Minnesota adult foster care license: the live-in rule, four beds and county-led licensing

The moratorium decides which home you can license

Before you think about bedrooms or paperwork, settle where you will live. Minnesota has frozen growth in “corporate” foster care since 2009, and in 2026 the Legislature recodified the freeze as Minn. Stat. 245A.03, subdivisions 7b to 7d ⁠¹. DHS “shall not issue an initial license for adult foster care … for a physical location that will not be the primary residence of the license holder for the entire period of licensure” ⁠¹. It also issues no initial license for a community residential setting, the chapter 245D version of a staffed group home ⁠¹.

The license type that stays open is the family adult foster care home: a home licensed by DHS that is the license holder’s primary residence and where the license holder is the primary caregiver ⁠³. The live-in condition lasts as long as the license. If you move your primary residence away from the licensed address, DHS must revoke the license ⁠¹. You declare on the application whether the home is your primary residence, and DHS prints the answer on the license certificate ⁠¹.

The statute lists the only exceptions for a home you will not live in, and DHS’s decision on them “is final and not subject to appeal” ⁠¹:

• a foster care setting where at least 80 percent of residents are 55 or older;
• licenses DHS finds needed because a nursing facility, ICF/DD or regional treatment center is closing, or because state-operated services are being reduced;
• licenses for people who need hospital-level care ⁠¹;
• added by Laws 2026, chapter 121: licenses for people on the brain injury (BI) or CADI waiver who lived in a customized living setting for four or fewer people in a single-family home before July 1, 2026, where a license is now required ⁠².

DHS considers local bed availability, people’s choices at their annual assessments, and the county board’s recommendation ⁠¹. A change in ownership at the same address does not need a new determination of need ⁠¹. Separately, DHS can impose a temporary moratorium of up to 24 months on any license type when applications outgrow need, and it publishes notice of that on its website ⁠²³.

What counts as adult foster care

Adult foster care means providing “food, lodging, protection, supervision, and household services to a functionally impaired adult in a residence.” It may also include personal care, help with or training in living skills, medication assistance and help safeguarding cash ⁠⁶. A functional impairment is substantial difficulty with one or more major activities of daily living, or a thought or mood disorder that significantly impairs judgment and requires support to live in the community ⁠³.

Supervision has a specific meaning here. It requires daily awareness of each resident’s needs and a caregiver present in the home during normal sleeping hours ⁠⁶. If you want to rely on another method of overnight supervision, such as monitoring technology, you need a variance. The county must approve your plan, and every resident or legal representative must give signed consent ⁠⁴. If the plan uses monitoring technology instead of a sleeping caregiver, you can ask DHS to review the variance without a county recommendation, and that license is applied for directly with DHS. The license must then state in bold large type that the home is under electronic monitoring and give the county’s maltreatment reporting number ⁠⁴.

Adult foster care, assisted living or 245D?

Minnesota has three overlapping ways to run a small adult home. Pick the right one before you apply.

Scroll the table sideways to see every column.

A home licensed under chapter 245A as adult foster care is excluded from the definition of an assisted living facility ⁠¹⁶. It is also not subject to Department of Health facility licensing under chapters 144, 144A or 157 ⁠⁴. If you do not want to live in the house, you are looking at the assisted living facility license, which applies to a facility serving even one adult.

An adult foster care license holder can also run family adult day services in the same home. DHS prints that authorization on the license, and no separate license is needed ⁠⁴. See the adult day services guide for those rules.

Capacity: four beds, with narrow add-ons

The licensed capacity is four beds, including nonstaff roomers and boarders ⁠¹. The rule says the same thing: roomers plus residents may not exceed four at a time ⁠²². If you take in a lodger, you lose a resident bed.

The add-ons, as amended in 2026 ⁠¹:

• Five beds if every person in care is 55 or older and none has a serious and persistent mental illness or a developmental disability. The county can recommend a variance to admit someone under 55.
• A sixth bed only by variance, for emergency crisis services for a person with serious and persistent mental illness or a developmental disability, or for respite care for people with disabilities. Respite is limited to two different people a month and 120 days a year. The respite person needs their own bedroom, and you must give current residents 60 days’ written notice before the first respite stay.
• The older five-bed route for homes licensed before March 1, 2016 has been closed to new licenses since December 31, 2020 ⁠¹.

Where the house can be: zoning and the 2026 colocation ban

A licensed residential program for six or fewer people is a permitted single-family residential use for zoning purposes. Restrictive covenants cannot be used to block it ⁠⁴⁠¹⁸. The 1,320-foot spacing rule for residential programs does not apply to foster care ⁠⁴. DHS notifies the local zoning administrator at least 30 days before issuing an initial license ⁠⁸. For licenses issued on or after July 1, 2026, the municipality receives written notice within five days after issuance. The notice includes your name and contact information, the license type and capacity, and the address ⁠².

The newer limit is about neighbors. Since July 1, 2026, DHS may not issue an initial adult foster care license for a home on the same property as, or on property adjoining, any existing adult foster care home, community residential setting, family residential services setting, customized living setting for six or fewer, or assisted living facility for six or fewer. The rule applies “regardless of who owns or controls the existing setting” ⁠². “Adjoining” includes lots that meet only at a corner. A street, alley or bike path between two lots does not separate them ⁠². Check the neighboring lots before you buy or lease.

You must also document that the home meets applicable building codes, fire and safety codes, health rules and zoning ordinances, or that you have a waiver ⁠²⁠¹³.

The house itself

The rules set specific physical standards ⁠¹⁰⁠¹¹⁠¹²:

• Building condition. The home must be a dwelling unit in a residential occupancy, free of plumbing, electrical, ventilation, mechanical or structural hazards ⁠¹⁰.
• Common space. Every resident has free access to the living room. You need a dining area where residents and household members can eat together ⁠¹⁰.
• Bedroom size. A single bedroom needs at least 80 sq ft of floor space and a double at least 120 sq ft, both with 7-1/2 foot ceilings. No more than two residents may share a room, and only with written mutual consent ⁠¹⁰.
• Bedroom layout. Bedrooms need floor-to-ceiling walls and cannot serve as a corridor to another room used in daily living ⁠¹⁰.
• Furnishings. Each resident gets an adult-size single bed or larger, a dresser, a closet and a mirror ⁠¹⁰.
• Locks and roommates. Each resident’s bedroom door must have a lock unless a documented restriction applies, and residents choose their roommates ⁠⁴.
• Well water. A private well must be tested every year by an MDH-certified laboratory for coliform bacteria and nitrate ⁠¹¹.
• Meals. You serve three nutritionally balanced meals a day, with snacks available, and meet any prescribed diet ⁠¹¹.
• Emergencies. You need first aid supplies, posted emergency numbers, and a designated tornado shelter area. You must run a fire drill at least every three months and arrange a qualified substitute caregiver for emergencies ⁠¹².
• Weapons and pets. Weapons and ammunition are stored locked and separately. Residents must be told about pets before admission ⁠¹².

Fire inspection. A fire marshal must inspect the home within 12 months before the initial license. In years without a fire marshal inspection, you and the licensor complete a DHS home safety checklist ⁠⁸. Counties may charge for the fire inspection. Dakota County, for example, asks for a $50 money order or cashier’s check, as published on 2026-10-12 ⁠²¹.

Who can hold the license and who lives with you

Operators and caregivers must be adults ⁠⁸. Background studies under chapter 245C are required for each caregiver, each household member age 13 and over, and each owner, partner, board member and employee involved in running the home ⁠⁸. An individual applicant also gives social history information on every household member, covering education, employment, finances, marital history, mental health and chemical dependency. You also supply three unrelated references ⁠⁸.

A study can also be required during the license term. You must notify the licensor before you move, before anyone joins the household as a roomer, resident, household member or caregiver, and before structural changes that need a building permit ⁠⁸.

Training before and after your first resident

• Orientation. Operators and caregivers complete the local agency’s orientation before the first resident is placed ⁠⁹.
• Annual training. Caregivers then complete 12 hours of training a year in their first five years of licensure or experience, and 6 hours a year after that. Topics come from a rule list that includes first aid and CPR, medication assistance, aging, mental health, developmental disability, and abuse and neglect ⁠⁹.
• Exemptions. The annual training requirement does not apply to caregivers who provide no more than 30 cumulative days of care in 12 months, or eight hours or less a week ⁠⁹.
• Maltreatment. Because residents are vulnerable adults, you must have written maltreatment reporting policies and a program abuse prevention plan. Each new mandated reporter needs an orientation within 72 hours of first direct contact ⁠¹⁵.

Running the home: residents’ rights, medications and plans

Minnesota writes 20 adult foster care resident rights into statute ⁠⁴. Residents may come and go at will, have private phone access and uncensored mail, choose visitors, decorate their room, and have food available at any time. You may restrict certain of these rights only when it is needed for the resident’s health and safety, and the restriction must be documented in the resident’s plan ⁠⁴. At admission you give each resident a copy of the rights, DHS’s summary of the Vulnerable Adults Act, and the complaint agency’s contact details ⁠⁴.

Placement agreement. If a resident has no county service plan, you need a signed individual resident placement agreement on file ⁠²⁴.

Admission physical. Each resident needs a physician examination for reportable communicable diseases, done no more than 30 days before or within three days after placement ⁠¹².

Medications. Caregivers may give medication to a resident who cannot self-administer only if you have:

• a physician’s written statement;
• written permission from the resident or their legal representative;
• a medication record for each resident ⁠¹².

Schedule II drugs are stored locked ⁠¹².

Sourcewell, the licensing agency for 13 counties, reviews a checklist of documents at the initial inspection. As published on 2026-10-12, it includes a program plan, service termination policy, drug and alcohol policy, emergency fire escape plan, emergency planning procedure, program abuse prevention plan, caregiver training log, workers’ compensation certificate and well water results ⁠²⁰.

Applying, in order

1. Contact your county licensing agency

   The application is made on the DHS form in the county where the home is located, and each address needs its own license ⁠⁷. County agencies handle licensing work under delegation from DHS ⁠¹⁴. Some counties use a regional agency. Sourcewell, for example, licenses for Becker, Cass, Clearwater, Crow Wing, Douglas, Hubbard, Mahnomen, Morrison, Norman, Otter Tail, Stevens, Todd and Wadena counties ⁠²⁰. Intake depends on the county. Dakota County requires applicants to attend an informational meeting first, and its page says no public meetings would be held in 2025 because existing homes had openings ⁠²¹. Ask the county whether it is taking applicants now.

2. Submit the application packet and start background studies

   Sourcewell’s packet, as published on 2026-10-12, includes the AFC application, a supplement, adult and child social history forms, and a data collection form for each household member 13 and older ⁠²⁰.

3. Pay the application fee

   DHS does not process an application until the fee is paid ⁠⁵. Sourcewell states that from January 1, 2026, the $2,100 fee is due within 30 days of the invoice ⁠²⁰.

4. Complete orientation

   before any resident moves in ⁠⁹.

5. Fire marshal inspection and home visit

   by the licensor ⁠⁸⁠²¹.

6. County recommendation, DHS decision

   Sourcewell sends its recommendation to DHS within 20 business days after everything is complete ⁠²⁰. DHS acts within 90 working days of a complete application. If the application is incomplete, you get written notice and 45 days to resubmit ⁠¹³.

Timelines. County timelines vary. Sourcewell says the process can take up to 90 to 120 days ⁠²⁰, and Dakota County says about six months ⁠²¹.

Fees as published on 2026-10-12

The fire inspection charge and any other local costs are set by your county ⁠²¹.

License term, renewal and enforcement

DHS issues a license for up to two years, and it cannot be transferred to another operator or address ⁠⁸. If you cannot meet every requirement right away, DHS may grant an initial license where the gaps do not threaten residents. Every deviation must be corrected within the time DHS sets, and never more than one year ⁠⁸. Before each license expires, the licensor studies the operator again and inspects the home, at least once every 24 months ⁠⁸.

Starting January 1, 2027, DHS may delegate to a county or city, at its request, the inspection of existing residential programs for six or fewer people for zoning and physical plant compliance. A local inspector may come no more than once a year, apart from follow-up visits ⁠².

How homes get paid: Medicaid waivers and 245D

Many residents pay through Minnesota’s home and community-based services waivers. The statute requires non-live-in foster homes to tell DHS if they provide services under the Elderly Waiver (chapter 256S) or the disability waivers (256B.092, 256B.49) ⁠¹.

Disability waivers and 245D. For people on the BI, CAC, CADI or DD waivers, “family residential services” delivered in a family adult foster care home are a 245D-licensed service ⁠¹⁷. A family home with at least one such resident is then exempt from several adult foster care rule parts, including training and medication ⁠¹⁷. DHS put a temporary moratorium on new 245D licenses from January 1, 2026 through December 31, 2027. Applications submitted earlier were cancelled unless a county, Tribe or managed care organization identified them for an exception ⁠¹⁹. Sourcewell says this does not directly affect an adult foster care license “but may impact how waiver services are paid” ⁠²⁰. Talk to the lead agency about how a waiver resident’s services would be funded before you count on waiver income.

Elderly Waiver. Laws 2026, chapter 121 requires Elderly Waiver providers of family and corporate adult foster care to keep records of direct staffing hours for each person served, starting January 1, 2029. The records must cover overnight awake and asleep hours, be submitted to DHS annually, and be kept for six years ⁠². Foster homes serving Elderly Waiver residents also need a service termination policy that meets Minn. Stat. 245A.11, subd. 11 ⁠⁴.

What changed in 2026

• Moratorium recodified. Laws 2026, chapter 95 repealed the old 245A.03 subd. 7 and replaced it with subdivisions 7b to 7d. It also cut the capacity section’s link to a five-to-six-bed exception that expired June 30, 2025 ⁠¹.
• New moratorium exception. Laws 2026, chapter 121 added the BI/CADI customized living exception ⁠².
• Colocation ban. Same chapter: no new homes on the same or an adjoining lot as another small setting, effective July 1, 2026 ⁠².
• Notice and inspections. Same chapter: municipal notice after issuance, effective July 1, 2026, and delegated local inspections, effective January 1, 2027 ⁠².
• 245D pause. DHS’s 245D licensing moratorium runs through December 31, 2027 ⁠¹⁹.

Sources

1. 1
   Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes, Laws 2026, chapter 95 (S.F. 476), article 4: licensing moratorium recodified as Minn. Stat. 245A.03, subds. 7b-7d; capacity, 245A.11 subd. 2a Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
2. 2
   Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes, Laws 2026, chapter 121 (S.F. 4476), articles 7 and 9: colocation limits (245A.042 subd. 7), municipal notice, moratorium exception, residential support staffing records Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
3. 3
   Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes, Minnesota Statutes, section 245A.02: Definitions Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
4. 4
   Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes, Minnesota Statutes, section 245A.11: Special conditions for residential programs Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
5. 5
   Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes, Minnesota Statutes, section 245A.10: Fees Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
6. 6
   Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes, Minnesota Rules, part 9555.5105: Definitions (adult foster care) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
7. 7
   Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes, Minnesota Rules, part 9555.6115: License application process Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
8. 8
   Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes, Minnesota Rules, part 9555.6125: Licensing study Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
9. 9
   Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes, Minnesota Rules, part 9555.6185: Foster care training Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
10. 10
    Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes, Minnesota Rules, part 9555.6205: Physical environment Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
11. 11
    Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes, Minnesota Rules, part 9555.6215: Water and food Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
12. 12
    Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes, Minnesota Rules, part 9555.6225: Sanitation and health Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
13. 13
    Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes, Minnesota Statutes, section 245A.04: Application procedures Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
14. 14
    Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes, Minnesota Statutes, section 245A.16: Standards for county agencies and private agencies Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
15. 15
    Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes, Minnesota Statutes, section 245A.65: Maltreatment of vulnerable adults Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
16. 16
    Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes, Minnesota Statutes, section 144G.08: Definitions (assisted living) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
17. 17
    Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes, Minnesota Statutes, section 245D.03: Applicability and effect Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
18. 18
    Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes, Minnesota Statutes, section 462.357: Procedure to effect plan; zoning Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
19. 19
    Minnesota Department of Human Services, Temporary 245D licensing moratorium (DHS bulletin) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
20. 20
    Sourcewell (licensing agency for 13 Minnesota counties), Adult foster care licensing for applicants Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
21. 21
    Dakota County, Adult Foster Care Licensing Process Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
22. 22
    Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes, Minnesota Rules, part 9555.6165: Capacity Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
23. 23
    Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes, Minnesota Statutes, section 245A.03: Who must be licensed (subd. 7a, discretionary temporary moratorium) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
24. 24
    Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes, Minnesota Rules, part 9555.6167: Individual resident placement agreement Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑

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