CILA Living - What's It All About? 
by Sue Hartemeyer and Merrily Smith
The acronym, CILA, stands for Community Integrated Living Arrangement. The first one opened in 1996. It was called Hulseman-Murphy and was donated by the family who invented Red Solo Cups. Since then, the following CILAs were added:
1998 McAllister
2002 Farrow
2004 Walsh
2006 Houlihan
2007 Maxwell
2009 Eisenberg
The…in the 2010’s:
Baumgartner, Gerber-Hoag, Leland, Madden, Moore, Rafferty and Walsh-Slattery followed.
With the opening of the Cohen Home in February, the total number of CILAs will now be 15.
Currently, 90 residents live in CILAs: 9 are men's homes and 6 homes are occupied by women.
When the Krump House is completed in late summer, it will be a 2-bed CILA for women.
The Luke O’Brien House will also be finished this year, along with another 5-bed home (2 flat).
So, by the end of 2024, we will have 110 residents in CILAs! All of Misericordia’s CILAs are within 5 miles of the Misericordia Campus. The farthest CILA away from Campus is in Jefferson Park, just west of I-94.
There are strict rules which define a CILA. According to the State of Illinois regulations, a CILA cannot be adjacent to, in front of, or next door to an existing CILA. The brand-new Rosemary Park area located across Thome Avenue from the Misericordia campus will serve a total of 120 residents when it is finished. With its fourteen 8-bed homes, and two 6-bed homes, people may think they are CILAs. But they are not, because they are too close to each other, and too close to Misericordia. Another rule is that if Misericordia were to buy a large free-standing condo building, only 25% of that building could house our population. Obviously, a lot of thought needs to go into the purchase of a CILA.
CILAs are generally well received by their neighborhoods. An exception to this occurred with a CILA in the Lincolnwood neighborhood a few years ago. It faced "pushback" from certain neighbors. Public hearings were held, which was unfortunate. Eventually, the community accepted the idea of a CILA, and the neighbors became comfortable with it. Happily, today, the same people who voiced opposition to the CILA will now occasionally snowplow its driveway or bring cookies for the residents of the CILA.
Interestingly, Habitat for Humanity did a study several years ago and determined that CILAs are the best neighbors! The article indicated that CILA homes not only have 1) consistent ownership, but also 2) maintain their property at very high standards.
The structure of the CILA Department is as follows: Joe Ferrara is the Assistant Vice President and Jessica Marquez is the Director. The Environmental Coordinators, also known as Property Managers, are Tim Strong and Paul Peterson. They monitor the physical aspects of the house such as ordering of supplies, furniture purchases, arranging for snow removal, and dealing with maintenance issues. They must be very aware of State of Illinois CILA regulations and make sure those regulations are adhered to. The AM Supervisor is Mike Tilkin, and the PM Supervisor is Lisa Harris. They handle payroll, coach/train new staff, and solve problems (damaged items, car issues). Basically, they are a “bridge” between the QIDPs and the staff. Finally, the QIDP (the “Q”) manages life at the house, oversees the Direct Service Providers (DSPs), and interacts with the residents and parents.
Building community between the CILAs is a high priority item for off-campus housing.
Social gatherings are planned with intention to make sure the CILA residents do not feel isolated in the community. Monthly birthday celebrations, house parties such as the Superbowl party this past winter, and other events are designed to encourage residents to visit each other’s houses. Management teams work at building strong relationships between the CILAs. The DSPs are coached to encourage their CILA residents to interact with residents of other CILAs.
CILA residents are funded differently than other Misericordia residents. To get into a CILA, a resident’s name must be on the State’s PUNS list. This is a waiting list for CILA residency. When a person’s name is pulled off the PUNS list, they are ready to be funded and move into a CILA. Since the recent LIGAS lawsuit, more names have been pulled off this list than in the past…up to 750 names per year statewide. This is good news for families looking to place their child in an Illinois CILA. Funding for a CILA is called Adult Waiver Home and Community Based funding. The money is awarded to the individual, not the facility, as compared to on-campus funding which funds the bed, not the person. The “Settings Rule” assures that these waiver participants must have a community-based setting, and it is the CILA department’s job to keep waiver funded residents as “community-integrated” as possible.
There are 4 categories of CILA residents:
- Young, active, independent people who enjoy community involvement.
- Aging residents over 50 years
- Low census living arrangements – those needing higher staffing levels, one-on-one staffing.
- Residents on the Autism spectrum – residents who need structure and thrive in a less-populated environment.
Deciding whether an applicant is appropriate for a CILA vs an on-campus living situation requires thoughtful consideration. As an example, for the most part, Shannon Apartments and CILAs share almost the same Misericordia applicant list. Guardian/family preference is a factor in deciding where a resident will be placed. Some parents are attracted to the “college campus feel” and ask to have their resident remain on campus, feeling that their child might be “safer” there. On the other hand, after a resident has lived in a CILA, many parents have said that they prefer having their child in the smaller, family-like setting that CILA homes offer. As mentioned before, CILA residents must have Home and Community Based Funds; this is one of the main determining factors for CILA placement.
What is the future of CILA living? In 5 years, it is likely that Misericordia could have 25 CILAs. This is, of course, dependent on staffing. Misericordia’s resident “profile” is changing from what it looked like 20-30 years ago. There are fewer residents with Down’s Syndrome and more residents with Autism. That is expected to continue. The CILA department is also looking at expanding CDS (Community Day Services) to offer more work opportunities for CILA residents. It is likely there will be more CILAs in the future in the Jefferson Park neighborhood. This is, in fact, where the new Cohen House recently opened!
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