Joel Romeo Abel, who is mute and has autism, lived in Ballard for more than 20 years before his landlords announced in August that he would soon be evicted for “hoarding.” Friends and supporters donated more than $21,000 through a GoFundMe campaign to help him with moving costs. However, due to a restrictive Medicaid law, Abel cannot access the funds without jeopardizing his state-provided health and housing benefits.

After vacating his apartment at the end of September, Abel, 67, moved into a hotel room along Aurora Avenue with help from his caseworkers at the Arc of King County, which advocates for people with developmental disabilities. The temporary move is intended to prevent him from becoming homeless while caseworkers frantically search for a permanent place for him to live, said Stacy Gillett, executive director at the Arc.

“We can’t afford to stay in hotel for more than a week or two,” she said. “The ideal situation is that he can rent an individual small room for eight to 12 weeks in someone’s basement or a mother-in-law unit.”

The worst case scenario? Homelessness or institutionalization at the Fircrest Residential Habilitation Center in Shoreline.

Currently, there are about 4,000 people who live in supported living facilities in Washington, said Gillett. Vacancies in these facilities are infrequent and federal assistance programs don't always work with individuals like Abel to find market rate housing. In order for the city to develop more specialized living facilities, officials would need more money from the Housing Trust Fund, she said.

"A few thousand units not enough to serve everybody [in King County]. We could find a place in Snohomish, but that’s not his community. That pushes him out," said Gillett. "The market value of his [housing] voucher is not realistic and it doesn’t account for the fact that his community is in a major metropolitan area that’s experiencing a lot of growth."

Max Wallace, who befriended Abel through his work at Bop Street Records, posted this update on the GoFundMe page:

Joel is staying in a temporary spot on Aurora and has figured out how to take a bus to Ballard to continue his lil route that he has done for years and years. He does seem stressed out/ mad at times, but focuses on his interests (art, rock n roll, records, cigs, feet, gummy worms etc.) too take his mind off things.

Ballard has become super competitive to find a place to live, and it is even more so for someone on a fixed income with disabilities.

The Arc is now working with Parkview Services and Provail, nonprofits that provide, respectively, supportive housing and services for people with disabilities. It’s one of the few housing options Abel has left.

Parkview currently owns a house in Ballard that is home to three other tenants and is working to convert the garage into a separate apartment for Abel, said Kim Toskey, a Heritage Bank mortgage loan officer who consults for the organization.

Being able to stay in Ballard would be the best outcome for Abel, said Gillett.

Abel has become a fixture in the Ballard neighborhood since he first moved there in the late 1980s.

“In terms of location, it’s super convenient to his well-established stomping grounds,” said Toskey.

According Gillett, however, there are currently delays in getting construction permits for the project, which would require building a separate bathroom and creating a separate utility line for electricity and water.

The house, which sits on Northwest 60th Street, was built before 1960 and must also pass tests for asbestos and lead paint before construction begins. The state Department of Social and Health Service’s developmental disabilities administration and the Seattle Housing Authority would also need to sign off on the project upon completion, said Toskey.

While Toskey said she is optimistic that city officials will expedite the permitting, Gillett told The Stranger that she is a little nervous. “It feels like a 60/40 chance right now,” she said, of receiving approval for the permits.

Additionally, finding housing that complies with ADA requirements and landlords willing to accept Section 8 housing vouchers is a scramble for most people with developmental disabilities, said Gillett.

“Unfortunately, it’s becoming more typical,” she says. “But we can’t find a place for anybody to live—that’s the biggest dilemma.”