Ridgeview Place: Ready to redefine lives

CHELAN – Ridgeview Place is making great strides in establishing not just a home, but a life and family for those with special needs. With the build reaching completion in August, and now being fully furnished, the home is ready to be filled with roommates.  “The structure itself is just the beginning of the story,” stated Ridgeview Place Creator Al Lorenz previously, “the meaning and purpose come from the people, the relationships, and the involvement of the community … as we go forward, we are building the systems to make each day go smoothly, hiring staff, and creating exceptional employment for the residents.”
Part of the exceptional employment offered to the residents is the opportunity in a share of Lakeline LLC, which assembles and distributes pistol accessories. As each new resident buys their quarter share in the home, they will also be purchasing 25 percent of the business as well. “It’s a six-digit income for them (the residents), so they’re in the upper percentage,” explained Lorenz, “as owners of the company, what it should go into is their trust. Most of their compensation will be paid as dividends on their stock, which can go right into their trust and not affect their benefits.” With Supplemental Security Income (SSI) if you’re over a certain income limit, it comes directly out of your benefits “one-for-one”, benefits that go toward paying for caregivers and other necessities, (so) “if you’re making normal wages than it’s hardly worth it, that’s why we set this up, where the residents here own the company,” he explained. Lorenz also explained why the choice for pistol parts, as people have asked, “they’re small and we can sit around the table and put it together,” he said, “so, we can involve four or five people easily, and we can set it up to what people can be successful at, and we can define tasks and they get a lot better at it.” The accessories for pistols that are manufactured and shipped are small, “so that makes it practical, and we can do a lot of business out of that sized space.” The income earned through the business would be applied to the resident’s third-party trust, and the 25 percent share of the house would work the same way.
The house is also a LLC and each resident, once filled, will own 25 percent of the house. “By owning the house …that’s what keeps it from being a group home or an adult home,” Lorenz explained, “where you have DSHS and a lot of overhead in dealing with that. We exceed all their requirements, but we don’t want to do all the reporting and stuff, and we don’t have to … this takes all the regulations out of it.” This in-home care method is similar to an elderly person receiving care in their own home. “Those regulations are there for a reason … there was an issue with investors buying a bunch of dumpy old homes, putting some elderly people in there, and had substandard care in a firetrap,” he stated in regard to state regulations on adult homes. “So, this is a different thing,” he added, “the families and everyone is involved, there’s no third parties in this.” The concerns the state would have in a residential care setting wouldn’t apply Lorenz explained, “it’s not like we’re investors trying to make money off this thing, it’s a deal for our family members.” The families involved will all be on a board, so to speak, making decisions collectively.
Criteria considered for special needs individuals and their families that may be interested in joining Ridgeview Place are very simple and straightforward. “Imagine individuals with developmental disabilities … having a ‘family’ of close friends,” Lorenz described in a previous article. The home will be comprised of all males in an effort to avoid any complication, “But there’s another four acres next door,” he joked, “we’ve had families contact us that have daughters and we’ve told them if you want to do the exact same thing next door, we’ll give you all the stuff, you can go do it and you can build one there for girls and we can work together on the employment stuff.”  The right individual would not only be male, but also be special needs of some sort, “typical things people have heard of would be like Down (syndrome) or autism, that sort of developmental disabilities,” he stated, adding, “and, we’re looking for a compatible group, we want this to be a really fun place, and it is a fun place, so not only the residents need to be compatible … but the families also have to be compatible.” The joining of the Ridgeview Place family is a commitment expressed Lorenz, “we’ll be dealing with each other … you’ve got a couple generations of families that need to get along.”
After the holiday rush comes to pass, the search for in-home caregivers will resume explained Lorenz. The caregiver positions will initially be a part-time position, but will move into full-time as the house’s occupancy level increases, which, at that point a house parent position will be sought out as well.
For more information on the adult special needs home, contact Al Lorenz at alorenz99@gmail, or for business inquiries on pistol accessories go to www.lakelinellc.com.