Costs of providing residential and related support services to individuals with mental retardation

The per diem costs of providing residential services for persons with mental retardation in group homes, family homes, and apartments in the Macomb-Oakland Region of Michigan and in Region V in eastern Nebraska were found to vary far more by type of living arrangement than by resident level of need. Nearly all of the variation in the per diem costs of staffed, as opposed to family-operated, living arrangements could be explained in terms of staff-to-resident ratios and staff compensation levels.