## Facts

- The City of White Plains sought to enforce its zoning ordinance in an R-2 single-family residential district by stopping use of a leased house as a foster “group home.”
- Abbott House, Inc., a private not-for-profit agency licensed by New York to care for neglected and abandoned children, operated the residence pursuant to Social Services Law § 374-c, which authorized group homes for 7–12 foster children under state regulation and inspection.
- The household consisted of an adult married couple (as house parents), their two biological children, and ten foster children (including seven siblings and three unrelated children).
- The City claimed the use was not a permitted single-family residence but instead was a “philanthropic institution” (allowed only by special permit) or a “boarding house” (excluded).
- The trial court granted summary judgment to the City, and the Appellate Division affirmed.

## Issues

1. Whether a state-licensed foster group home consisting of house parents, their children, and ten foster children qualifies as a single “family” use under a single-family zoning ordinance.
2. Whether the use should instead be treated as a prohibited “boarding house” or a special-permit “philanthropic institution” under the ordinance.

## Decision

- The New York Court of Appeals reversed.
- The court held the group home qualified as a single “family” use for zoning purposes.
- The court rejected characterizing the home as a “boarding house” or “philanthropic institution” based on its day-to-day operation as a small, family-like household rather than an institutional facility.
- Summary judgment was granted to the defendants, allowing continued operation of the group home in the R-2 district.

## Legal Principles

- Zoning terms such as “family” may be construed functionally to further zoning purposes (preserving residential character), rather than limited to relationships by blood, marriage, or adoption.
- A household that operates as a single housekeeping unit and is organized, sized, and structured to resemble a family may fall within a single-family zoning classification even if members are unrelated.
- A small, residential, family-like group home is distinct from institutional care facilities and from “boarding houses” involving transient or lodger-style arrangements.
- Interpretation of local zoning should account for state policy expressed in statutes authorizing and regulating foster group homes in simulated family settings.

## Conclusion

The court held that a state-licensed foster group home run as a stable, family-like single household fits within “family” for single-family zoning, and it ordered judgment for the defendants permitting the use.


City of White Plains v. Ferraioli, 34 N.Y.2d 300 (N.Y. 1974)