A woman and her disabled son will be homeless this holiday season unless they can get the help they need.
Maria Morrison and her 28-year-old son, Mark, are now staying with a friend in Lake Mary. That friend is leaving in two weeks. Morrison has tried all of the local homeless shelters but have been turned away because of Mark’s disabilities.
He functions at the level of an 8-year-old, and is non-verbal.
“He can’t be left home alone," Morrison said. "I bathe him, I dress him, I prepare his meals, he can feed himself, but that’s the extent of it.”
Maria has been unable to work, since she serves as a full-time caregiver to Mark.
“The only income we have coming in now is Mark’s disability check, which is $721 a month,” said Morrison.
They applied for Section 8 housing in Orlando and Sanford a year and half ago, but have yet to be accepted.
The state has a Med Waiver program through Agency for Persons with Disabilities that would essentially serve them by allowing Mark to go to a shelter workshop during the day so Morrison can go to work. But they’ve been on a waiting list for 12 years. That waitlist was 22,000 people long as of 2012.
“They want me to sign custody over to the state so they can quote, unquote put him in a group home... but he’s going to end up in a nursing home,” said Morrison. "They would rather pay thousands and thousands of dollars a month to stick him somewhere… than try to help me out so I can stay home and take care of him and just give us a place to live. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy."
We reached out to the APD to see why the waitlist was so long and where the Morrisons were at on the list.
Spokesperson for APD Melanie Etters has offered waiver enrollment to 2,800 people with critical needs, and more than 100 people are put on the waiting list each month so even though more people are on the waiver the number is at 20,209.
If a family is in a crisis situation, they should contact their local APD office to complete a crisis application. If approved the person with a disability would begin to receive waiver services.
The Morrison’s reached out to Good Shepard, who put them in touch with the Commission on Homelessness in Central Florida.
“Unfortunately options for people with disabilities are limited in our community and in the state,” said CEO Andrae Bailey.
Bailey said they are trying to help them find a place to stay, but their options are very limited.
“The fact is she is going to be on the street living in the car with her disabled, developmentally ill son by Christmas if we can’t find her an option.”
Bailey said under the new initiative to house the homeless, which is partnered by City of Orlando, Orange County, Florida Hospitals and others, the Morrisons could qualify. The program is still in the process of getting started.