Whistler families living with developmental disabilities work to make WISH a reality

A 2022 Research Co. poll found more than half of southern B.C. parents share the dismal expectation that affordability challenges will, one day, push their child to move away from their home community.

Whistler mom Sue Hargrave shares their concern. Hargrave, however, worries less about whether her 16-year-old daughter Eliza will find an affordable place to live in the resort where she grew up, and more about whether an adult Eliza will find a safe, suitable place to call home in Whistler at all, aside from under her parents’ roof.

Eliza lives with a developmental disability that will make it difficult for her to live independently, unsupervised and without ongoing support, even after she enters adulthood.

To that end, Hargrave’s is one of several families comprising the Whistler Independent Supported Housing Society (WISH). She joined a few years ago, after five local families established the organization in 2019 with a goal of creating secure housing for their children.

“They’re young adults—they’re all between 32 and 37—who have been born and raised in Whistler, and they all have a developmental disability,” explained Hargarve, chair of WISH’s board of directors.

WISH is the ideal answer to those families’ questions about what happens after their parents are gone—“almost a succession plan,” Hargrave added. “They thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if we could get a house where all these people could live together, and the support services could be pooled, in hopes of getting longer hours?’ Right now, a few hours are allocated to one individual, and another few hours to somebody else, whereas if you put them together as a group, you could get an entire day’s worth of support.”

Like Eliza’s, not all of those disabilities are apparent upon first glance. Hargrave described the young adults as mostly “medium functioning.” Though the majority could manage living independently, some need live-in support, while others only require a resource to call on when they need it. All want their own personal space, and to stay close to the jobs, volunteer programs, sports, activities and loved ones that keep them thriving members of Whistler’s community.

WISH envisions a centrally-located complex of eight to 10 self-contained, one-bedroom units, plus a common area, laundry facilities, and the ability to accommodate 24/7 live-in support. The space needs room for gatherings like movie nights, craft projects and nutritional support, plus storage for skis, snowboards and bikes, but wouldn’t require parking. Any unfilled units could, for example, be used to house Whistler Adaptive Sports Program staff, as Hargrave proposed.

Though WISH has connected with the Whistler Valley Housing Society and Beedie Living to inquire about securing space in other upcoming developments in the resort, and could picture joining forces with the Whistler Mature Action Community to create a dual-purpose build—”we’re keeping our dreams open,” Hargrave said—the group’s best bet at this stage is building the complex themselves.

WISH has its heart set on a block of municipally-owned land that could, theoretically, be donated to the cause, but “our challenge is, we want to now go to BC Housing to fund the build, and BC Housing won’t talk to us until we have an address,” Hargrave explained.

“In a perfect world, we’d be breaking ground in five to seven years, and in within 10,” said Hargrave. “But as the families say, we want to be in tomorrow.”

The idea is modelled after North Vancouver’s HYAD Place, a 16-unit complex constructed in 2014 for young adults with developmental disabilities, close to amenities like transit, shopping, medical care, and a community centre. More importantly, the apartments offer stable, safe, affordable and accessible housing that facilitates support services for its residents, while allowing them to live independently in a familiar community. That project was funded by BC Housing and built on land donated by a school board.

WISH is hosting a pizza party fundraiser at Creekbread on Tuesday, June 13, with a portion of money from each pizza sold between 4 and 8 p.m. donated back to the society. Though next week’s fundraiser is take-out only due to staff shortages at the restaurant, WISH families hope pizza-purchasers will stick around for a parking lot “tailgate party,” to check out an auction table and meet the young adults WISH aims to support.

The online silent auction is already live, with about $3,000 worth of goods available for the community to bid on until the auction closes at 8 p.m. on June 13.

When it comes to housing in Whistler, “I understand there’s thousands of people that need it, and who are we to say, ‘please give us priority?’” Hargrave acknowledged. “We’re not asking for priority. We’re just asking to be part of everybody’s plan.”