Residential supports for persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities

This article reviews the current and changing status of residential supports for persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities (ID/ DD). It examines four major trends in those supports: (1) Decreasing use of larger institutions and increasing use of community housing; (2) Decreasing size among community settings; (3) Increasing numbers of people living in homes that they themselves own or rent; and (4) Decreasing out-of-home placements of children and youth. Within each trend the article provides a statistical description of the trend, its foundation in public policy, reviews the evidence of the trend's benefit to people with ID/DD, and identifies future challenges in sustaining the trend. (C) 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.