SEQUIM — Soon-to-be residents of the first home from Olympic Peninsula Special Needs Housing have broken ground at the site in Sequim.
The four-bedroom home, expected to be finished sometime this fall after Friday’s groundbreaking, will give Michael Rief and Ursula Schletter more independence, while also giving their parents peace of mind, Rief’s mother said.
Missy Rief, president of OPSNH, said that while she has mixed feelings about her 32-year-old son with Down syndrome leaving the nest, she’s excited for him.
“It’s something he’s watched his brothers and sisters do,” she said. “He’s so excited.”
Schletter, a 48-year-old with Asperger syndrome, said she’s also excited to move in.
For the past three years, she’s dreamed of living in a home she could call her own, she said.
“Now that dream is becoming a reality,” she said. “It is a new and exciting adventure.
“The next chapter in my life is about to begin.”
The nonprofit’s goal has been — and continues to be — to build what Missy Rief described as a village that could house a number of people with special needs.
But because some in the area are aging, she said the group needed to do something immediately instead of waiting for a large plot of land to become available.
To fund the home, costing roughly $350,000 for the house and land, the nonprofit used funds that had been raised toward the village.
The group was previously looking at buying a 12-acre piece of land in Sequim “that was just ideal,” but was out bid, she said.
For now it’s just the two moving in to the home, but there could be room for more down the road, she said.
“None of us parents have done this before,” Rief said. “If it works out for them, then we can add more people to the mix.”
Once the two get moved in, then the nonprofit can focus on starting the next house or finding land for the village, she said.
The village would be an apartment complex or several houses with a community center, where a number of people with developmental disabilities could live.
“Adults with special needs could be near their friends, but in a safer environment,” Rief said.
The need for such a housing development in Clallam County is clear, she said.
The group has been developing a database of families with someone who has special needs that would be interested in the idea.
So far there are between 40 and 60 people on the list, Rief said.
“I know there’s hundreds more,” she said.
She’s hoping now that people will contact her and let her know they are interested when housing eventually does become available.
“We want the database so that when we have housing available, we can try to match them up according to interest, age and personality,” Rief said.
The group began as the Home and Good Life Committee, made up of parents at Clallam Mosaic about three years ago, she said.
The parents talked about needs for their children and found housing to be among the top priorities.
As the idea for a village grew, it became clear the group should form its own nonprofit dedicated to creating housing for people with disabilities.
Olympic Peninsula Special Needs Housing was officially awarded 501(c)(3) nonprofit status this year.
“Clallam County doesn’t really have programs like this,” she said. “This is why we’ve had to start it.”
Rief said there’s a large number of families with special needs kids in Clallam County that would benefit.
“It breaks my heart that we can’t do this faster for the families that need the support,” she said. “We’re confident we can do it, it’s just learning how to do it all.
“It’s always a slower process than one would hope, but it’s exciting.”
To donate, to help or to get on the group’s housing list, contact Rief by calling 360-565-6414 or emailing olympicsnh@gmail.com.
For more information, visit www.4housingcm.org.
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Reporter Jesse Major can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56250, or at jmajor@peninsuladailynews.com.
