Proposal talk:Residential home
I don't really like this value, as it seems confusing. To me, a residential home is an ordinary house where people live. A quick google search suggests that this is the most common meaning of the term, with only one result on the first page referring to the meaning given on the main page. I suggest amenity=assisted_living as a more general term. --Hawke 15:53, 17 July 2009 (UTC)
- Perhaps there is a difference between British and American English? I was searching for an appropriate term in dictionaries and found "residential home". Also if I start a Google search, the first hits lead to "residential and nursing homes" which are exactly the ones I intended to describe. --akkolady 20:24, 17 July 2009 (UTC)
- I'm sure there is a language difference coming in here. I was hoping we could find a suitably neutral term. And yes, that first hit is indeed the "only one result" I mentioned. --Hawke 19:27, 20 July 2009 (UTC)
- I agree with Hawke's reasons and would like to explain why. A Google search turns up three main uses for this term (in order of decreasing prevelence): 1) ordinary dwelling houses, 2) health care services provided in the patient's own private home, 3) institutional living arrangements. The last meaning is rare and appears to be some kind of oddball jargon. I suspect that it was formed by unthinkingly combining other terms such as "home for the elderly" and "in a comfortable residential environment".
- However this term came into (limited) use, it does not make sense linguistically. The word "residential" means "of or having to do with the places where people live" and "home" means "the place where someone lives". There is no way that a non-native speaker looking at this phrase could have any idea that it refers to a dormitory-like living arrangement.
- Additional Google search show that the terms "assisted living" and "institutional living" are both well accepted. Both of them contain words which suggest some kind of special living arrangement. "Residential home" does not.
- --TomashPilshchik 11 January 2010
"Assisted living" is definitely the common usage in the US, for places that are hotel-like (but leased by the month/year), with some level of support staff on hand in case of emergencies. Generally includes handicapped-friendly features, in-room call alarms, centrally prepared and served meals, special areas with higher supervision/security for Alzheimer's sufferers, etc. It generally does not include any kind of skilled nursing or higher level medical care, which would differentiate it from a "skilled nursing facility", more commonly known as a "nursing home" (which I would prefer as an amenity value for that purpose).
OT: I found this page because I'm looking for a way to tag a mobile-home or apartment community that is specifically restricted to those aged 55 years and over. There also used to be "adults-only" apartments when I was growing up, though I think these may be unlawful now, at least where I live. Any ideas? minimum_age=55? I hate to create a new top-level tag if there's already a restriction-based schema in place that might fit. --AM909 00:22, 4 August 2009 (UTC)
Have a look at the social_facility-proposal. Maybe we could share our ideas? Thanks - Kerosin 10:37, 8 September 2010 (BST)