By the 1990’s it was becoming clear that people with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (I/DD) needed more housing options than those available in the NY State group home system. In 1997 the opportunity to fund services independently of housing was created by the “Self Determination” project of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funding to then OMRDD, (now OPWDD).

 

Self Determination led to the creation of “Consolidated Supports and Services” in the early 2000’s and eventually to today’s Self-Directed services.​In the light of the Self Determination incentive, Pendennis was formed in 1997 by the families of two people with I/DD to create a “Fiscal Intermediary”. By 1999 Pendennis was contracted with OMRDD to provide Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) Residential Habilitation (now known as Community Habilitation outside of certified settings), Medicaid Service Coordination (now provided by Care Coordination Organizations) and Individual Supports and Services (ISS) a forerunner of Self-Directed services. In time that role evolved to its current form. Pendennis was also confirmed as one of the first Fiscal Intermediaries in the State. 

 

Beginning in 1999 Pendennis supported three men who purchased their home with support from NY State’s “Home Of Your Own” (HOYO) funding, providing all of the services that OMRDD had authorized. The home was supported with a Live-In Caregiver and a supplemental staff of five to seven other Direct Support Professionals, (DSPs). Governance and operations involved the men, their families, the DSPs, and other professional supports. Outcomes included increased autonomy and self-esteem, reduced behavioral issues, lower staff turnover and lower costs than the Intermediate Care Facility that one of the men had lived in and the other two were on a waiting list for.​Sadly in 2005 two of the parents died, including one of the founders, Marshall Goldman.

 

The board determined that in order to provide a sustainable future the agency needed to ally with an existing residential provider, but on its own terms, continuing the autonomy and independence that the men had experienced so far. Having selected an agency partner many of the operational roles were transitioned beginning in 2007. This partnership has been a strong one, made more robust by a constant and collegial exchange of support and by the skill and knowledge of the agency counterparts.​In 2007 Pendennis began the process of restructuring the ownership of the house. While the “HOYO” model has its advantages the board had to address the following concerns:

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• While mutual ownership was governed by a partnership agreement, it would nonetheless be difficult for one of the men to sell their share of the home in the event they had to move. They were in a very illiquid ownership situation.|
   

• Any equity that they created through their ownership would be at risk of forfeiture to Medicaid upon the sale of their interest.
   

• While family involvement, including from siblings, remained very strong, reliance on family members could not realistically continue into the next generation at the same level of commitment. Succession and governance would be difficult to sustain.
   

Over the next several years Pendennis sought legal and financial advice, and considered a range of options – placing the house in trust, selling to an agency or creating family ownership. Having considered all of the options the most viable solution was to create a corporate ownership that would purchase the majority of the house from the men, provide them with a lease that was essentially perpetual, and charge them a low market rent.​During this time there was a flow of information to OMRDD, albeit with limited encouragement. Once the new form of ownership was arrived at it there were several years of discussion before (now) OPWDD provided its consent to the change. Once that consent was in place it took two years to find a bank that would lend the new LLC any funds. Eventually a loan was available from The Disability Opportunity Fund. The loan was only available for five years, but enabled the corporation to begin. In 2016, the LLC, “Tisbury” was formed and purchased 52% of the property from the men at the prevailing market price. Equity gains were placed in their First-person trusts. Since 2016 Tisbury has acted as a “landlord with a mission” to sustain the men in their home. The DOF loan was time limited, but after much due diligence we were able to negotiate a long- term loan with M&T Bank to replace the DOF loan.​The Pendennis board determined that having invested so much time and effort in creating a viable ownership option, we should help other people to do the same. Beginning in 2019 members of the board and others began to examine how a model based on a Real Estate Investment Trust concept might be adaptable to the creation of housing for people with I/DD. Tisbury would be included in such a structure.