Your Search for
Affordable Information and Safe Housing
In all your life have you ever been sorry you did the right thing?
Don’t put off creating a life care plan any longer. Take the time now and give yourself the comfort of being prepared for the financial future of yourself and your loved ones.
The demand for affordable housing for people with disabilities is growing. More and more individuals and families are looking for places to live within the general community – private homes, group homes, apartments, and such – rather than in institutional settings or agency operated/ dependent housing units where they have little or no control over the services and supports they receive. For many reasons, this type of safe and affordable housing is sorely lacking. One reason: those who could make the housing available don’t under- stand the market needs, and those who need it don’t know where to reach out for it.
These reasons are covered in a report entitled Understanding the Disability Housing Market (published in September 2010). Sue Swensen, a former com- missioner for developmental disabilities in the Clinton Administration who compiled the report, contrasts the lack of appropriate housing with the number of people who are seeking it: “Official state waiting lists indicate that nearly 100,000 Americans are waiting for residential supports, but estimates based on demography indicate the total may be closer to one million individuals.” (Read the complete report at
http://www.bos.frb.org/commdev/cdevfin-disability- market/31-swenson.pdf.) If you or a loved one are looking for a place to live independently and for services that will allow you to do so, this is probably not the news you’ve been waiting to hear. However, the fact that more people, organizations, businesses, and state and federal government officials are talk- ing about the rapidly growing need is good news. Awareness of and interest in this issue means new opportunities are emerging. We can hope that more will be forthcoming.
Nick Carrocio
Special Care Planner MassMutual’s SpecialCareSM program Phone: 972-348-6368
ncarroccio@finsvcs.com nexusadvisorsllc.com 10000 N. Central Expwy., Ste. 1200 Dallas, TX 75231
Insurance products are issued by MassMutual, Springfield, MA 01111, and its subsidiaries, C.M. Life Insurance Co. and MML Bay State Life Insurance Co., Enfield, CT 06082. CRN201104-118795
“When a family has a member with special needs, I understand what they’re living with is overwhelming,” says Albert “Tico” Gutierrez, a Special Care Planner with LINQ Financial Group (
www.linqfinancialgroup.com), in Coral Gables, Florida, a general agency of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual). “But it’s important you make time to plan for your child’s future, just as you would in planning your own retire- ment, but with more serious intent. After all, you’re attempting to create finan- cial security for an entire lifetime, not just for the retirement years.” Gutierrez finds that some parents can’t picture their child as an adult. “But you have to,” he urges. “It’s easy for me to say you have to be tough and look to the future, but the earlier you do, the better off you’ll be when the time comes.”
He suggests that you think about what you need now, five years from now, twenty years from now, and begin planting seeds to help meet those needs. “Create a special needs trust, begin putting money away, direct money towards
16 North Texas Kids • February 2011 •
www.NorthTexasKids.com
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