Alternative housing for special needs adults - the MEDCottage

This was setup for elderly parents, but there are obvious implications for special needs adults (emphases mine)...

In the Backyard, Grandma's New Apartment - NYTimes.com:

.... a MEDCottage — a prefabricated 12-by-24-foot bedroom-bathroom-kitchenette unit that can be set up as a free-standing structure in their backyard. It’s more than a miniature house — it’s decked out with high-tech monitoring and safety features that rival those of many nursing homes....

... The Australians, who began building simple backyard homes for the elderly in the ’70s, call them granny flats. In the United States, these self-contained units have earned another nickname: granny pods...

... the Pages will become the first family in the country to take delivery of a high-tech MEDCottage. The cottage is laid out as an open-plan apartment with a kitchen area (equipped with a microwave, small refrigerator and washer-dryer combo), a bed area and a bathroom large enough in which to maneuver a wheelchair. The utilities and plumbing connect to the primary residence....

... The cameras sweep an area 12 inches above the floor, so normally all they transmit are images of feet and ankles...

... Currently about half of the states allow these accessory dwellings for a family member, according to Mr. Dupin. (Several additional states, including New York, are considering legislation explicitly permitting granny pods.)...

... The cottage costs about $85,000 new; Mr. Dupin’s distributors will buy it back for about $38,000 after 24 months of use...

... For caregivers in the tristate area who like the idea of aging in place, there’s another prefab alternative: P.A.L.S., short for Practical Assisted Living Structures.

... Attaching a portable pod didn’t cost much more than retrofitting his home, and the unit could be set up faster and with less mess. So last year he contacted Henry Racki, P.A.L.S. creator and a Connecticut home builder who also is a certified aging-in-place specialist... 

... Though each P.A.L.S. unit is customized to the client’s needs, the standard 20-by-14-foot bedroom and bathroom unit starts at about $67,000. Homeowners can also lease a unit. A five-year lease runs about $1,700 per month, after which you own the unit.
The pod comes with phone and TV cable lines built into the wall (no wires to trip on), a closet with levers that lower the clothes to wheelchair level, motion detectors that automatically turn the knee-high night-light system on, showers with grab bars and various types of no-step entries, wheelchair-accessible sinks and comfort-height toilets.

So far, Mr. Racki has set up 10 of these mini-homes in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York. Zoning in Connecticut doesn’t usually allow for full kitchens, Mr. Racki said, but they can be included. He helps clients get all the permits and zoning approvals needed.
None of the P.A.L.S. purchasers so far have requested high-tech medical monitoring. But a system similar to the MEDCottage’s can be added for $16,000...

I didn't realize there was so much innovation in this area. Astonishing that similar devices have been use in Australia since the 1970s. There will be enormous pressure to find a way to care for demented elderly over the next 30 years; systems like this will be made legal in every state.

In my own case, when I'm demented I expect my daughter to build one on the side of a very steep cliff (which is what I personally would want).

For my son however, something like this may be needed for a longer term, presumably as a form of rental unit.