Florida assisted living facility license: AHCA rules, fees and steps

Does your project need an ALF license?

Florida defines an assisted living facility by what it does, not by its size. Any building, part of a building, private home, boarding home or other residential facility, whether or not it runs for profit, is an ALF if it provides “housing, meals, and one or more personal services for a period exceeding 24 hours to one or more adults who are not relatives of the owner or administrator.”⁠¹ Personal services means direct physical help with, or supervision of, activities of daily living or self-administration of medication.⁠¹ AHCA’s own description is that licensed ALFs “range in size from one resident to several hundred.”⁠⁴

The statute exempts a few arrangements you might be relying on:⁠¹

• Two people in your own home. You give housing, meals and personal services in your own home to no more than two adults, none of them receiving optional state supplementation (OSS). You must own or rent the home and live there as your permanent residence. Holding a homestead exemption at another address defeats the claim, and the exemption is closed to anyone whose earlier AHCA license was revoked, denied renewal or surrendered during enforcement.
• VA residential care homes approved by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs that care only for three or fewer veterans.
• Facilities holding another license, such as nursing homes, hospitals, Agency for Persons with Disabilities facilities, and adult family-care homes licensed under part II of chapter 429.
• Some continuing care and retirement community campuses, where independent-living units get services through a home health license.

If AHCA investigates, you carry the burden of documenting the exemption.⁠¹ Running an unlicensed ALF is a third-degree felony, a repeat conviction is a second-degree felony, and each day of operation counts as a separate offense.⁠¹ AHCA publishes lists of substantiated unlicensed locations on its ALF page.⁠⁴

ALF or adult family-care home?

Founders looking at a small residential home often confuse the ALF with Florida’s adult family-care home (AFCH). An AFCH is a “full-time, family-type living arrangement, in a private home” where the person who owns or rents the home provides care for “no more than five disabled adults or frail elders who are not relatives.”⁠¹⁵ The AFCH provider must live in the home. An ALF has no such residency rule and no minimum capacity. If you plan to hire an administrator and staff rather than live in the house yourself, the ALF license is the one that fits, even for a four-bed home. The AFCH route is covered in our Florida adult family-care home license guide.

Florida does not require a certificate of need for an ALF. The certificate-of-need program applies only to skilled nursing facilities, hospices and intermediate care facilities for the developmentally disabled.⁠¹⁶

One standard license, with specialty designations on top

AHCA states on each license the type of care it is issued for: standard, extended congregate care (ECC), limited nursing services (LNS), limited mental health (LMH), or memory care services.⁠¹ The specialty designations are not separate facility types. Each one sits on top of a standard license and expires with it.⁠¹ A facility may not represent that it provides any service it is not licensed for.⁠³

Sources: ⁠¹⁠³

Zoning, the building and fire safety

AHCA will not license a site until local government has signed off. The initial application must include “documentation, signed by the appropriate local government official, which states that the applicant has met local zoning requirements.”⁠¹ It must also include a satisfactory fire safety inspection by the local fire authority or the State Fire Marshal, who must inspect within 30 days of your written request, and a sanitation inspection by the county health department.⁠¹ A county or city may not issue a business tax receipt for an ALF until AHCA has licensed that location.⁠¹

Chapter 419: the six-bed and fourteen-bed lines

A facility licensed for fewer than 15 residents must comply with chapter 419, Florida’s community residential home siting law.⁠¹ That law sets the zoning rules small ALFs live under:⁠⁹

• Six or fewer residents. The home counts as a single-family, noncommercial residential use. It is allowed in single-family or multifamily zoning without local government approval, provided it is not within 1,000 feet of another home of six or fewer residents or within 1,200 feet of a community residential home. Before licensure you give the local government the latest licensing data to prove those distances.
• Seven to 14 residents (a “community residential home”). In multifamily zoning you must notify the local government’s chief executive in writing. If the local government does not respond within 60 days, you may open. It may deny the site only on grounds set in the statute, including a home within 1,200 feet of another community residential home or within 500 feet of single-family zoning. In single-family zones, local ordinances govern.

Distances are measured from the nearest point of the existing home to the nearest point of the proposed one.⁠⁹ AHCA’s ALF page links to the provider directories of AHCA, DCF and the Agency for Persons with Disabilities for this check. It warns that its directory should not be the only source used to determine the 1,000-foot distance.⁠⁴

Building and fire codes

A newly built ALF, or an existing building converted to one, must meet Chapter 4, Section 464 of the Florida Building Code, the Uniform Fire Safety Standards for Assisted Living Facilities in rule chapter 69A-40, and the NFPA codes referenced in s. 429.41.⁠³ AHCA’s rules must set separate standards for facilities with 16 or fewer beds. A home of that size may not exceed two stories, and every resident who cannot exit unassisted in an emergency must live on the first floor.⁠¹ If you later want to change capacity, AHCA’s central office must approve first. Converting a space to resident use that has never been inspected for it needs field office approval.⁠³

The 81-degree emergency power rule

Under rule 59A-36.025, each ALF must have a detailed emergency environmental control plan. It must provide an alternate power source, such as a generator kept at the facility, able to hold an area at or below 81°F for at least 96 hours after loss of primary power.⁠³ The cooled area must give at least 20 net square feet per resident, and you may calculate it using 80% of licensed capacity.⁠³

Fuel must be stored on site:⁠³

• 16 beds or fewer: 48 hours of fuel.
• 17 beds or more: 72 hours of fuel.
• During a declared state of emergency: 96 hours of fuel, with portable containers allowed for the remainder.
• Piped natural gas counts as an on-site fuel supply.

A new ALF must submit this plan before it can be licensed. The county emergency management agency approves it, and you send proof of approval to AHCA within 30 days.⁠³ The application checklist lists the “Emergency Environmental Control Plan Approval Letter and Consumer Friendly Summary” as a required attachment for initial and change-of-ownership applications.⁠⁶

Separately, you need a comprehensive emergency management plan built on AHCA Form 3180-5006 (September 2023).⁠³ You submit it to the county emergency management agency within 30 days after your license is issued, and the county has 60 days to approve it or ask for revisions.⁠¹

The administrator: age, diploma and core training

Every ALF must be supervised by an administrator who is at least 21, has a high school diploma or GED, and has cleared level 2 background screening.⁠³ Within 90 days of starting as administrator, he or she must complete ALF core training, which is at least 26 hours, and pass the competency test with a score of at least 75%.⁠³ AHCA’s administrator training memo names The MacDonald Research Institute, LLC as the test administrator. The training must come from a core trainer registered with AHCA, and the registered trainers are listed on FloridaHealthFinder.gov.⁠⁸ The rule caps the competency test fee at $200, payable each time the test is taken.⁠³ Licensed nursing home administrators are exempt from core training.⁠¹

After that, administrators need 12 hours of continuing education every 2 years. An administrator who lets continuing education lapse must retake core training and the test.⁠³ One administrator may supervise up to three ALFs if a manager is appointed in writing for each; only two managers are needed when all three have 16 or fewer beds and sit within 15 miles of each other. Managers must meet the same qualifications.⁠³ The application asks for the administrator’s Core Training ID and requires a copy of the diploma or GED.⁠⁶

If the administrator changes, you notify AHCA within 10 days on AHCA Form 3180-1006. A facility may not operate for more than 120 consecutive days without an administrator who has completed core training.⁠¹⁠³

Core training rules used to sit in Department of Elder Affairs chapter 58A-5 and are now AHCA rules in chapter 59A-36, with AHCA registering trainers and setting the curriculum (AHCA Form 3180-1038).⁠³⁠⁸

What goes into the application

The application is AHCA Form 3110-1008 (August 2023), filed with the Health Care Licensing Application Addendum (AHCA Form 3110-1024).⁠⁷ Initial applications may be filed through AHCA’s Online Licensing System or mailed to the Assisted Living Unit at 2727 Mahan Drive, MS 30, Tallahassee. Renewals must be filed online, and AHCA has not accepted mailed renewals since September 5, 2024.⁠⁶⁠⁷

The form asks for the licensee and every controlling interest, any management company, and the property owner.⁠⁶ It also names three people: the administrator, a financial officer and a safety liaison.⁠⁶ You also disclose Medicare, Medicaid or CLIA exclusions and any health or residential care business owned in the last five years that closed, went into receivership or lost a license.⁠⁵

Attachments for an initial application include:⁠⁵⁠⁶

• Certificate of general liability insurance. The statute requires liability coverage “in force at all times.”⁠¹
• Fire safety inspection report.
• Department of Health residential group care inspection report.
• Department of Health food hygiene inspection, for 11 beds or more.
• Septic system or water supply evaluation, if the facility is on septic.
• Local zoning documentation, plus chapter 419 site-selection proof for community residential homes.
• Proof of financial ability to operate on AHCA’s spreadsheet. There are two versions, one for 16 or fewer beds and one for 17 or more.⁠⁷
• Proof of the legal right to occupy the property, such as a deed or lease.⁠²
• Emergency environmental control plan approval letter and Consumer Friendly Summary.
• The administrator’s diploma or GED.
• A visitation policy and procedure.
• A surety or continuation bond, if the owner, administrator or any facility representative will act as representative payee or power of attorney for residents.

Level 2 background screening through AHCA covers the licensee, administrator, financial officer, every controlling interest, and staff who give personal care or have access to residents’ funds or living areas. Everyone screened is rescreened every 5 years.⁠² Each licensee also signs an attestation that no controlling interest holds an interest in an entity with a business relationship with a “foreign country of concern,” as defined in s. 408.810.⁠²⁠⁵

Fees as published by AHCA

Section 429.07 sets the base biennial fee at $300 plus $50 per bed, capped at $10,000. It charges no per-bed fee for beds reserved for OSS recipients and exempts counties and cities.⁠¹ AHCA adjusts fees each year by no more than the change in the Consumer Price Index, and all fees are nonrefundable.⁠² The amounts AHCA actually charges, as printed on Form 3110-1008 (August 2023) and checked on 2026-10-12, are:⁠⁵⁠⁶

Worked from those published figures, a 6-bed, all private-pay standard license comes to $777.49 plus a $12 assessment, and a 16-bed one to $1,427.09 plus $32. The form AHCA links from its licensure forms page still showed these amounts on 2026-10-12.⁠⁷ AHCA may adjust fees each year, so use the amount the Online Licensing System calculates when you file.

From filing to license: the order that works

1. Settle the site

   Confirm zoning or chapter 419 siting and get the local government’s signed zoning documentation.⁠¹⁠⁹

2. Get the building inspected

   Ask in writing for the fire safety inspection, which must take place within 30 days of the request.⁠¹ Then book the county health department’s group care, food hygiene and, if needed, septic inspections.⁠⁵

3. Get the emergency power plan approved

   by county emergency management, since it must be in hand before licensure.⁠³

4. Hire and train the administrator,

   start background screening for owners and staff, and buy liability insurance.⁠²⁠³

5. File Form 3110-1008 with the fee

   Within 30 days AHCA notifies you of errors or omissions. You then have 21 days to supply them, or the application is withdrawn and the fee forfeited.⁠²

6. Pass AHCA’s initial survey

   You must demonstrate compliance during an inspection, and if nobody is available when AHCA attempts it, the application is denied.⁠²

7. Receive the decision

   AHCA must approve or deny within 60 days of a complete application.⁠²

8. After licensure,

   submit the comprehensive emergency management plan to the county within 30 days. On or before each resident’s first day of services, give the resident the complaint, abuse and Medicaid fraud hotline numbers in the wording the statute prescribes.⁠¹⁠²

Staffing hours and staff training

Rule 59A-36.010 sets minimum weekly staff hours based on combined residents, day care participants and respite residents:⁠³

At 168 hours, even the smallest home needs one person on duty around the clock. Someone with access to records must be present whenever residents are, and a staff member with current First Aid and CPR cards must be in the facility at all times.⁠³ Facilities with 17 or more residents must have a staff member awake at all hours, written job descriptions and time sheets.⁠³ The administrator’s hours count toward the minimum only if he or she works day to day in resident care and appears on the schedule. Hours worked solely on maintenance, clerical tasks or food preparation do not count.⁠³ If the administrator is away more than 48 hours, a staff member aged 21 or older must be designated in writing to be in charge. Nobody may be in charge for 21 consecutive days, or 60 days in a calendar year, without qualifying as an administrator or manager.⁠³

Staff training requirements:⁠¹⁠³

• Preservice orientation: at least 2 hours, before a new employee interacts with residents.
• Infection control: 1 hour for direct care staff before giving personal care.
• Within 30 days of hire: 1 hour on adverse incidents and emergency procedures, 3 hours on resident behavior and help with activities of daily living, elopement-response training, a one-time HIV/AIDS course, and DNRO training.
• Medication assistance: unlicensed staff who help residents with self-administered medication need 6 hours of training from a registered nurse or pharmacist, then 2 hours every year.
• Health checks: a statement from a health care provider within 30 days of hire and annual tuberculosis documentation.

Every facility must run at least two resident elopement drills a year.⁠¹

Who you can admit and keep

The administrator decides admission based on a medical examination done within 60 days before or 30 days after move-in, recorded on AHCA Form 1823 or the practitioner’s form.⁠¹⁠⁴ To live in a standard, LNS or LMH facility, a resident must:⁠³

• be 18 or older and able to do activities of daily living and transfer, with help if needed;
• have no stage 3 or 4 pressure sores and not need 24-hour nursing supervision;
• not be bedridden, unless receiving licensed hospice care.

A resident may stay through a bedridden period of up to 7 consecutive days, or 14 in an ECC facility.⁠¹ Standard and LMH facilities may not serve residents who need dialysis or IV therapy performed in the facility.⁠³ No standard, LNS or LMH resident may need tube feeding, airway management other than CPAP or BiPAP, or wound vacuum management.⁠³ Continued residency requires a face-to-face medical exam at least every 3 years or after a significant change.⁠³

The specialty licenses in practice

Extended congregate care. The facility needs 2 years of standard licensure without serious sanctions. A newer facility can get only a provisional ECC license of up to 6 months, made permanent after an unannounced inspection once it admits its first ECC resident.⁠¹ The administrator and ECC supervisor need core training plus 4 hours of ECC training before the license is issued. Only the part of the building that meets ECC physical and staffing requirements is licensed for ECC.⁠³

Limited nursing services. You must employ or contract a nurse, keep nursing progress notes, and accept an AHCA registered nurse’s monitoring visit at least once a year.⁠¹⁠³

Limited mental health. It is required before admitting a single “mental health resident,” which the statute defines as someone who “receives social security disability income due to a mental disorder … or receives supplemental security income due to a mental disorder … and receives optional state supplementation.”⁠¹ The administrator and direct-contact staff need 6 hours of DCF-approved training within 6 months. You must also hold a community living support plan and cooperative agreement for each such resident, or proof you requested them within 72 hours of admission.⁠¹

Memory care: a new license coming

Chapter 2026-102 was approved May 22, 2026 and took effect on becoming law. It created a memory care services license in new s. 429.076.⁠¹⁰ An ALF that serves memory care residents, or that advertises memory care, will need it. AHCA must adopt the standards by June 1, 2027. Those rules must cover admission criteria, staff training, physical plant, contracts, and at least one awake staff member on duty at all hours.⁠¹

Facilities licensed on or after the date the rules take effect need the memory care license to serve or advertise to these residents. Facilities licensed before then get 6 months from the rules’ effective date.⁠¹ Without that license, the rules will bar advertising terms such as “memory care,” “dementia care” and “Alzheimer’s care.”⁠¹

Until the rules are adopted, s. 429.178 still applies to any facility advertising special care for Alzheimer’s disease. It requires an awake staff member at all hours once the facility has 17 or more residents, plus dementia training under s. 430.5025. Chapter 2026-102 repeals that section once the memory care rules take effect.⁠¹⁠¹⁰ AHCA published a notice of rule development for a new rule 59A-36.0225, Memory Care Services, on June 18, 2026 and held a workshop on July 9, 2026; no preliminary text was available with the notice.⁠¹⁷ As of 2026-10-12 the rule does not appear among the adopted rules in chapter 59A-36.⁠³

How Florida ALFs are paid with public funds

Medicaid pays for assisted living through the Statewide Medicaid Managed Care long-term care program, not a fee schedule. Long-term care plans must cover “services provided in assisted living facilities.”⁠¹¹ Enrollees must be 65 or older, or 18 or older and Medicaid-eligible because of disability, and found by the CARES program to need nursing facility level of care.⁠¹² Each plan’s network must include ALFs, and plans and providers “negotiate mutually acceptable rates, methods, and terms of payment.” That means you contract plan by plan.⁠¹³ Form 3110-1008 asks whether the facility takes part in long-term care, managed care or MMA and for its Medicaid number.⁠⁵

Optional state supplementation, run by DCF, is a monthly payment for SSI recipients living in ALFs.⁠¹⁴ Families or other third parties may add to it, paid to the facility, up to four times the OSS provider rate.⁠¹⁴ Beds reserved for OSS residents carry no per-bed license fee.⁠¹

Renewal, inspections and ownership changes

Licenses run for 2 years. File the renewal online 60 to 120 days before expiration. A late filing costs $50 a day, capped at the lesser of 50% of the license fee or $500.⁠² Renewal requires a fire safety inspection from the preceding 12 months.⁠¹ Copies of the annual fire and sanitation inspections must reach AHCA’s central office within 30 days of each inspection.⁠³ AHCA may use an abbreviated biennial inspection for facilities with a good record. It must do a full inspection after class I or II violations or uncorrected class III violations.⁠¹ You must report any adverse court action on the facility’s finances within 7 days.⁠¹

A buyer must file a change-of-ownership application at least 60 days before the transfer and must show financial ability to operate.⁠² The buyer notifies residents in writing within 7 days of receiving the new license, and resident funds and deposits must transfer to the buyer before a standard license is issued.⁠¹⁠³

Rule changes in 2025 and 2026

• Memory care license. Created May 22, 2026 by chapter 2026-102. Standards are due by June 1, 2027, and rule development on 59A-36.0225 was noticed June 18, 2026.⁠¹⁰⁠¹⁷
• Admission and ECC rules. Rules 59A-36.006 and 59A-36.021 were amended effective November 27, 2025.⁠³
• June 2025 amendments. Rules 59A-36.002 (definitions), .007 (resident care), .008 (medication practices), .022 (limited nursing services) and .028 (core training curriculum) were amended effective June 11, 2025.⁠³
• DNRO rule. The rule on do-not-resuscitate orders and advance directives, 59A-36.009, was amended effective September 17, 2026.⁠³
• Online renewals. Mandatory under rule 59A-35.060, with mailed renewals refused since September 5, 2024.⁠⁷

AHCA’s Assisted Living Unit is reachable at (850) 412-4304 or [email protected].⁠⁴

Sources

1. 1
   The Florida Legislature, Florida Statutes, chapter 429, part I (Assisted Living Facilities) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
2. 2
   The Florida Legislature, Florida Statutes, chapter 408, part II (Health Care Licensing: General Provisions) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
3. 3
   Florida Department of State, Florida Administrative Code, chapter 59A-36 (Assisted Living Facility) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
4. 4
   Agency for Health Care Administration, Assisted Living Facility Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
5. 5
   Agency for Health Care Administration, Health Care Licensing Application, Assisted Living Facilities (AHCA Form 3110-1008, August 2023) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
6. 6
   Agency for Health Care Administration, Application Checklist: Assisted Living Facilities Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
7. 7
   Agency for Health Care Administration, Health Quality Assurance Application for Licensure Forms Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
8. 8
   Agency for Health Care Administration, ALF Administrator Training Requirement and Core Trainer Information Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
9. 9
   The Florida Legislature, Florida Statutes, section 419.001 (Site selection of community residential homes) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
10. 10
    Florida Department of State, Laws of Florida, chapter 2026-102 (CS/CS/SB 1404, memory care) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
11. 11
    The Florida Legislature, Florida Statutes, section 409.98 (Long-term care plan benefits) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
12. 12
    The Florida Legislature, Florida Statutes, section 409.979 (Long-term care eligibility) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
13. 13
    The Florida Legislature, Florida Statutes, section 409.982 (Long-term care managed care plan accountability) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
14. 14
    The Florida Legislature, Florida Statutes, section 409.212 (Optional supplementation) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
15. 15
    The Florida Legislature, Florida Statutes, section 429.65 (Adult family-care home definitions) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
16. 16
    The Florida Legislature, Florida Statutes, section 408.032 (Certificate of need definitions) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
17. 17
    Florida Department of State, Florida Administrative Register, Vol. 52, No. 118 (June 18, 2026): Notice of Development of Proposed Rules, 59A-36.0225 Memory Care Services Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑

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