Group homes · question

How do you get an adult residential facility license in California?

To get an adult residential facility (ARF) license in California, you take the Department of Social Services’ online orientation, mail your application to its Centralized Applications Bureau, clear the background, fire and financial reviews, and pass a pre-licensing inspection. CDSS expects the whole process to take 90 to 120 days. CDSS: how to become licensed

Here are CDSS’s steps in plain words, which license fits which home, and what your website needs.

Start your website Not ready? Get the free info packet

The steps

Take the orientation. Component I is online, from a laptop or computer, not a phone or tablet. Register for the adult care one; you have 30 days to finish it. CDSS: online orientations
Fill in the application package. Including the administrator certification, with every supporting document.
Mail it with the application fee to the Centralized Applications Bureau in Sacramento. The fee isn’t refunded. CDSS: how to become licensed
Preliminary review. Your facility gets a number, and an acceptance letter names your application specialist and anything missing.
Background checks. You and every adult living in the facility need a criminal record clearance, through LiveScan fingerprints.
Full review. CDSS orders a fire clearance from your local fire authority, sends an overconcentration notice to the county for this kind of home, checks you have three months of operating funds for a new facility, runs a credit check and your compliance history, and holds the Component II interview with you.
Fire clearance. The local fire authority inspects and reports back to CDSS.
Pre-licensing inspection and Component III. The regional office checks the house and your policies on site, and runs a training session for your kind of facility.
Corrections, then the license. Fix anything they list by the due date; after a final review, CDSS issues the license.

From CDSS’s own steps. CDSS: steps to obtaining a license (PDF)

Which license

An adult residential facility serves adults 18 to 59, and some people 60 or over, with a mental, physical or developmental disability, with 24-hour non-medical care. CDSS: how to become licensed
A residential care facility for the elderly (RCFE) serves people 60 and over, and uses the senior care orientation instead. CDSS: how to become licensed CDSS: online orientations
An ARFPSHN serves up to five adults with developmental disabilities and special health care needs, and needs program certification from the Department of Developmental Services. CDSS: how to become licensed
An enhanced behavioral support home (EBSH) is an adult residential facility certified by the Department of Developmental Services for people who need enhanced behavioral supports. CDSS: how to become licensed

Checked against each linked page on 2 November 2026. This is a plain summary, not legal advice: the rule itself, or the agency, has the final word.

Your website

Build it during the 90 to 120 days. The name, photos, who you serve and the tour form can be ready before the license. Add the license once it’s issued. CDSS: how to become licensed
Lead with age and need. Say who you serve in the first line, with the ages, and name the license type in plain words. California’s kinds of home, and what to put on your site.

What you get

The website, the flyer and the rest, for one price.

Everything in the $300

Your own website with your services, your house, requirements, questions and answers, and contact info.
Contact and tour forms so families can reach you any time, day or night.
Better photos of your house, made from the ones you send us. No photos yet? We make pictures for your site.
Your admin page to see messages, reply, post updates and send newsletters.
Email newsletters a sign-up box on your site, and you send updates to families from your admin page.
A flyer to match your site with a QR code, ready to print.
A logo if you need one (free) at no extra charge.
Set up on Google so families can find you.
Ready for ChatGPT and AI search set up so ChatGPT and other AI assistants can read your site and point families to it.
Web address with the first year included yours to keep.
About 3 business days from your details to your live site, for most sites.

$300 one-time. Monthly or yearly plans, add any time: Fast Lane $20, Full Care $50 or Unlimited $100 a month, or $100, $500 or $1,000 a year paid up front ($8.33, $41.67 or $83.33 a month). We stay with you after launch.

Start

$300, flat. Send your name and a way to reach you, and your site is usually live in about 3 business days, with a free logo if you need one.