Boarding Home vs Group Home - Which is Still Needed Today?

The question keeps coming up, especially now.

• Are group homes still necessary?
• Haven’t we moved past them?
• Isn’t everything supposed to be community-based by now?

On the surface, it can feel like the need has disappeared. You don’t hear much about group homes unless something goes wrong. But when you listen to people working inside the system, social workers, clinicians, hospital staff, case managers, the story looks very different.

To understand why group homes still exist, and why they are still needed, you have to separate boarding homes from licensed group homes. They are often confused, and that confusion causes real harm.

This article breaks down the difference, using real-world realities people see every day. Not how to open one. Not licensing steps. Just what these models actually do, and why one continues to matter far more than people realize.

Why “Boarding Home” and “Group Home” Get Mixed Up

The mix-up usually happens because both involve shared housing for adults who need some level of support. That’s where the similarities end.

A boarding home, often called a room and board, is typically an informal housing arrangement. A group home is a licensed residential care setting with defined oversight, staffing requirements, and accountability.

Calling them the same thing is not just inaccurate. It creates dangerous assumptions.

What a Boarding Home Really Is

A boarding home usually offers:

• A bed

• Sometimes meals

• Minimal or no structured support

• Little to no oversight

• Rent paid directly by the resident or through benefits

In many cases, the residents are adults with mental health conditions, disabilities, or limited income who have nowhere else to go. Boarding homes exist because there is a housing shortage. Not because they are designed to provide care.

Where Boarding Homes Fall Apart

People working in hospitals, social services, and mental health systems consistently report the same issues:

• Financial exploitation, benefits taken or controlled

• Residents losing IDs, medications, and personal belongings

• No clinical support

• No behavioral support

• No protection when things go wrong

• Residents cycling between hospitals, the street, and boarding homes

These settings often become a last resort. Not a solution.

When behaviors escalate or medical needs increase, boarding homes usually cannot handle it. Residents are sent back to emergency rooms, starting the cycle all over again.

What a Licensed Group Home Is Supposed to Be

A licensed adult group home is designed to do what boarding homes cannot.

A true group home includes:

• State licensing and oversight

• Trained staff

• Defined care plans

• Medication management

• Behavioral and mental health support

• Coordination with social workers, clinicians, and hospitals

• Clear resident rights

• Accountability when standards are not met

These homes exist for people who cannot live safely on their own, but who do not belong in hospitals or nursing facilities. That population has not disappeared.

Are Group Homes Still Needed?

Yes, and the Need Is Growing. Multiple forces are increasing demand at the same time.

Fewer Safe Placements

During and after the pandemic, many licensed homes closed. Standards were raised, which improved quality but reduced capacity. The result is fewer safe placements, not fewer people who need them.

Hospitals Are Overloaded

Hospitals are under constant pressure to discharge patients. When someone is medically stable but not safe to live independently, housing becomes the bottleneck.

Without licensed group homes, people end up stuck in hospitals or discharged into unsafe environments.

Complex Needs Are More Common

Many adults needing placement today have:

• Chronic mental illness

• Co-occurring substance use histories

• Behavioral challenges

• Cognitive impairments

• Trauma histories

• Limited or no family support

These needs cannot be addressed in informal housing.

Why Boarding Homes Cannot Replace Group Homes

Some people assume boarding homes are a cheaper, simpler alternative. They are not equivalent.

Boarding homes:

• Do not provide treatment

• Do not provide structured support

• Do not protect residents’ rights

• Do not have trained staff

• Do not coordinate care

When something goes wrong, there is often no recourse. Group homes are not perfect, but they operate within a system that allows intervention, correction, and accountability. That difference matters.

The Role of Licensing and Oversight

Licensing is not paperwork for the sake of bureaucracy.

It sets boundaries.

• Who can manage money

• How medications are handled

• What training staff must have

• How abuse or neglect is reported

• How evictions work

• How resident rights are protected

In licensed settings, operators cannot simply take someone’s benefits, force a payee, or remove a resident without due process. That protection does not exist in most boarding homes.

Mental Health Care Makes the Difference

One of the strongest arguments for group homes is integrated mental health support.

Licensed group homes often include or coordinate:

• On-site clinicians or social workers

• Psychiatric services

• Nursing support

• Case management

• Skill-building and rehabilitation

This allows people to move beyond survival. When housing, meals, safety, and medication are stable, people can work on education, employment, recovery, and long-term goals. That progression rarely happens in unstructured environments.

Long-Term vs Short-Term Support

Group homes serve different roles depending on design. Some are transitional, helping people step down from hospitals or residential treatment. Others are long-term, supporting individuals who will always need some level of care.

Both models are necessary. What matters is that people are placed appropriately, not abandoned to whatever bed happens to be available.

Why “Group Home” Still Has a Bad Reputation

Some of it is earned. Poorly run group homes have caused real harm. Over-control, lack of privacy, undertrained staff, and rigid systems have left people feeling powerless. Those stories are real. But abandoning the model entirely does not fix those failures. Improving standards does.

The answer is not fewer group homes. It is better ones.

The Danger of Informal Alternatives

As licensed options disappear, informal ones expand.

• Room and boards multiply.
• Unregulated adult family homes grow quietly.
• Exploitation increases.

The system does not collapse loudly. It erodes quietly. By the time abuse is discovered, the damage is already done.

What Group Homes Are Actually Meant to Do

At their core, group homes exist to provide:

• Safe housing

• Stability

• Structured support

• Protection of rights

• A path out of crisis

They are not meant to warehouse people. They are not meant to replace independence. They are meant to make independence possible where it otherwise would not be.

Boarding Home vs Group Home, The Real Divide

The real difference is not size or cost. It is accountability. Boarding homes answer to no one. Group homes answer to the state, to funders, to social workers, and to the people they serve. That oversight is not optional. It is the safeguard.

So, Are Group Homes Still Needed?

Yes. They are needed because:

• Hospitals cannot house people long-term

• Families cannot always provide care

• Boarding homes cannot safely manage complex needs

• Independent living is not always immediately possible

• People deserve better than cycling through crisis

Group homes are not outdated. Neglect is.

The conversation should not be about eliminating group homes. It should be about demanding that they operate with dignity, structure, and respect.

Because when safe housing and real support exist, people stop surviving and start living. And that is still very much needed today.