New York family-type home for adults: certification through your county and OCFS

Two agencies, one certificate

New York splits this job. Your county department of social services (DSS) takes the application, visits the house, inspects it every year and helps place residents. The state Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS), through its Bureau of Adult Services, approves or denies the application and issues the operating certificate.⁠¹⁠¹⁹ The OCFS commissioner has handed inspection and supervision of certified homes to the commissioners of the local social services districts.⁠⁸ So in practice, your county’s FTHA coordinator is your first and most frequent contact. OCFS staff can also inspect, and the Justice Center for the Protection of People with Special Needs investigates some homes.⁠²

This is not a Department of Health (DOH) license. Adult care facilities serving five or more adults who need personal care or supervision are regulated by DOH.⁠¹ For those licenses, see the New York assisted living residence guide. A home certified as an FTHA also cannot be licensed or certified by another state agency for long-term residential care of dependent adults, and the reverse is true too.⁠⁶

Who needs the certificate

The statute defines a family type home for adults as an adult care facility that gives long-term residential care and personal care and/or supervision to four or fewer adults unrelated to the operator.⁠³ Part 489 adds room and board to that list. It defines “unrelated” narrowly: anyone other than your spouse, parent, parent-in-law, child or stepchild.⁠⁴ So a sibling, aunt or grandparent counts as unrelated, and you can be certified to care for them.⁠⁵ Relatives outside that close circle who need personal care and supervision and live in your home count toward your certified capacity.⁠⁹

A few more boundaries the rules draw:

• Residents. OCFS describes the residents as adults who can no longer live alone because of age, developmental disability, or physical or mental health, but who do not need skilled medical or nursing services.⁠¹
• Boarders. With prior approval from the county FTHA coordinator, you may also have two “boarders” who are independent and need no personal care or supervision.⁠¹
• Six-person ceiling. Residents, respite guests, adult protective services placements, adult day care participants and room-and-board tenants together may not exceed six unless the county approves more in writing.⁠¹⁷ Respite and protective placements are each limited to 30 days.⁠¹⁴
• Former foster children. A certified foster parent may also be certified as an FTHA operator for a former foster child over 21 who still needs personal care and supervision because of a disability. Unless waived, that certificate covers one such person and expires when they move out.⁠⁶
• Advertising. No one without a valid operating certificate may advertise or present itself as offering accommodations and services for dependent, aged or disabled adults.⁠⁷ A county that finds a home that looks like an uncertified FTHA must report it to OCFS and inspect it on request.⁠⁸

Operator qualifications

An FTHA certificate can go only to a natural person or persons. Corporations and nonprofits, which can hold other adult care facility certificates, cannot hold it.⁠⁷ Under 18 NYCRR 489.3 you must:⁠⁵

• live in the home;
• be at least 21;
• be of good character;
• be physically and mentally capable of operating the home;
• speak, read and write English;
• provide supervision, care and services 24 hours a day;
• have enough income, not drawn only from residents, to cover your own household’s expenses;
• have no other job, inside or outside the home, unless you show substitute care and get the county’s prior written approval;
• name a substitute caretaker the county approves in advance; and
• report household changes to the county, including family members or others moving in or out, and every resident admission and discharge.

You must also complete an approved basic first aid course and attend any orientation and training sessions OCFS or the county requires.⁠¹⁵

Background checks. With the application, you submit what the county needs to check two registries: the Statewide Central Register of Child Abuse and Maltreatment, and the Justice Center’s staff exclusion list (the Vulnerable Persons’ Central Register). The checks cover you and every person 18 or older who lives in your home.⁠⁶ OCFS may also deny or revoke a certificate if, within the past 10 years, the operator was convicted of a class A, B or C felony (or an out-of-state equivalent), or of a felony or class A misdemeanor related to caring for dependent adults or children. Before denying on that basis, OCFS must find a direct relationship to the duties or an unreasonable risk, weighing factors that include the time elapsed and any certificate of relief from disabilities or good conduct.⁠⁷

The substitute caretaker

An authorized caregiver must be at the home at all times, and anyone covering for you must be approved by the county in advance.⁠² The substitute must be at least 18, of good character, mentally and physically able to run the home and handle emergencies, know the evacuation procedures, and have access to resident care records.⁠¹⁵ If you are regularly away 20 or more hours a week, the substitute must meet the operator standards in 489.3(b)(2)-(5): age 21, good character, capability, and English.⁠¹⁵ Any substitute scheduled for 20 or more hours a week also needs a physician’s statement at application and at every renewal.⁠⁶⁠¹⁵

Nobody under 18 may be directly responsible for residents’ supervision and personal care, or work without on-site supervision.⁠¹⁵ You must train any employees and volunteers in residents’ rights and house rules, their specific duties, emergency procedures, and the needs of the people you serve.⁠¹⁵

The house: bedrooms, bathrooms and fire safety

Before you apply, check the house against 18 NYCRR 489.12. The floor-plan sketch you file must show room use, bedroom dimensions, exits, interior stairs, smoke detectors and fire extinguishers.⁠⁶

The source for every row is 18 NYCRR 489.12.⁠¹⁴ The bathroom ratios count “occupants of the home,” not just residents. Bedrooms in use in a certified home on January 31, 1985 may keep their sizes, and homes certified on or before that date may use one tub or shower per 10 occupants.⁠¹⁴

Each resident gets a standard single bed with springs and mattress, a chair, nightstand, lamp, wastebasket, secure storage for belongings and medications, and dresser and closet space. Rollaway beds, cots, folding beds, beds with side rails and beds over 36 inches high are not allowed. Each bedroom needs a hinged door, window shades or blinds plus curtains, and shaded lights.⁠¹⁴ You need a separate dining area and a leisure area, and neither may be used for sleeping. The home also needs a working phone that residents can use.⁠¹⁴

Fire and safety. The rule requires:⁠¹⁴

• smoke detectors at the top of every stairway in a multi-level home, and in any bedroom area more than 20 feet from the top of the stairs; in a one-floor home, in the corridors leading to bedrooms; and anywhere else the local fire department recommends;
• an ABC-rated fire extinguisher installed in the kitchen;
• no portable electric space heaters or fuel-burning space heaters, and no hot plates in resident rooms;
• solid-fuel stoves only with written county approval, which requires local building or fire approval of the installation and semi-annual inspections and chimney cleanings;
• grab bars at toilets, tubs and showers (unless the county waives them), nonskid tubs and showers, handrails on every stairway, night lights in hallways, stairs and bathrooms, a call system between bedrooms and the operator, and an emergency light source that does not depend on commercial power.

You also need a fire inspection report from the local fire department, building department or code enforcement officer, dated within 90 days of your application.⁠⁶ If the home has no municipal water, you need a lab report on drinking water quality that meets DOH standards, also dated within 90 days.⁠⁶ Any later renovation or remodeling needs county approval first.⁠¹⁴

Applying, step by step

1. Contact the county FTHA coordinator

   OCFS directs applicants to the coordinator at the local social services district. The coordinator explains the process and visits the proposed home.⁠¹⁠²

2. File Form DSS-2865

   You file with the commissioner of the local social services district where the home is located. Each applicant signs and dates it, and the signature date counts as your application date.⁠⁶

3. Assemble the supporting documents

   You need: the names and addresses of your employers over the past five years; two references who are not related to you; a physician’s statement (Form DSS-3239 or a local equivalent) that each applicant can care for dependent adults; a statement of your education, experience and community activities; an income statement; the fire inspection report; a water report if needed; the floor-plan sketch; the name, address and qualifications of your substitute caretaker(s), with physician statements for any working 20+ hours a week; and the registry-check documents.⁠⁶ OCFS notes that some of these must come with the application and others can follow within 90 days.⁠²

4. Finish the file within 120 days

   All supporting documents must reach the county within 120 days of your application date. Missing that deadline can be grounds for denial.⁠⁶

5. County survey and recommendation

   The county completes a Survey Report (DSS-2867) within 45 days of your application. Within 45 days of receiving a complete application, it sends OCFS the file with recommendations on public need, your character, competence and financial viability, and whether to approve.⁠⁶

6. OCFS decision

   OCFS must issue or deny the certificate within 90 days of receiving the complete application and county recommendation. If all supporting documents have not reached OCFS within 225 days of your application date, the application is treated as withdrawn and you must start over.⁠⁶

7. Certificate or hearing

   An approved operator receives an operating certificate stating the operator, location, capacity, conditions and duration.⁠⁶⁠⁷ If you are denied, you can request an administrative hearing under 18 NYCRR Part 343.⁠²⁠⁶

Neither Part 489 nor the OCFS application pages list an application or certificate fee. OCFS also states that no government funding is available to start an FTHA.⁠²⁠⁶

Who you can admit and keep

You may admit and keep only people whose needs you are allowed to meet.⁠⁹ Under 18 NYCRR 489.7(b), you may not accept or keep anyone who:⁠⁹

• needs continual medical or nursing care, or has a serious and persistent mental disability that warrants a facility licensed under the Mental Hygiene Law;
• is likely to endanger themselves or others, or repeatedly disrupts the home;
• has an unstable medical condition that needs continuous skilled observation;
• is chronically bedfast, or chronically needs another person’s physical help to walk;
• chronically needs physical help on stairs, unless they can be placed on a floor with ground-level exit;
• has chronic unmanaged urinary or bowel incontinence;
• has a communicable disease that endangers others;
• depends on medical equipment, unless the six safety conditions in the rule are met;
• is under 18; or
• cannot communicate with you in a common language.

You cannot turn someone away solely because they mainly use a wheelchair, and you must make reasonable accommodations under the ADA.⁠⁹

Before admission, you need a physician’s medical evaluation (Form DSS-3122 or a local equivalent) based on an exam within 30 days before the admission date, and you must interview the person.⁠⁹ At or before the interview, you give them the admission agreement and the statement of resident rights. You also explain the personal allowance to anyone on SSI or Home Relief.⁠⁹ Medical and social evaluations are repeated at least every 12 months.⁠⁹ If a resident later falls into one of the excluded categories, you must notify the county right away and keep looking for another placement.⁠⁹ For most other involuntary discharges, you must give 30 days’ written notice.⁠¹⁰

OCFS says residents come through referrals from hospitals, doctors, rehabilitation centers, agencies and personal contacts, and that you do your own marketing.⁠² County departments of social services also help with placing residents.⁠¹⁹

Daily care obligations

• Supervision and drills. You must train every occupant to evacuate quickly and hold evacuation drills twice a year, at different times of day and night, with your substitute taking part. Record each drill’s date, time and evacuation time. You and the county write an emergency plan together, and emergency numbers must be posted by the phone.⁠¹²
• Missing residents. If a resident’s whereabouts are unknown for more than eight hours, you must notify their next of kin or representative, law enforcement, and the county.⁠¹²
• Medications. A resident may keep and take their own medications if a physician attests in writing that they can. You may assist with self-administration. You may not change a dose without a physician’s authorization, and you may not give injections unless you hold a State Education Department license. Stock supplies of prescription drugs are prohibited.⁠¹²
• Food. Serve three meals a day plus an evening snack, with no more than 15 hours between the evening meal and breakfast. Keep at least three days of food on hand. Residents may not be made to eat apart from your household.⁠¹³
• Resident money. You must offer residents on SSI or Home Relief a home-held personal fund account. You may not charge a fee for it or mix it with your own money, and you record it on Form DSS-3633.⁠¹¹
• Records. Records on an individual resident must be kept, by you or the county, for three years after the resident leaves. Post your operating certificate, the latest inspection summary and the resident rights statement.⁠¹⁶

Payment

FTHA residents often pay through SSI and New York’s State Supplement Program (SSP), administered by the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA). OTDA says SSP amounts depend on living arrangement, income and county, and it publishes maximum monthly amounts each year.⁠¹⁸ Congregate care operators report admissions, discharges, bank details and income changes for residents on Form 5023.⁠¹⁸ OTDA’s SSP page links a 2026 maximum monthly benefit chart (revised October 27, 2025) that lists amounts by living arrangement, including congregate care, and by region. Neither Part 489 nor the OCFS pages state what a resident will pay you, so ask your county FTHA coordinator which rate and personal allowance apply to your residents before you set your own charges. Residents on SSI or Home Relief must keep their personal allowance and cannot be made to pay it toward the basic rate.⁠¹¹

Inspections, changes, renewal and closing

• Inspections. The county must make at least one complete unannounced inspection a year, plus more when needed. You receive a report listing violations and deadlines for correcting them.⁠²⁠⁸
• Changes that need a new certificate. You must apply for a new operating certificate before increasing capacity, adding or removing an operator, or moving.⁠⁵ Certificates cannot be transferred.⁠⁷
• Waivers. You can ask in writing for a waiver of any Part 489 requirement that is not set by statute. The request names the rule, explains the hardship and describes how residents will be protected. The county forwards it to OCFS with a recommendation.⁠⁵
• Renewal. Certificates last no more than four years.⁠⁷ OCFS notifies you and the county 90 days before expiration. You then have 60 days to file the renewal application with a new physician’s statement, income statement, fire inspection, water report if needed, and substitute physician statements. The county must send OCFS a fresh survey and recommendation at least 15 days before expiration.⁠⁶
• Closing. To close voluntarily, give the county written notice with a closure plan at least 120 days before the closing date.⁠⁶

If your plans outgrow four residents

Caring for a fifth adult who needs personal care or supervision takes you out of this program and into DOH licensing.⁠¹ If you plan to send aides into clients’ own homes rather than house people, that requires a separate DOH license; see the licensed home care services agency guide. Skilled nursing at home falls under certified home health agency approval.

Sources

1. 1
   New York State Office of Children and Family Services, Family-Type Home for Adults (FTHA) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
2. 2
   New York State Office of Children and Family Services, How To Apply To Operate an FTHA Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
3. 3
   New York State Senate, Social Services Law section 2 (definitions, including family type home for adults) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
4. 4
   New York Codes, Rules and Regulations (Westlaw public access), 18 NYCRR 489.2: Definitions Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
5. 5
   New York Codes, Rules and Regulations (Westlaw public access), 18 NYCRR 489.3: General provisions Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
6. 6
   New York Codes, Rules and Regulations (Westlaw public access), 18 NYCRR 489.4: Application and certification Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
7. 7
   New York Codes, Rules and Regulations (Westlaw public access), 18 NYCRR 485.5: Operating certificates Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
8. 8
   New York Codes, Rules and Regulations (Westlaw public access), 18 NYCRR 489.5: Inspection and enforcement Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
9. 9
   New York Codes, Rules and Regulations (Westlaw public access), 18 NYCRR 489.7: Admission standards and procedures Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
10. 10
    New York Codes, Rules and Regulations (Westlaw public access), 18 NYCRR 489.8: Discharge and transfer Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
11. 11
    New York Codes, Rules and Regulations (Westlaw public access), 18 NYCRR 489.9: Resident protections Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
12. 12
    New York Codes, Rules and Regulations (Westlaw public access), 18 NYCRR 489.10: Resident services Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
13. 13
    New York Codes, Rules and Regulations (Westlaw public access), 18 NYCRR 489.11: Food service Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
14. 14
    New York Codes, Rules and Regulations (Westlaw public access), 18 NYCRR 489.12: Environmental standards Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
15. 15
    New York Codes, Rules and Regulations (Westlaw public access), 18 NYCRR 489.13: Personnel Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
16. 16
    New York Codes, Rules and Regulations (Westlaw public access), 18 NYCRR 489.14: Records and reports Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
17. 17
    New York Codes, Rules and Regulations (Westlaw public access), 18 NYCRR 489.16: Capacity Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
18. 18
    New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, Supplemental Security Income (SSI) State Supplement Program (SSP) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
19. 19
    Cattaraugus County Department of Social Services, Family Type Homes Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑

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