ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — For Marcus Yee, moving to Quest Village was an invitation to finally feel accepted within a community.

“Everybody's happy to see you, every day,” said Yee, who lives with Asperger’s. “Everybody watches out for each other.”

Yee is one of 48 people living at Quest Village in East Orlando, an independent residential community for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Just a stone’s throw from Waterford Lakes Town Center, nestled between several other apartment communities and a single-family neighborhood, Quest Village gives residents an economical way to live on their own.

“It's in the community, and our individuals can partake in the community, which is what we want, which is what housing is supposed to offer,” said John Gill, president and chief executive officer of Quest, Inc., which owns and operates Quest Village.

The community is for adults who can live independently, although residents can choose to pay for a range of supportive services, including assistance with housekeeping, budgeting, hygiene, and grocery shopping.

Residents pay between $450 and $650 a month to live at Quest Village, depending on income level, Gill said.

“We try to help them maximize their opportunities, to experience our society in as full a manner as possible,” Gill said.

Some residents hold down a job, like Yee, who works part-time at Big Lots. Some pursue their education, like 21-year-old Hannah Allen, who is going back to college this semester with the ultimate goal of becoming a marine biologist. Allen, who lives with dyslexia and auditory processing disorder, said she’s struggled less with learning since she moved to Quest Village about two years ago.

“It’s really such a good opportunity, living here,” Allen said.

“A Drop in the Bucket”

Quest Village has been consistently full since opening in late 2017, according to Gill. 

“There is a huge need. I mean, 48 units is a drop in the bucket for this population,” Gill said.

He and other housing and service providers said they agree that people living with IDDs in Florida desperately need more support. Thousands of people are on the waitlist for supportive services funded by the state’s Agency for Persons with Disabilities (APD) — a waitlist that can take six to eight years to navigate, Gill said. A 2019 study from the University of Colorado ranked Florida almost dead last in the United States for the amount of money the state spent on its IDD population.

“It's heartbreaking because there's people who need funding, who need support now,” Gill said.

Originally a part of the Department of Children and Families, the APD in 2004 broke away to become its own entity, specifically serving the needs of Floridians with developmental disabilities. The agency relies on partnerships with local service providers to coordinate care for people who live with IDDs.

One of those local service providers, Francisco “Frank” Gonzalez, works from his Port Orange home office. The doctor from Colombia has worked for more than 20 years in Volusia County to manage every aspect of his clients’ care, from securing medication and housing to arranging bathroom modifications and doctors’ visits.

“It’s not an easy job,” Gonzalez said. “It’s very complicated. You have to know everything about your community.”

Each case Gonzalez takes on is totally different, with some clients living independently and others needing 24-hour-care. But one particularly persistent challenge is finding his clients safe, suitable housing.

“There is not anywhere that you can find an apartment under $783,” Gonzalez said, citing the average monthly Social Security payment his clients receive.

Some of Gonzalez’s clients have bad credit scores or past legal records, making it even more challenging for them to find decent housing, even through the federal housing choice voucher program previously known as Section 8.

And after Gonzalez’s clients do find a place to live, more issues often arise, like roommate spats or evictions.

Gonzalez said it’s not uncommon for a client to move from one place to another, to another, several times in the span of just a few months.

A Sense of Stability

For her part, Allen enjoys the stability and freedom of living at Quest Village. She can walk to the shopping center to visit her favorite stores (like Barnes and Noble), draw wildlife to her heart’s content, and spend time with her service dog, Oliver — all while feeling like part of a community.

“I meet friends who have the same disabilities,” Allen said. “Everyone here is nice.”

The Quest Village model provides one unique solution to the affordable housing shortage. If replicated, it could help house more people living with IDDs. 

“We've had investors approach us [and say] we'd like to build more of these,” Gill said. “But the rent's necessary to really attract investors. Then, it prices our people [with disabilities] out.”

Quest Village was made possible in part with money from Florida’s Sadowski housing trust funds, which support the creation and preservation of affordable housing for lower-income people. But Florida lawmakers are currently discussing a bill that would permanently redirect two-thirds of the Sadowski Fund’s monies away from the very affordable housing initiatives it was designed to support.

It would be a change that the state of Florida can’t afford, warned Shannon Nazworth, president and chief executive officer of Ability Housing. 

“From an economic standpoint, it really makes sense for the rest of us to invest in housing for persons with disabilities,” Nazworth said. “It’s less expensive than having them either being homeless and cycling through costly systems of care, or being in an overly restrictive setting like a group home, nursing home, or hospital.”

But affordable housing providers worry about their ability to meet an ever-increasing need, as Florida’s population continues to grow.

“It's one place where government has the power to really have a significant impact,” Gill said.

Molly Duerig is a Report for America corps member who is covering affordable housing for Spectrum News 13. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.