Nov 01 2005
Housing Options Ahead for Seniors

By Leta Currie Marshall
In the past three years, over two dozen senior citizens have had to move off Lopez Island because they could not continue to stay in their homes.

If they'd had access to the care and services they needed, most of those people could have stayed here among their friends and family. Lopez Housing Options (LOHO), a 501(c)3 nonprofit, was formed to address those needs. Senior citizens are a visible and vital part of the Lopez community, and LOHO has adopted the "Aging in Place" philosophy to guide it in its goal of making it possible for those who want to stay to do so.

Three years after it was founded, LOHO is gaining momentum as it enters its next phase of finalizing plans and seeking funding to build "The Hamlet on Lopez Island." LOHO has contracted with Weinstein A/U Architects and Urban Designers of Seattle to draw plans for an adult family home, sixteen cottages and a commons building or "gathering place." The Hamlet will be located in Lopez Village, within walking distance of the pharmacy, clinic, post office, community center, library, stores, and businesses.

"I think the most exciting part for all of us is the site in the village makes it possible for the people to go out easily into the community," said LOHO board member Ginger Riggins. "They're not dependent on cars."

Riggins, who acts as liaison between LOHO and Lopez Island Hospice and Home Support, Inc., said that in developing its plans the LOHO board has followed information from a survey coordinated by Richard Fagen and from the wish lists developed by focus groups that met early in the process. This innovative rural model of senior independent living, and LOHO's concept of a "Circle of Community Support," have caught the attention of agencies that include the Washington State Department of Health and Social Services.

According to rules accompanying projected funding, 40 to 50 percent of the rented units in the Hamlet must be classified as "affordable" for people of moderate income, roughly reflecting the economic demographic of the island. That includes six of the fourteen independent cottages and one of the rooms in the six-person adult family home. Another of those rooms will be for a Medicaid-qualified person; the other four will be rented at the market rate, currently about $4,400 per month. Tytti Langford, former Manager of the Lopez Clinic, will manage the adult family home, where residents will have access to 24-hour care.

As Board Chair Rip Van Camp pointed out, if all the units were classified as affordable, the Hamlet could not be built. A very rough estimate of the total project cost is $4,600,000. At least 10 percent of that is either already in hand or expected, Van Camp said, thanks to work by Murray Trelease and the Finance Committee. The San Juan County Board of Commissioners tapped LOHO for a $500,000 Community Block Grant; a $100,000 loan from the Robert Wood Johnson foundation funded feasibility studies; Islanders Bank and the United States Department of Agriculture have indicated they will provide low-interest loans; and private funding is expected.

The USDA will only fund the adult family home component, but Van Camp hopes that plans for the entire project will be ready nine months from now so that a contractor can be hired and construction begin in late spring or early summer of 2006. Bill White, formerly executive director of Homes for Islanders on San Juan, is project administrator for LOHO and is working on obtaining permits and other issues.

Last week the LOHO Board met with architect Lesley Bain of Weinstein A/U at an all-day work session at Lopez Library. Van Camp, project administrator Bill White, and other board members and interested people pored over drawings and cardboard models of the Hamlet, discussing everything from construction techniques to options for sustainable landscaping and infrastructure. Other key points in the plan for the Hamlet include the clustering of living facilities and providing a indoor common space for residents' use.

LOHO has not ruled out for future use a parcel west of the village that was first under consideration, but Van Camp said, "Jamie and Lauren Stephens have made it very possible for us to move forward" by offering an option on a piece of land in the heart of Lopez Village, across from the post office. They have also provided office space for LOHO.

Lopez Housing Options will host a public meeting to present their project a few months from now. Call Rip Van Camp at (360) 468-3692 for more information.

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