WHY CONGREGATE CARE SETTINGS AND GROUP HOMES ARE CONCERNING
As existing housing models prove insufficient in providing residents with the health outcomes, safety, dignity, and autonomy they deserve, housing options must evolve. As evidenced by scientific research and as witnessed during the era of COVID, natural disasters, and simply in every day life, studies display how congregate settings repeatedly fail those of us with developmental disabilities. WE MUST BROADEN OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE LEAST RESTRICTIVE ENVIRONMENT. CHInyc is at the forefront of this movement.
The articles below represent only a small sampling of research that has uncovered the prolific horrors that people with disabilities have long suffered and outrageously, still endure today.
This is unacceptable in modern civilization and there is an urgent moral obligation to speak for those whose voices go unheard.
• Beatings, Burns and Betrayal: The Willowbrook Scandal’s Legacy - New York Times
• Group Home Beneficiaries Are at Risk of Serious Harm - Office of Inspector General US Department of Health and Human Services
• The outcomes of individualized housing for people with disability and complex needs: a scoping review Disability and Rehabilitation Volume 44, 2022 - Issue 7 Stacey Oliver, Emily Z. Gosden-Kaye, Dianne Winkler & Jacinta M. Douglas
• COVID-19 outcomes among people with intellectual and developmental disability living in residential group homes in New York State
Disability and Health Journal Volume 13, Issue 4, October 2020, 100969 - Scott D. Landes PhD, Margaret A. Turk MD, Margaret K. Formica MSPH, PhD, Katherine E. McDonald PhD,, J. Dalton Stevens MA
• In State Care, 1200 deaths and Few Answers NY Times
• At State Run Homes, Abuse and Impunity NY Times
• How Troubled State Group Homes for Disabled New Yorkers Operate for Years After Early Alerts NYC News Service
• What We Know About Homelessness and Intellectual Disability Psychology Today - People with intellectual disabilities are more likely to become homeless at an older age due to the breakdown of a relationship or the death of a primary caregiver.
RESEARCH INDICATES NEED
INTEGRATED MICRO COMMUNITIES MAKE SENSE
• Report by Autism Housing Network - Intentional communities are a sustainable housing option in a time of great need that fosters interdependent, integrated relationships.
•The Importance of Community Integration for People with Disabilities - United Disabilities Services
•Psychology Today - studies from the Bronfenbrenner Center at Cornell Universty