Community Living and Group Homes

Community living and group homes refer to the Western-based philosophy and movement that holds that people with disabilities should have opportunities to reside in community-based homes. This movement seeks to promote community-integrated living, primarily for people with intellectual disabilities and mental illness, by moving them from large institutions into smaller (fewer than 15 residents), community-based home settings. These settings respond to the desire of people with disabilities to participate in community life. There is increasing research evidence that community living can enable them to exert control over their lives and improve their quality of life. Providing opportunities for community living may also be less expensive than institutional care.

Group homes typically bring together individuals who do not previously know one another into a collective, homelike residence. The residence may be an apartment or a freestanding home and is located within a residential neighborhood. Many models of group homes exist. Sometimes there are live-in care providers; others times there are shift workers, who may or may not be continuously present in the home. Likewise, sometimes the residents have primary responsibility for household matters such as cleaning, cooking, and grocery shopping; other times staff carry such responsibility. As a result of these and other factors, some group homes retain an institutional atmosphere, while others create a more resident-driven, homelike atmosphere. In general, group homes provide less restrictive environments for residents thereby increasing their satisfaction with their living arrangement. They accord residents with disabilities greater opportunities to exercise choice over day-to-day matters and increase their skills and adaptive behaviors. Group homes enable their residents to enjoy greater engagement in and/or responsibility for domestic and personal activities. They have a more active, normalized, and less regulated lifestyle in the community.