Long housing wait ends for deaf Fremont seniors

From: The Argus, CA - Jul 23, 2005

Affordable Oak Gardens opens with 51 units

By Martin Ricard, STAFF WRITER

FREMONT — When Evelyn Ash moved into her new home several weeks ago, she had mixed feelings. On the one hand, she was ecstatic because — after a seven-year wait to move into a facility designed to support the needs of deaf seniors — her dreams were fulfilled when Fremont Oak Gardens opened its doors.

On the other, she had hoped that her husband, who died two years ago, would be alive to enjoy it with her.

Ash and many other deaf seniors attracted by the chance to spend the rest of their golden years together in Fremont Oak Gardens — instead of in isolation — had been caught in the struggle to establish a deaf senior-housing facility in Fremont, property manager Charlene Jones said.

Now that the 51-unit building is open, at 2681 Driscoll Road behind St. Anne's Episcopal Church, members of the Fremont deaf community feel they have won an important battle for the deaf everywhere.

"We've been very frustrated," said Julian "Buddy" Singleton, president of the Deaf Senior Retirement Corp., explaining that the lack of American Sign Language in traditional senior-housing facilities has made it difficult for deaf seniors to get services or communicate with other residents and staff.

"But we're celebrating now — we've won," he said.

Fremont Oak Gardens, the first affordable-housing facility for deaf seniors to be built in Northern California, already has more than 30 apartments filled, and is filling the remainder from a waiting list, Jones said. People who may qualify can add their names to the list.

The $12.7 million project was paid mostly from federal low-income tax credit funds, with $4.4 million coming from the city of Fremont and a total of $465,000 from Alameda

County and other local cities, said Ryan Chao, director of project development for Satellite Housing Inc. Residents pay from $378 to $797 a month to stay at the facility, depending on income.

Designed to emphasize visual communication, the facility provides open hallways, strobe lights to alert for phone calls and emergencies, windows in the elevator, and video relay service hooked up in every room, Chao said.Similar facilities also exist in Los Angeles, Ohio, Nebraska and Texas.

Even after battling for nearly 12 years with the city and state over funding for development of the facility, Fremont's deaf community does not plan to stop fighting anytime soon.

But with a large deaf population in Fremont — drawn by the California School for the Deaf, a nationally recognized program at Ohlone College and the city's deaf-friendly atmosphere —Singleton feels the major battles have been won.

He said the next step is to add a wing for a nursing home and to open up a computer laboratory so residents can use e-mail.

One resident even suggested adding a swimming pool.

"We're building history now, and we have all the papers and documents to prove it." Singleton said. "Where we have had a hard time in the past, it will be easier to start (similar ventures) in other cities ... so we can meet the deaf community's needs everywhere."

© 2005 The Argus