ROCHESTER HILLS, Mich. — Two neighborhoods in Oakland County are being built to give adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities a chance to own their own home.
Besides the opportunity to live independently with some outside support, homeownership will ease their worried parents’ concerns. These neuroinclusive communities are rare; fewer than 100 exist across the U.S.
Dozens of supporters turned out for the June 4 groundbreaking of a $25 million Auburn Oaks neuroinclusive neighborhood in Rochester Hills.
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Auburn Oaks will have 55 homes, including a mix of condominiums, single-family and townhomes, with 17 condominiums and two single-family homes reserved for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
The remaining homes will be sold to neurotypical buyers open to living in an inclusive community. Residents will be able to move into their homes in 2027, according to the current development timeline.
Auburn Oaks is the third such neighborhood in Michigan and the second in Rochester Hills.
The first, Maple Oaks in Saline, was built for an estimated $10 million between 2017 and 2022. That sold-out community has 34 homes, with eight designated for adults with disabilities, their families and caregivers or families with school-age children with disabilities. The remaining 26 homes were purchased by neurotypical homebuyers who have embraced living in a neuroinclusive neighborhood. Initial prices ranged from $180,000 to $250,000, with discounts and grants for purchases by people with disabilities.
Rochester Hills’ first neuroinclusive neighborhood is the $10 million project called Walton Oaks, now under construction. Walton Oaks will include 11 single-family homes, three of which will feature up to four suites designated for residents with disabilities. Three Oaks officials said the first residents will move in by the end of this year.
All three neighborhoods are connected to Plymouth-based Three Oaks Community Builders, founded by longtime developers William J. Godfrey, John E. Zdanowski and Bruce A. Michael.
Godfrey said he misstated Auburn Oaks’ costs during the June 4 groundbreaking as $35 million, which is the total projected cost for both Rochester Hills projects.
Building a neuroinclusive neighborhood requires funding from public, private and nonprofit sources and persistent advocacy, he said.
Nationwide, Godfrey estimated well under 100 of these communities exist.
“This is a housing need that’s been overlooked in almost every state in the country,” he said. Ownership is a more stable option than renting, he said, because rental properties can be sold, often forcing the residents with disabilities into a frantic search for a new place to live.
It’s difficult to quantify the need partly because each person with disabilities has unique needs. Some can live independently, drive and have traditional jobs. Others need daily care and someone to help manage medical and financial needs. It’s hard to find an exact number of people living with disabilities, said Lynn Sutfin, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services spokeswoman.
The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that 1.58% of Americans live with some type of significant disability. Based on that figure and the 2024 Census, Michigan has an estimated 160,219 residents with disabilities and Oakland County has 20,491.
“If they are not known and/or utilizing agency services, then we have no way to track them,” Sutfin said. “There is no system at the state or national level addressing the exact number of people with (disabilities).”
Based on people receiving state support for their disabilities, Michigan has just over 49,000 residents with disabilities and Oakland County has 4,771 people of all ages with such disabilities.
Dave Mingle joined Three Oaks as a managing partner after he and his wife, Heather Mingle, cofounded the nonprofit Rochester Housing Solutions. They want their adult son, who has autism, to live an independent life in his own home, rather than rely on a group home or adult foster care. The Mingles are part of what appears to be a small but growing movement of parent-led initiatives to create small neighborhoods dedicated to supporting residents with disabilities.
The Mingles created Rochester Housing Solutions five years ago, Dave Mingle said, after they and a handful of other parents found the housing options that “simply were not acceptable” for their children with disabilities.
Such neighborhoods are cooperative efforts by families, developers, nonprofit organizations and other community partners.
Auburn Oaks’ funding comes from the county’s Oakland Together Housing Trust Fund, the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA), Community Housing Network, Three Oaks Communities, Rochester Housing Solutions, F&M Bank, First State Bank and private equity partners. The county’s housing trust fund contributed $1.5 million — a loan with a 1% interest rate — which was used to buy the land.
Bloomfield Hills resident Gerry Seizert went on a nationwide search to find a community where his daughter Laurel could be as independent as possible for as long as possible, after his wife of 41 years died of breast cancer in 2018. He wants Laurel, 45, to have her own home in a welcoming community that will support and include her long after he is gone. He’s thrilled she will live in Rochester Hills.
“When you come together as a community, in compassion and mutual respect, things happen,” he said. “It’s not about building houses, but that’s part of it. It’s about what happens after.”
Kirsten Elliott, Community Housing Network’s president and CEO, said one of the greatest barriers to stable housing for people with disabilities is that they often live in low-income households.
Community Housing Network provides homebuyer, rental and financial education classes and landlord support.
In February, the housing network announced a pilot program to provide grants to developers and homebuyers. The program is funded by a $1.7 million MSHDA grant. Half of the money will be used for multifamily rental projects. The other half will be used for homeownership development grants or down-payment assistance.
The current MSHDA grant is helping four nonprofits, including the two Rochester Hills neighborhoods. The grant also supports the Grand Rapids-based Genesis Nonprofit Housing Corporation’s 48-unit Heron Woods project, which will provide eight low-income units for people with disabilities and the nonprofit Samaritas’ 46-unit Froebel Place development in Muskegon, which will include two low-income units.
Amy Hovey, MSHDA’s executive director, said after having some eye-opening conversations with parents worried about their children’s futures, she called Elliott to discuss creating the pilot program.
“I’m happy that we can play a small part in making this a reality,” she said during the Auburn Oaks groundbreaking.
Elliott said that, as the parent of a son with cerebral palsy, she worries about his safety after she’s gone.
“I know the challenges of getting housing and … the peace of mind that is needed for our families,” she said.
The Rochester Hills city council unanimously approved plans for Walton Oaks and Auburn Oaks, said Council President Jason Carlock.
“It reflects what’s possible when people come together with a shared purpose,” he said.
But without what Elliott called “layers of funding” from foundations, banks and other financial institutions, the cost may be daunting.
One Walton Oaks home, to be built at 193 Peregrine St., will have three bedrooms, two-and-a-half bathrooms and a three-car garage. The price: $879,999.
Elliott said construction costs can’t be changed but grants and other funding will defray the purchase price for people with disabilities and their families.
The listing states the price is subject to change. The estimated monthly payment of $5,669 is based on a 20% down payment of $176,000, a 30-year fixed-interest mortgage at 6.574%, and a $350 monthly HOA fee. The home will be ready to occupy in 2027, according to the listing.
Godfrey said too many homebuilders won’t attempt a neuroinclusive neighborhood project “because they think it will hurt the value of the homes. But the evidence is the opposite.”
Homes in neuroinclusive neighborhoods have shown strong appreciation: In 2021, one Maple Oaks home listed for $349,000 sold for $361,098. Four years later, that same home was listed at $415,000 and sold for $414,000 — a 15% increase.
The combined single-family and condo median home price in Washtenaw County was an estimated $456,000 at the end of May, up from $401,900 at the end of May 2022, according to the listing service RealComp.
Oakland County Executive Dave Coulter, speaking at the Auburn Oaks groundbreaking, said he hopes to see blended communities sprout, “not just across Oakland County but across the state of Michigan.”
Three Oaks is branching out and partnered with iStrive Community to develop Magnolia Oaks in Middletown Township, N.J. That won’t be the state’s first such neighborhood.
A 32-unit community called Thrive in Red Bank, N.J., is already under construction. Thrive’s development is a partnership between the nonprofit Parents with a Plan and the Rutgers Center of Adult Autism Services. Parents with a Plan founder Karen Fluharty wanted to know her neurodivergent son could own a home in a supportive environment.
Plans for such communities don’t always work out. Three Oaks had partnered with the parent-run nonprofit Compass Community Collaborative to pursue an ambitious $90 million, 280-unit condominium project, Canton Oaks, in Canton Township. Despite receiving unanimous approval from township trustees in December, Compass officials announced on June 1 that Three Oaks notified them the project would not move forward.
Godfrey said making the decision was heartbreaking.
“We put a lot of blood, sweat, tears, time and money into Canton Oaks and it was just, unfortunately, not financially viable,” he said, adding that he continues working with the families to help them find smaller areas for potential neighborhoods.
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