Introduction

• Library: Group Homes: Strategies for Effective and Defensible Planning and Regulation (ABA) (2014 Ed.)

The scale of residential facilities for people with disabilities ranges from independent living arrangements—frequently termed "supportive housing"—to small group homes with a few residents, and upward to substantially larger institutions housing hundreds of residents. Throughout this book, the authors use the generic term "group homes" to describe the small and mid-range variety of facilities housing people with disabilities. Moreover, the term "group home" generally applies to congregate—as opposed to independent or nuclear-family—living arrangements. Most of the opposition to the establishment of housing facilities for people with disabilities arises in the context of these small and mid-range congregate living facilities, particularly when existing single-family homes are converted to group homes for people with disabilities.

Roots of Opposition and the Need for Planning

In just one example of a group home siting struggle, neighbors in a single-family residential zone in a very typical suburban town sought out one of the authors of this book to oppose the establishment of a group home in an existing single-family house. The proposed home would house adults with developmental disabilities who needed the supervision of a caregiver. The future residents all had positions of employment in nearby businesses and job coaches.

Readers with a close friend, family member, or coworker with a developmental disability know full well how capable such people are and how otherwise "normal"—whatever that is—they are. Many people, however, have not had that experience. One neighbor, a person with a college degree, some sophistication, and a successful career, absolutely did not want the nearby home to be occupied by the adults with developmental disabilities. When pressed as to why he would oppose such a home, he explained that he understood the residents would sit out at night in the summertime and make "groaning noises." He also expressed concerns for the safety of his 13-year-old daughter. That anyone should even think such things is shocking. But this experience is common, and it is all too typical of the ignorance and sometimes outright cruel prejudice and discrimination shown against people with disabilities, young and old alike, and regardless of whether they have physical challenges or developmental disabilities.

In the end, the chief elected official in the town, a woman of great passion and sensibility, was alerted of the incipient uprising in the neighborhood, and she began a process of education. Eventually, the group home was successfully established. Soon thereafter, the group home residents were fully integrated into the neighborhood and the neighbors accepted them as any other "family." The group home continues to be a positive experience for all concerned.

Community opposition to group homes is deeply ingrained in many neighborhoods and localities. Sometimes neighbors or local political leaders are opposed simply because they do not understand how well their new neighbors will fit in. They know little, if anything, about children and adults with physical and intellectual disabilities because such people have not been their friends, coworkers, or family members. These neighbors have had little or no direct or substantial personal experience with people with disabilities, and they often act out of ignorance. Too often, however, they are acting out of not just ignorance but outright prejudice.

Group homes are not limited to those people with physical and intellectual disabilities. Many of the most difficult controversies arise out of the siting of group homes for people recovering from alcoholism or substance abuse. Group living facilities are integral to the process of recovery, helping residents move back into the mainstream and guiding them to where they can become fully integrated members of the community. Many of the same problems of ignorance and outright discrimination are found in the opposition to group homes for recovering alcoholics and substance abusers, who are—at least under federal law—people with disabilities.

Congregate living arrangements provide supportive housing for all kinds of people and households. From those convicted of crimes living in group residences as alternatives to incarceration, to the homeless, to victims of domestic abuse, to the devout in search of places of sanctuary and prayer, to workers in need of temporary housing, congregate living environments provide an important function for people with a variety of characteristics and life experiences. All of these types of housing raise issues and are deserving of our attention, but this book focuses principally on the intersection of congregate living facilities for people with disabilities as defined in the Americans with Disabilities Act and the FHAA. This book provides strategies for remedying exclusionary zoning practices and discrimination.

Sometimes concern about a group home has at least the veneer of rationality. Neighbors may see the new home as essentially a commercial-type use in a residential setting. Or neighbors may be concerned about the impacts of the group home on traffic in the neighborhood. The reality, of course, is that except for an occasional passenger van—no more intrusive than the large pickup trucks driven by so many people today—there is nothing out of the ordinary in the appearance and use of the home. Most zoning codes allow an unlimited number of people to reside together so long as they are related by blood, marriage, or adoption. In one sense, therefore, having a group home with a half-dozen residents and a caregiver is likely to have less impact on the neighborhood than a large extended family residing together in a...