Neighbors' perceptions of group homes.

Neighbors often presume that group homes (GHs) have negative effects on their neighborhoods, but it is rather unclear how often GHs actually have adverse effects. Neighbors of GHs and a matched set of people who did not live near GH were interviewed. Neighbors of GHs were asked about their experiences with the specific GH near them, while "non-neighbors" were asked similar questions about their expectations of what it would be like to live near a GH. For both negative (e.g., noise, traffic) and positive effects (e.g., leaning about disabilities) of GHs, non-neighbors expected GHs would have a much greater impact on them than what was actually reported by neighbors. This research supports prior findings that expectations of negative effects are much greater than what is actually experienced by neighbors. It also suggests that GH operators might wish to capitalize on the positive expectations that may be over-shadowed by the more commonly voiced negative expectations.