An Imperial man who suffered a traumatic brain injury in 2009 is living more independently now, thanks to the combined efforts of several agencies that recently provided him with an affordable home.
Steven Coldewe, 33, will share the 1,400-square-foot, three-bedroom and three-bathroom home on Oakglen Street in Imperial with two other men with intellectual and developmental disabilities. They will pay rent.
Promise Community Homes, an organization formed in 1973 as Rainbow Village to provide housing for those with disabilities, partnered with the Jefferson Foundation and Developmental Disability Advocates to purchase the home. Promise Community Homes also partnered with Sunnyhill, which provides support for people with disabilities, to find tenants for the house.
“It is going to change his life,” said Coldewe’s mother, Sherri Coldewe. “It will give him some sort of happiness. He will get to build a relationship with his roommates. He will have his own room. It is a dream come true for us. It is quite a blessing.”
Promise Community Homes executive director Matt Elmore said the Imperial home is the fourth one his organization has purchased in Jefferson County.
He said the group bought its first home in Imperial in 2016. Another home in Imperial was constructed in 2018, and the organization purchased a home in Barnhart in 2019.
“This home (on Oakglen Street) is kind of between the two homes that are already in Imperial,” Elmore said. “It makes it easier for the agencies to staff the homes because they are kind of close to each other.”
A ribbon cutting was held Aug. 25 to celebrate the new home for the three men. Elmore said Coldewe and one other man were scheduled to move into the home on Sept. 1, and Sunnyhill was working to find a third person to move into the home.
“Promise Community Homes is providing the housing, so we can fulfill our mission,” said Amy Wheeler, Sunnyhill president and CEO. “This is exactly what we want. We want everyone to live in a really nice, safe environment that they can take pride in.”
Coldewe
Sherri Coldewe, who also lives in Imperial, said her son was in a car accident when he was 19.
“It changed his life,” she said. “At first, he was very angry.”
Sherri said Steven started getting services from Sunnyhill, and he began to improve physically and mentally.
She said he has been living at Sunnyhill, but having a home with fewer people will be a big improvement for him.
“Steven doesn’t like a lot of noise,” Sherri said. “We didn’t know what we were going to do for Steven. He lived in Sunnyhill and had a hard time relating to everyone there because they could be loud.
“Having a home like this that is quiet and only has a few people will help him.”
Steven said he is looking forward to living at the home, and he has already become friends with his roommate, who did not want to be named in this story.
“It’s very cool,” Steven said. “My roommate is like my best friend, and we have only met three or four times.”
The home
Elmore said Promise Community Homes started looking for a house in July and closed on the home on Aug. 9.
He said Promise Community Homes paid $325,000 for the house and spent an additional $15,000 on minor renovations.
“With the support we have from the Jefferson Foundation and the Developmental Disability Advocates, we were able to move very quickly,” Elmore said. “We are very lucky the previous owner took amazing care of the property.”
Stacey Ismail, Developmental Disability Advocates executive director, said her agency owns the home along with Promise Community Homes.
“The hope is this home is always available to be an Independent Support Living home to serve people with developmental disabilities,” she said.
Wheeler said Sunnyhill will find a third roommate who matches well with Steven and the other resident.
She also said Sunnyhill will provide all three 24-hour care in the home, while also allowing them to have a sense of independence.
“Staff supports them in the home so they can have the most natural living environment they can,” Wheeler said. “It allows them to be members of the community like anyone else. This is the gold standard and how everyone should live who is receiving services from an agency like mine.”