Zoning Permits
Residential Care Uses

Residential Care

Residential care use, large:  A residential structure which is the primary residence of nine (9) or more persons, a shelter for the homeless of any size, or a community corrections facility of any size. This use shall not include residence for older adults, nursing home, rooming and/or boarding house, safe-house or a residential structure containing residents whose principal form of support is financial assistance.

Residential care use, small:  A residential structure which is the primary residence of eight (8) or fewer persons, but housing a number of unrelated persons in excess of the number of unrelated persons allowed per dwelling unit in the zone district or transitional housing of any size. This use shall not include a residence for older adults, community corrections facility, shelter for the homeless, rooming and/or boarding house, nursing home, safe-house or large special care home. 

Generally
Residential Care Uses, which were formerly called Group Homes, may be established in all zone districts subject to the following. 

• The use is large or small as defined below. Facilities are considered small with less than 9 residents, and excluding certain populations.
• The location of large facilities is limited by special spacing requirements.
• Establishing and maintaining this use is subject to a Special Review.

To discuss an existing facility or apply for these special use reviews, please contact the Zoning Review Staff, click here for a Contact Us list.

Spacing, Density Requirements (large)

• Minimum 2,000 feet from another such use; and
• No more than two other such uses shall exist within a 4,000 foot radius measured from the proposed use;
• Minimum lot dimensions: 6,000 square feet, and a 50 foot width
• In the R-X, RS-4, R-0, R-1, R-2, R-2-A, and R-2-B zones, there are additional restrictions including community corrections and shelters for the homeless
• The zoning administrator has some additional discretion in interpreting the restrictions.

Special Review Procedures
The permit reviews for both small and large facilities require approval after a process that includes formal application with submittal requirements, public notification, and staff review against specific criteria. Large uses also require a neighborhood meeting.

Existing Facilities: neighborhood communication and enforcement
This section includes the following provisions to maintain permits:

• requirement for facility staff contact for the neighborhood
• permit review and renewal every two years
• complaint procedure to Zoning Administration
• review for additions including residents or types of residents
• criteria for termination of permit

Definitions, taken from the Denver Zoning Code, Article I.

·  (234) Residential care use, small: A residential structure which is the primary residence of eight (8) or fewer persons, but housing a number of unrelated persons in excess of the number of unrelated persons allowed per dwelling unit in the zone district or transitional housing of any size. This use shall not include a residence for older adults, community corrections facility, shelter for the homeless, rooming and/or boarding house, nursing home, safe-house or large special care home.

 · (233) Residential care use, large: A residential structure which is the primary residence of nine (9) or more persons, a shelter for the homeless of any size, or a community corrections facility of any size. This use shall not include residence for older adults, nursing home, rooming and/or boarding house, safe-house or a residential structure containing residents whose principal form of support is financial assistance.

Other Related Definitions:

• (3) Adult care home: A home occupation providing less than twenty-four (24) hour care of four (4) or fewer clients, over the age of sixteen (16) years. In zone districts where home occupations of foster family care, rooming and/or boarding and adult care home are permitted, only one (1) such home occupation will be permitted in any single-unit dwelling or dwelling unit.
• (62) Child care center: A facility defined as a child care center under chapter 11 of the Denver Revised Municipal Code which is maintained for the whole or part of the day but for less than twenty-four (24) hour care of five (5) or more children, not related to the owner, operator, or manager thereof, from the ages of six (6) weeks through sixteen (16) years, whether such facility is operated with or without compensation for such care, and with or without stated educational purposes, subject to the licensing requirements of the state and the city.
• (63) Child care home, large. A use exception operated in a single-unit dwelling or dwelling unit in a multiple-unit dwelling providing care and education for periods of less than twenty-four (24) hours of seven (7) to twelve (12) children subject to the licensing requirements of the state and the city. The maximum number of children shall include the caregiver's children under the age of twelve (12) years who are receiving care in the home.
• (64) Child care home, small. A home occupation providing the care and education for periods of less than twenty-four (24) hours of not more than six (6) children, plus two (2) additional children who attended school either before or after school hours, subject to the licensing requirements of the state and the city. The maximum number of children shall include the caregiver's children under the age of twelve (12) years who are receiving care in the home.
• (66) Church or religious institution: A building, together with its accessory buildings and uses, where persons regularly assemble for religious worship and which building, together with its accessory buildings and uses, is maintained and controlled by a religious body organized to sustain public worship. Shelters for the homeless may be operated within and by a church. Such shelter may be operated for up to seventy-five (75) days in either consecutive or nonconsecutive order per calendar year with any number of residents, or it may be operated throughout the entire year with one (1) of the following: a maximum of either eight (8) residents or any number of persons bearing to each other a relationship as defined in section 59-2(96) (Dwelling, single-unit). If such limitation is exceeded, the shelter must comply only with the spacing and density requirements of section 59-80(2) c.4. (Residential care uses; spacing, density, site and other requirements), and need not comply with any other requirements of section 59-80(2) (residential care uses). Accessory buildings and/or uses may include a church-related college provided such college is regulated by the accessory use regulations of the zone district in which it is located and is a facility of a church or religious institution and which may include religious training or study.
• (76) Community corrections facility: A structure which provides a residence for three (3) or more persons who have been placed in a community corrections program of correctional supervision, including a program to facilitate transition to a less-structured or independent residential arrangement. Such program shall be supervised directly or indirectly by an agency of the city, the state or the federal government; and residents of such facilities shall be those persons placed in the community corrections program by the judicial or correctional departments of the city, the state or the federal government. A community corrections facility shall be considered a large residential care use.
• (87) Correctional institution: A secured institution under the supervision of the judiciary, correctional departments of any local, state or federal governments, or any law enforcement agency in which persons are or may be lawfully held in custody after arrest or as a result of conviction of a crime.
• (91) Disabled person: A person so severely handicapped that he or she is unable to move from place to place without the aid of a mechanical device or who has a physical impairment verified, in writing, by the director of the state division of rehabilitation or a physician licensed to practice medicine in this state that such impairment limits substantially his or her ability to move from place to place.
• (95) Dwelling, multiple unit: A single detached building structurally divided into two (2) or more separate independent dwelling units for permanent occupancy, each dwelling unit having but one (1) kitchen and housing only one (1) of the following groups of persons living together as a single nonprofit housekeeping unit: Any number of persons immediately related by blood, marriage or adoption or four (4) or fewer persons not necessarily related by blood, marriage or adoption; provided, however, that each dwelling unit having an individual outside entrance at ground level shall contain at least six hundred (600) square feet of gross floor area.
• (96) Dwelling, single unit: A single detached structure having but one (1) housekeeping unit with any number of persons bearing to each other the relationship of: husband, wife, mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, son, daughter, brother, sister, stepson, stepdaughter, stepbrother, stepsister, stepmother, stepfather, grandson, granddaughter, mother-in-law, father-in-law, sister-in-law, brother-in-law, daughter-in-law, son-in-law, uncle, aunt, nephew or niece, living together as a single nonprofit housekeeping unit, plus domestic servants employed for services on the premises and containing a single kitchen; or b. A single detached structure having but one (1) housekeeping unit consisting of two (2) unrelated adults over the age of eighteen (18) years plus, if applicable, any persons bearing to either of the two (2) unrelated adults the relationship of son, daughter, stepson, stepdaughter, mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, grandson, granddaughter, sister, brother, living together as a single nonprofit housekeeping unit and containing a single kitchen shall also constitute a single unit dwelling.
• (124) Foster family care: The full-time care of not more than four (4) children or two (2) adults unrelated to the residents by blood or adoption subject to the licensing requirements of the state. A qualified foster care adult is a person who is placed in the home by an agency of the state or one (1) of its political subdivisions. In zone districts where home occupations of foster family care, rooming and/or boarding and adult care home are permitted, only one (1) such home occupation will be permitted in any single-unit dwelling or dwelling unit.
• (181) Nursing home, hospice: An establishment licensed by the state department of public health, which establishment maintains and operates continuous day and night facilities providing room and board, personal services and skilled nursing care, including hospices, specifically excluding, however, hospitals.
• (230) Residence for older adults: A single unit dwelling or multi-unit dwelling housing a number of unrelated mobile older adults (individuals fifty-five (55) or more years of age) in excess of the number of unrelated persons allowed per dwelling unit, receiving fewer services than a special care home. A residence for older adults shall not be considered a residential care use.
• (232) Residential accommodations: Any building or part of a building used or intended to be used for sleeping accommodations by a person or group of persons. Other housekeeping facilities may be provided.
• (248) Rooming and/or boarding: The furnishing of lodging with or without meals for compensation to permanent guests.
• (249) Rooming and/or boarding house: A residential structure which provides lodging with or without meals, is available for permanent occupancy only and which makes no provision for cooking in any of the rooms occupied by paying guests.
• (251) Safe-house: A residential structure which provides residents a place of refuge from abusive people or dangerous social situations. Such structure does not provide refuge for fugitives from justice. Such use may be allowed under the title of "rooming and/or boarding house" or "multiple unit dwelling."
• (260) Shelter for the homeless: A facility which has as its primary function the provision for overnight sleeping accommodations for homeless people. Such accommodations shall be in undivided sleeping space, offered for little or no financial compensation, and shall be operated in a manner which encourages short-term occupancy by residents. Such facility may include accessory support services but shall not be operated in such a manner that changes its primary function to a use classified as follows: community corrections facility, hospital, nursing home, rehabilitation center for the handicapped, or residence for older adults. A shelter for the homeless shall be considered a large residential care use.
• (269) Special care home: A special care home is either a single unit dwelling or a multi-unit dwelling housing a number of unrelated persons in excess of the number of unrelated persons allowed per dwelling unit in the zone district in which the dwelling unit is located, where such persons are living as a single housekeeping unit and are receiving more than twelve (12) hours per day of on-premises treatments, supervision, custodial care or special care due to physical condition or illness, mental condition or illness, or behavioral or disciplinary problems. A special care home, depending on its size, shall be considered a large or small residential care use.
• (301) Transitional housing: A residential structure housing a number of unrelated persons in excess of the number of unrelated persons allowed per dwelling unit in the zone district, where such persons are provided with individual bedrooms, where the primary service offered at the facility is related to transitioning into permanent housing and all services provided are not sufficient to constitute a special care home and where occupancy of such housing is primarily made available for more than thirty (30) days and less than two (2) years. Transitional housing shall be considered a small residential care use.