My grandfather lived in a Jah Jireh home for a few years before he died.
We went to see him every couple of months. Generally it was pretty much your typical nursing home except for the fact that virtually all the staff were JWs ( many were pioneers on shifts ) and they had prayers before meals , the residents would gather in a room & the meetings were piped in etc. You tend to find the better connected elderly JWs there - old elders & their wives , Bethelites , COs etc. I've seen better nursing homes and worse.
I met the head at the funeral ( I forget his name). He seemed a decent enough man and said a few words from the platform at the crematorium.
Jah Jireh is a private charity http://apps.charitycommission.gov.uk/Showcharity/RegisterOfCharities/CharityWithPartB.aspx?RegisteredCharityNumber=1062023&SubsidiaryNumber=0 but many congregations have Jah Jireh reps who inform the brothers & try to get donations. I was approached a couple of times but I declined - I was a little bit uncomfortable with asking for money from the congregation.
I notice the trustee list includes a lot of COs , DOs & ex COs ( eg Bill Bull , Tony Kendall , Ray Popel etc. ) I get the impression that the Bethel have softened from their approach - initially they were very anti the concept.
The planning dispute looks like a typical combination of a nimby objection to a rather greedy overreaching building design. There will be the usual slight modifications to the design and it will be nodded through.