Dayton implements group home moratorium to combat resource strain

DAYTON, Ohio ( WDTN ) — With the largest amount of group homes for kids and teens in the state, the city of Dayton is taking action.

During Wednesday’s Dayton City Commission meeting, city leaders implemented a temporary ban on new youth group homes opening.

City officials are concerned about the number of kids in group homes in Dayton, saying it’s taxing on resources and police services. Now, they’re going to take the next 180 days to find some solutions.

Will Peterson operates a youth group home in Dayton, where he is also the chairman of the Dayton Area Youth Group Home Association. The association formed recently in response to the number of group homes in the community.

“These children come to us broken, and these are children that have trauma,” said Peterson. “Work together to address under the umbrella of quality care, quality programming and transparency.”

Out of the 235 licensed group homes in Ohio, 79 are within Montgomery County. But 56% of youth placed into group homes in Dayton are from outside the county.

Which makes this a growing concern for city leaders. Dayton Mayor Jeffrey Mims Jr. says he was alerted to the issue two years ago.

“It just exacerbates the high level of need that we have,” said Mims.

On Wednesday morning, Dayton City Commission put in place a 180 day moratorium, blocking any new applications for youth group homes during this time.

Mayor Mims says this will give the city time to work with key players to find solutions.

“We not only have to find ways for the young people that we have in the city of Dayton,” said Mims. “We also find challenges, situations and support for young people who come to us who clearly are only here because they have challenges.”

Peterson says the association supports the city looking for solutions. He says they just home group home operators are included in the discussion.

“We think we have an opportunity now. We could turn these kids lives around and whatever the number of kids that are coming into the county from out of county, we can actually make them productive, taxpaying citizens of Dayton,” said Peterson.

Mims told 2 NEWS that the 10 applications for new group homes already submitted will not be affected by this moratorium.

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