those levers with funding and policy to make sure that these kinds of supports are available to everybody that needs it.”

Toyosi Adesoye works with First Place to develop plans to propose to the government. She has been working to develop one proposal. The proposal has two parts:

• Rental help in the form of housing vouchers for people with autism or another IDD. The housing vouchers would make living on your own easier.
• Competitive grants of money offered by the government to organizations providing support services for people with IDDs or building complexes similar to First Place.

First Place’s hopeful proposal

Obtaining accessible housing is a challenge for many adults with an IDD, Adesoye said.p>

Many adults with an IDD do not go to college or finish high school. Because of this, many adults with an IDD experience unemployment or underemployment.

This then can lead to homelessness, Adesoye said. Getting help to avoid this problem is not easy.

Some government programs exist to help. The programs can come from Medicaid or the Department of Housing and Urban Development, sometimes called HUD.

“But none of these specifically target (the) population of people with autism, or even with intellectual disabilities or developmental disabilities,” Adesoye said.

Applying for help can be complex. Many end up struggling to qualify to receive help from the programs. Those who do qualify can end up waiting years to get help.

People can get help in Arizona from the Division of Developmental Disabilities. But they must have three of seven functional limitations. These functional limitations include:

• Language
• Learning
• Self-direction
• Self-care
• Mobility
• Capacity for independent living
• And economic self-sufficiency

Casey said: “Very often, people with autism don't get that third one. They'll get two, but they won't get enough on the third one to be eligible.”

This then leaves them without the support they need, leaving them vulnerable to becoming homeless.

First Place’s proposal is titled “Housing Opportunities for Persons with Autism, Intellectual or Developmental Disabilities” (HOPAIDD). The goal is to help both those who cannot get services and those stuck waiting for them.

Half of the proposal would fund housing vouchers. This is a form of rental assistance for people with autism or another IDD. The other half of the proposal would create funding for competitive grants.

The government grants would fund either housing developments or support services for people with autism. The grant applicants would need to show how they would use the funds before receiving them.

Heimerdinger said she pays around $4,000 a month to live at First Place. Her dad helps her cover about half of it.

Even with help from family, she has had to use her own savings to pay her rent.

Adesoye said a housing voucher means the person approved for it usually pays for about 30% of their rent, while the government covers the remaining 70%.

HOPAIDD was designed to be able to be implemented into the current system.

Adesoye said: “We have to work within the already existing systems so that we're not creating something right out of the blue that is impractical, or that would require too much coordination.”

The existing systems to develop a new proposal were through Medicaid or HUD, she said. HUD was the best to use for the HOPAIDD proposal. HUD focuses on housing and other programs similar in nature to HOPAIDD had gone through it before.

HOPAIDD is still being finalized. A final proposal will hopefully be published in May. Once released, the task becomes getting support from people who make policies or help implement them.

Adesoye said getting that support “looks like slowly building consensus that not only is there a problem, but this is a feasible solution to that problem.”

There is no timetable for when the proposal could be implemented. Adesoye said they hope the process goes as quickly as possible. “However,” she wrote in an email, “nothing is guaranteed.”

Going forward

In February there was a community listening session at First Place. The listening session included residents of First Place. Heimerdinger was one of those residents. She sat with three other First Place residents in a circle and discussed their experience with housing since living at the complex.

It was a chance to reflect on living at First Place and the challenges the residents faced living on their own.

They talked about similar problems:

• Cost of living
• The struggle of getting society and employers to be inclusive towards people with IDDs like autism
• Issues with transportation

Heimerdinger said she hopes society can better understand autism and that not everyone is the same.

The residents said First Place is one of the few places where there is an understanding. However, there is still work to be done to expand that understanding into society.

Getting to the point where society has more inclusive housing and employment opportunities will take time.

But with models like First Place, there is an example of a better path. And if its proposal can be implemented, there is more potential for neurodiverse adults to receive the help they need to live on their own.

Adesoye said: “While we recognize that this proposal would not solve all the challenges facing this population, or even help everyone, we still hope to try to make a difference, even if for a few. The goal at the end of the day is to take at least the first step to create affordable supportive housing and more options for supportive amenities for neurodiverse adults.”