SUMMARYThis paper compares the capital costs of providing ordinary housing for adults with severe and profound mental handicaps with those of providing larger 24–26 place community‐based units. No increase in costs for the smaller homes was found. The method of acquisition, the NHS purchasing and converting property or building on a vacant site, was found to produce equally high costs in all cases. The need to clarify why NHS costs are high was discussed, as were other property acquisition opti