Provision of supported accommodation services for people with disabilities are in a state of flux as new ways of funding and delivering services are implemented as part of National Disability Insurance Scheme. There is increasing separation of housing and support, and diversity of support providers involved in the lives of people with disabilities who live in supported accommodation. The focus of this review is group homes and people with intellectual disabilities who are the biggest group of people using these services. Group homes are defined as accommodation shared by 2-6 unrelated people with disabilities who live under one roof or on one site and for whom twenty-four-hour staff support is available.

The aim is to identify models of best practice the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission might consider in its capacity building work with providers and the development of relevant practice standards and quality indicators. The study builds on a realist review of the literature published in 2018 that identified and reviewed the strength of evidence about the variables that influence quality of life outcomes for people in group homes. The method was a rapid focussed narrative review of the peer reviewed published between 2015-2022 .

A best practice model for group homes has distinct components. First, foundation components which are universal and relevant to all people living in all group homes. These are the responsibility of staff working in group homes and the organisations that manage them. These components are the primary focus of the review. Second, are specialist components which are interventions or additional supports that should be available to an individual living in a group home if and when they are needed. These are provided by staff or professionals who are not based in a group home and may not necessarily be employed by the organisation managing the group home.

A third component is collaboration and coordination between staff and services involved with a person in a group home, and planning and decision making support with every individual in a group home. These components underpin effective use of individualised funding schemes and optimise holistic and consistent support for people with disabilities, but there is very little research about these in the context of group homes.

There is substantial evidence about some foundation components of best practice that make a difference to the QoL of people with intellectual disabilities in group homes. There remain gaps in knowledge particularly around embedding strategies to support healthy lifestyles and collaborative practices between the day-to-day practice by staff teams in group homes and specialist interventions or additional supports delivered by external professionals or inhouse professionals not based in a particular group home.