Housing Start Up Costs to Consider in Residential Placements
Start up costs varies greatly. There are many factors that contribute to the wide range of start up costs. The size of the home, the community the home is in, the individual plans to remodel before moving or to do changes to the home while living there to name a few.
There are a few start-up costs that may be unavoidable such as utilities deposits, first months rent and 1 ½ times the rent as security deposit, cable, and garbage pick up fee in advance.
Extra Start Up Costs
When considering renting out an unlicensed home for people with disabilities there are some extra start up costs to consider above the normal maintenance. Sometimes people rent homes to people with disabilities that need direct supports for activities of daily living. Below are some of the things people have needed in these Supported Independent Programs. Everyone's needs are different. If the home will have direct support staff working in it we suggest an open floor plan. Many times, one staff may be supervising two or three people and an open floor plan makes that job much easier.
Anti-Scold. Many of the companies that send direct support professionals to homes are asking for water mixing valves or anti-scold devices. Main bath tub shower heads have a point of entry anti-scold device built into them. These are prone to failure and spikes in temperature. Mixing valves sit above the hot water tanks an the hot water comes out of the hot water tank the missing valve adds cold water to the hot water. This is the best way t protect people from being burned by hot water. The temperature is set at the missing valve, usually at 110 degrees. Plumbers recommend the Simmons 5-1-2 HC ½ inch mixing valve. It comes with check stops which prevent backflow of hot water into cold water lines.
Smoke detectors. Smoke detectors are a must. They must be on every floor of the house and in the hall where the bedrooms are located. These Smoke detectors can be battery operated or hard wired to the homes electrical system. The best smoke detectors are hard wired and integrated. An integrated smoke detector system is when all smoke detectors are connected by wiring, when one smoke detector alarms all the smoke detectors will alarm.
Door knobs. Lever handled door knobs are the best. These door knobs are not round, they are long and straight.
Example of a Lever Handled Door
This type of door handle, as pictured above, is the easiest to operate. Years ago, it was discovered that some people that could not use a round door knob could operate these levered door knobs easily. While talking about door hardware single action egress must be mentioned. Many door knobs have locks and many doors also have dead bolts. A single action egress door lock is when one turns the handle of the door from the inside all the locks unlock. So, when one turns the handle inside the house not only does the door handle unlock but the dead bolt also unlocks. These door handles and dead bolts are connected.
Wall protection. Sometimes due to the use of wheel chairs or other hazards to walls people have installed a product called Kydex. This is a flexible sheet of plastic that returns to its shape when it receives an impact. This product is also A1 fire rated if it is 150 mb.