Mom leads charge for Riley's Residence, 'loving home' for kids with disabilities

BOISE, Idaho -- When Michelle Short, 52, was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2019, her first thought was about how she’d maintain care for her son.

Then a single mother to a 12-year-old with severe intellectual and developmental disabilities, Short made a decision she thought she’d never have to make: She put her son, Riley, in a group home.

Today, 17-year-old Riley lives in Pocatello, Idaho, nearly 250 miles away from Short’s home in Meridian. She said she still fights to get him the best care and quality of life possible, with the help of “severely underpaid” caregivers, as she put it. But she doesn’t want other families to go through what she had do.

Her experience inspired the idea for Riley’s Residence, a project holding its inaugural fundraising gala at the Boise Centre on Saturday night.

“Riley’s Residence will be a state-of-the-art, long-term and short-term housing facility for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities,” Short told the Idaho Statesman.

Her vision for Riley’s Residence is bold: 200 beds; a centralized, “holistic” approach to care; Medicaid-provided therapies on site; and aspects such as a community garden, theater room, hair salon and worship center.

Calling Riley’s Residence a “loving home,” Short said, “I want (families) to have a place where they know that their loved one can go and get the care that they need.”

“We want to empower people at our residence. We want them to have a sense of purpose,” Short said.

Services for those with disabilities in Idaho

Short is looking at properties for Riley’s Residence in Meridian and Kuna, noting there are no group homes in the Treasure Valley like the one she wants to develop.

“There’s hundreds of people on waiting lists to get into housing, and that’s what happened to my son,” said Short.

“The group homes that are here are great. There’s just not enough of them.”

Zoe Ann Olson, executive director of the Intermountain Fair Housing Council, a Boise-based nonprofit, told the Statesman in an email that “of our over 30,000 housing conversations and over 3,000 intakes per year, over 70% of the intakes related to housing are from people with disabilities.”

According to the IFHC, more than 90% of houses and apartments in Idaho are inaccessible to people with disabilities. Affordability can be another barrier.

Cameron Gillian, deputy administrator of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare’s Division of Family and Community Services, said children with disabilities are over-represented in child welfare services in Idaho and nationally.

“On a national basis, about 7% of our kids in child welfare have an intellectual or developmental disability,” Gillian told the Statesman.

The prevalence of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities in the US is 1.85%, according to Gillian.

One of the challenges Short said she hopes to confront head-on is high turnover rates for caregivers in Idaho, who made a median income of $14.39 per hour in Ada County last year, according to statistics from the Idaho Department of Labor.

Riley’s Residence plans to have a caregiver certification program, which Short believes will ensure staff are both qualified and adequately compensated, including benefits.

“We really want to be able to create a culture that they deserve. You know, they really deserve to be treated the best, because they’re working with the most vulnerable people, and a lot of times they’re not recognized and not paid well enough to do that,” she said. “So we’re changing that.”

The challenging road ahead for Riley’s Residence

Since Riley’s Residence became a nonprofit in June, it has focused on growing awareness and raising money.

Just to open, Riley’s Residence needs an estimated $20 million, including $1 million to acquire a 2.5-acre property for the facility, according to Short. She estimates monthly operating expenses at $750,000, including salaries and benefits, insurance, taxes and food. In its first few months, Riley’s Residence has raised $35,000.

Short said she thinks the process to open will take about two years.

Short is also working with her husband and co-founder Marty Short, creative director Joelle Ater, and director of caregiver development and certification Ashley Young to develop the nonprofit’s base.

Riley’s Residence has partnered with some big names locally, including hospitality-focused contractor Pentex Builders and architecture firm CSQHA.

“I ultimately fell in love with the project,” Pentex CEO Benjamin Dance told the Statesman. “I think it’s a great opportunity for not only Michelle, but for the community.”

So far, Pentex has helped consult on budgets, and Dance said he would be prepared to follow the project to fruition. “Our goal is to help provide Michelle the information that she needs in order for her vision to become a reality ... If it’s just helping her with creating budgets for construction and pre-construction, we’re happy to do that. If it’s to carry that through construction, we’re also happy to do that as well.”

In the meantime, Riley’s Residence hopes to eventually use some of its funding to acquire single-family homes to begin providing services before the large facility can be built. Short says there are four individuals on its waiting list, including Riley.

The Riley’s Residence fundraising gala was scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Saturday at Boise Centre East, and it’s sold out. It was to include a live auction and unveiling of CSHQA’s renderings for the facility.

Michelle Short anticipates that the main challenge she’ll continue to face is building awareness. But she’s not shy about the challenge.

“More than anything, it’s really about spreading the word of what we’re doing, and what we’re doing for the community,” she said. “Raising money — I’m not afraid of that.”