Intentional communities (LINCs, ICW) and alternatives to group homes
Group homes run on facility schedules, not individual ones. A small number of Michigan communities flipped that arrangement, giving adults their own front door while keeping support and connection close by. Most families have never heard the names LINCs or ICW.
Say the words “intentional community” or name LINCs and ICW directly in your next person-centered planning meeting. These models don’t always come up unprompted, and asking by name signals you’ve already done the homework most families haven’t.
Your own apartment
Private living quarters within a building or neighborhood, not a shared bedroom inside a group facility.
Shared community space
Common areas and organized social activities exist without requiring residents to live on a facility’s schedule.
Funding still takes advocacy
These models exist within the waiver system, and getting placed often requires the same documentation fight as any other service request.
Individualized, not facility-scheduled
Supports are based on the person’s actual needs, arranged around their life, rather than a fixed institutional routine.
Regional availability varies
Concentrated in Oakland County and the Grand Rapids area. Families elsewhere in the state may need to travel or wait.
Person-centered planning is the entry point
Requesting this housing model starts inside your CMH person-centered planning meeting, not a separate application process.
Questions to ask when evaluating a community
Is this a private apartment or a shared bedroom?
Who sets the daily routine, staff or the resident?
What shared spaces and activities actually exist?
Can support hours flex around a changing routine?
Which waiver or CLS funding covers this placement?
Colleen’s daughter spent three years in a group home built around a facility’s fixed meal and activity schedule that never matched her own rhythm. A supports coordinator mentioned LINCs almost as an afterthought during a planning meeting. Colleen asked follow-up questions on the spot. Eighteen months later, her daughter had her own apartment key, a shared courtyard with neighbors she chose to spend time with, and a support schedule built around her actual day instead of a facility’s.
When you want to explore intentional community housing, here is where to start
Escalation ladder
- 1Raise LINCs and ICW by name in your person-centered planning meeting.
- 2Ask your CMH supports coordinator which models operate in your region.
- 3Request a tour or informational visit before committing to anything.
- 4Ask specifically who sets the daily schedule, staff or residents.
- 5Confirm which waiver or CLS funding stream covers the placement.
- 6Document the request in writing if your coordinator is unfamiliar with these models.
Have ready
- Your family member’s current CLS or waiver funding details
- A list of specific questions about privacy and schedule control
- Contact information for CMHAM to help locate regional programs
- Notes from any tours or informational visits
- A written record of your request if your coordinator needs to research it
A shared courtyard is not the same thing as a shared bedroom. The difference is worth asking about by name.
Colleen’s daughter lived three years inside a group home schedule that was never built for her, meals at a fixed hour, activities chosen for the group rather than the person, evenings structured around staffing shifts instead of her own rhythm. A supports coordinator mentioned something called LINCs almost in passing during a planning meeting, the way people mention things they assume everyone already knows about. Colleen didn’t know. Eighteen months later, her daughter had her own apartment key and a schedule nobody but her controlled.
What intentional communities actually are
Intentional community models like LINCs, short for Living Independent and Connected, and Integrated Community of Wellness give adults with disabilities their own apartments or homes within the same building or neighborhood, while sharing community spaces and organized social activities with neighbors. The structural difference from a traditional group home is control: residents receive individualized supports based on their own needs, not a facility’s fixed operating schedule.
Why this matters more than it sounds like it should
A group home built around institutional efficiency schedules meals, activities, and staffing around what works for the facility, not the individual living inside it. Intentional communities invert that relationship. The apartment is private. The schedule belongs to the resident. Support staff work around that life instead of the other way around, and the isolation risk that comes with fully independent living gets addressed through genuine shared community rather than constant supervision.
Where these models exist in Michigan
LINCs communities operate in Oakland County and other regions. Integrated Community of Wellness has sites in the Grand Rapids area. Neither model is available statewide, which means families outside these regions may need to ask specifically whether a comparable arrangement exists locally, or whether travel and waitlist timing make sense for their situation.
How to actually request it
Access to intentional community housing runs through your CMH person-centered planning process, the same meeting structure used for any other service request. Raising LINCs or ICW by name signals to your supports coordinator that you’ve already done research most families haven’t, which tends to move the conversation forward faster than a general request for “better housing.”
A group home and an intentional community can look similar in a brochure. The apartment key tells you which one you’re actually walking into. Ask for it by name.
Jim Palasty is the founder of OASIS for Autism and a single father of an adult autistic daughter in Michigan.