Private homes are places where persons, families, or small self-formed groups live independently. Occupiers of these spaces have full expectation of general privacy, as well as general control over their living spaces whether or not they own them.

Independence and an expectation of privacy concern the residents' living arrangement. They can have those qualities in a rented apartment as well as in an owned home.

Communal housing provides a group living arrangement with less private control. Dividing that accommodation into individual rooms does not by itself make it a collection of independent homes.