Group Homes Still a Thorny Issue For Communities, Residents
Group homes remain a sometimes controversial issue in St. Charles County. Local governments can't bar them but can restrict how close they are to each other.
Lisa Drier remembers a man who spent years in a nursing home before moving into a group home in Wentzville. The man hadn’t eaten in a restaurant for years, Drier said the staff learned. “He walked in and said, 'It feels so good to be home,’” said Drier, who is the executive director of the Emmaus Trust Foundation. Emmaus is a St. Charles-based nonprofit organization that operates group homes for disabled people. But group homes in residential areas are a complicated issue issue these days. Some area municipalities have laws that limit the number of group homes by requiring them to be a certain distance apart. Others require group homes to obtain a special conditional use permit from the city. Some residents have protested putting group …
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