Overview of housing possiblities for people with autism

I received a comment on my recent blog post on the CMS proposed regulations for HCBS waivers. Not only is the comment insightful, but it includes a link to a report on housing possibilities for people with autism that anyone interested in this issue should look at.

Here is the comment:

It appears to me that the proposed change is a hatchet rather than scalpel approach as it relates to HCBS Settings. The risk is that a very narrow interpretation of what "community" and "appropriate to their needs" mean will prevent development of specialized group homes or small, campus like developments in non-urban areas. The elimination of these choices will particularly fall hard on adults on the autism spectrum disorders who, any of the too few existing providers will tell you, very often require lower staffing ratios, higher degrees of support, and very specialized, highly structured programs and facilities. There is an acute need to create more housing stock and programming for adults with autism and this proposed reg looks like it'll kill development. For more on what the autism community actually wants, please take a look at the "Opening Doors" report: http://www.autismcenter.org/documents/openingdoorsprint.pdf

I briefly looked over the Opening Doors report from the Southwest Autism Research & Resource Center (SARRC). The report is packed with information on a full range of housing alternatives, funding sources, model programs, diverse living arrangements, considerations for design of housing and living spaces, and much more. Any individual or organization thinking about developing housing and living arrangements for people with autism or any other disability, for that matter, should take a look at this.

Thank you, anonymous, for taking the time to share this information.