THE NIMBY PHENOMENON: Community Residents' Concerns about Housing for Deinstitutionalized People.
Health and Social Work › Vol. 25 Nbr. 2, May 2000
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THE NIMBY PHENOMENON: Community Residents' Concerns about Housing for Deinstitutionalized People.
This article reports the findings of a study on community opposition to group homes in Montreal, Canada. This qualitative study set out to explore the underlying dynamics of what happens when a community rejects a group home. With the use of a naturalistic paradigm, three actual incidents of community opposition were studied. Nineteen interviews were conducted with community residents, elected officials, and group home developers. Community residents did not support deinstitutionalization and social integration policies and argued against group homes. The findings of this study, never reported before in previous research, have important implications for social workers and social planners.
Key words community relations deinstitutionalization group homes housing integration Not in my back yard" (NIMBY) developed more than 30 years ago, at a time when the deinstitutionalization of various groups of disabled people was socially and poltically popular in much of North America. Over time, various forms of community housing were created to meet the needs of those being discharged from institutions into the community. The rapid development of community housing, foster homes, group homes, hostels, supervised apartments, and, more recently, supported housing has resulted in many problems, including poor integration of deinstitutionalized people into the community, fragmentation of social services, "ghettoization," and negative community reaction. The negative community reaction was the focus of this study. Although, historically, the general public supported deinstitutionalization, it has not been uncommon for community residents to react negatively when faced with the possibility of deinstitutionalized people living in their neighborhoods. Over the years social workers have had firsthand experience with community opposition to group homes. Community opposition usually manifested itself during the early stages of implementing a group home. The scenario is almost always the same. An announcement is made that a group home is imminent, and community residents mobilize to block it. Many strategies have been devised to oppose group homes: door-to-door canvassing, petitions, public meetings, and negative media campaigns. The opposition movement usually gains momentum in most communities. In some cases, opposition efforts successfully block the group home, whereas in other cases, opposition efforts fail and the group home begins operating with minimal community support. This article reports community residents' perspectives on their opposition to group homes. Although the...See the full content of this document
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