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Fairfax County is moving toward its first major update to group home zoning rules in more than two decades, potentially opening additional commercial and industrial areas to congregate living facilities.

The Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on Feb. 25, followed by a Board of Supervisors hearing on March 17. Supervisors began the review in 2022 and scheduled the hearings on Tuesday, Jan. 13.

Congregate living facilities are currently permitted in residential and commercial-office districts. The proposed amendment would also allow them in commercial districts C-5 through C-8 and industrial districts I-2 through I-4.

County rules define the facilities as supervised settings that provide housing and supportive care temporarily or permanently. They include inpatient addiction treatment centers and homes serving more than eight people with disabilities. County-operated homeless shelters and assisted living facilities fall outside the definition.

Officials said expanding the eligible areas could reduce geographic disparities in access while updated standards would help facilities fit with neighboring properties.

Under the proposal, facilities in commercial and industrial districts would need reasonable access to jobs, public transportation and community services. On-site and support staff would generally be required, although recovery residences would be exempt from that provision.

The amendment would not permit facilities to open automatically. Each would still need a special-exception permit, which requires public hearings and county approval.

Fairfax County has approved six congregate living facility applications since adopting the current standards in 2003. Those facilities have served groups including survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking and teenagers with eating disorders.

The first approval came in 2007 for the Catholic Diocese of Arlington’s St. Rose of Lima Priests’ Retirement Villa in Annandale.

County staff raised the idea of expanding potential locations during a 2022 Housing Committee meeting as part of efforts to reduce homelessness and promote equity. Supervisors also discussed converting vacant commercial properties into emergency homeless shelters.

Then-Dranesville Supervisor John Foust, who chaired the committee, described the transition from homelessness to permanent supportive housing as one of the most consequential changes a person can experience.