Housing in flux for county residents living with disabilities

MEDINA — As many as 18 residents living independently with disabilities could be forced to relocate due to an ongoing contract dispute between the Medina County Board of Developmental Disabilities and Medina Creative Housing. The two parties have been unable to agree to terms on a new three-year contract after one-year extensions had been tacked onto a previous deal since 2018. This term ended Dec. 31. As a result, Medina Creative Housing informed residents and families in December of its intent to sell its single-family units in Medina County, starting with two homes where notices to vacate by the end of February soon were given. However, Medina Creative Housing and MCBDD have decided to continue with previous contract provisions for another six months in hopes of coming to a new agreement, avoiding relocation of any residents for the time being. Plans to sell properties come with a new contract offer that would pay Medina Creative Housing significantly less moving forward than in previous years. From 2018 to 2020, Medina Creative Housing received roughly $170,000 a year from MCBDD to help offset annual single-family home operation costs of $600,000. Those payments from MCBDD were identical to what had been received under a three-year contract running from 2015-17, Medina Creative Housing Executive Director Dianne DePasquale-Hagerty said. Under MCBDD's current contract offer to Medina Creative Housing, payments would be formulated by adding 20 percent to fair market rental rates established by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development rather than having a set yearly amount. DePasquale-Hagerty said payments only would add up to around $48,000 in 2021 using this method. However, MCBDD projections roughly come out to $112,000 — a significant funding decrease from previous years. Medina Creative Housing residents living in affected homes pay 30 percent of their income toward rent with any remainder being subsidized. DePasquale-Hagerty said the individual financial situations of residents will cause subsidies on many rent payments to be lower than MCBDD is projecting. "It doesn't cover the costs of the home," she said of using the HUD fair market rates as payment criteria. "That's the bottom line and synthesizes it right there. It creates an additional deficit for Medina Creative Housing that we can't cover. "Every year, the rest of our budget, after MCBDD, is made up with fundraising and donations. That was down 50 percent last year with COVID. We can't just go out there and raise more funds right now to make up for this. Medina Creative Housing is not rejecting a contract here or deciding to not fulfill its mission. It's decreased funding and us not being able to do it." DePasquale-Hagerty said without a new agreement, her agency will be forced to sell 10 houses that contain 14 single-family residences, some being duplexes. Currently those house 18 residents. "We already have a long waiting list for our housing and it would get even longer," she said. "People will wait for the opportunity to live independently in their community with support and a safety net setting. We'd no longer have a single-home option for individuals. There isn't a one-size-fits-all option for people with disabilities." Medina Creative Housing, with headquarters at 1120 N. Huntington St., Medina, has operated as a nonprofit in Medina County since 1992. Housing equals independence One of those to receive a notice to vacate in February was 27-year-old Amanda Hennings, of Brunswick, who has been living in a Medina Creative Housing home for nearly three years. Her mother, Lisa Hennings, of Valley City, said Amanda's quality of life has greatly been improved by that home and services made available by Medina Creative Housing. "Things got critical for us looking for a place for Amanda," she said. "Then, Medina Creative Housing stepped in and said this house was available. We went to see it and thought it was amazing. It has a fenced-in backyard, sun room, a nice open floor plan." "All her behaviors have decreased and she hasn't had an ER visit," Hennnings added. "She hasn't been injured by staff. It's been so great for her. It's brought her life up to a level we didn't think was going to happen. Staff love her and take her to the park and their houses." Hennings said she's been disappointed in prospective backup plans offered by MCBDD in the event her daughter would need to find a new home. "I've tried to tell myself to just take a breath," she said. "I decided to give them a couple of months to come up with something but they haven't come up with anything. They've talked about other apartments and other houses but none of them are like the place Amanda is in now. That's a dangerous game to be playing with my daughter's life." Finances and plans moving forward MCBDD Superintendent Stacey Maleckar said her agency will help any affected residents find new housing if need be. "We've got a lifetime commitment to these people," she said. "Whether that house they're living in is sold or they choose to move somewhere else because their needs have changed, we're going to work with them to find housing that suits their needs and is a place they want to call home." An agreement was reached in February between MCBDD and Summit Housing Development Corp. that will pave way for that nonprofit also to provide special needs housing in the area. Maleckar said that new agreement is unrelated to current contract hangups with Medina Creative Housing and it's possible that both entities could be sharing Medina County in the future. "Summit may come in and purchase some homes to provide housing," she said. "The houses will be for people in Medina County. If they're purchased in Medina County, they're for people in Medina County. This contract allows us to access state grant funds for housing for people with developmental disabilities. It's not using local taxpayer dollars to increase the housing choices." A meeting between MCBDD and Medina Creative Housing is set for Monday where both sides are expected to discuss bringing in a formal mediator. MCBDD carried a cash reserve of roughly $25 million into 2021. However, a 2021 budget summary released in October shows combined general and capital fund reserves gradually decreasing this decade and totaling just $1.26 million by 2030. That projection showed the general fund reserve being completely depleted by 2027. Projected MCBDD spending for 2021 showed a deficit of nearly $1 million with $23.92 million in expenses and just over $23 million in revenue. "We are trying to ensure that the dollars are going to the individuals," Maleckar said regarding the latest contract offer to Medina Creative Housing. "It is a change on how this contract was set up but we're trying to focus on these individuals' needs while being accountable with our spending with the taxpayer dollars." The same October report stated that salaries and benefits make up 55 percent of the MCBDD budget as opposed to 10 years ago when that spending encompassed 86 percent. Over that same period, Medicaid match spending has grown from 12 percent of the budget to 31 percent. Medina County Commissioner Steve Hambley also has been working to soothe relations between the two parties since residents called to tell him about their families' vacate notices. "These are people who've been living where they're at for 10, 15 or more years," he said. "I didn't want innocent people to be evicted in the middle of a pandemic. That was my main interest and we accomplished that. Hopefully, we'll see a successful mediation over these next six months." Hambley also specified that in speaking with Medina Creative Housing and MCBDD he was not acting on behalf of the Medina County Board of Commissioners, which oversees funding for MCBDD. "We're the appointing, budgeting and taxing authority of the MCBDD board," Hambley said. "So, my meeting with them was just as an individual commissioner, not speaking for the board. It was done with the full knowledge of both of my fellow commissioners as well as Probate Judge (Kevin) Dunn." Contact reporter Jonathan Delozier at (330) 721-4050 or jdelozier@medina-gazette.com.