How to Start a Personal Care Home or Assisted Living Community in Georgia: DCH Permit, Zoning and Staffing

Opening a personal care home in Georgia is a licensing project first and a real estate project second. No personal care home may operate, and no resident may be admitted, without a current permit from the Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH), Healthcare Facility Regulation. DCH acts only on a complete application, so the order you work in matters. If you sign a lease, buy furniture or hire staff before you know the building can be permitted, you can end up paying for a home you cannot open.

This guide follows the sequence that avoids that problem. It covers the DCH rules for personal care homes (DCH Rules chapter 111-8-62) and assisted living communities (chapter 111-8-63), the fee rule (111-8-25-.03), and the business steps that come before opening. This is informational content, not legal, tax or licensing advice. Use it as a checklist, and confirm every figure with the agency named before you commit money.

What Counts as a Personal Care Home in Georgia

Under Rule 111-8-62-.03, a personal care home is any dwelling that provides or arranges housing, food service and one or more personal services for two or more unrelated adults. If your residents are unrelated adults and you provide meals and help with daily living, you are almost certainly in this category.

Two rules catch most first-time operators:

• A personal care home that is not specifically licensed as an assisted living community must not provide assisted living care. Assisted living communities hold a separate permit under Rule 111-8-63 with their own application requirements.
• A home that holds itself out as providing specialized care for residents with dementia needs a memory care certificate. Advertising dementia care without the certificate is a problem even if your staff is qualified.

Materials and Documents You Need Before You Apply

Gather these items before you start the DCH application. Start with the entity and the building.

• Formation documents: Articles of Organization for an LLC or Articles of Incorporation for a corporation, filed with the Secretary of State.
• Registered agent information: an individual Georgia resident or a corporation authorized to do business in Georgia, with a Georgia street address. A P.O. box does not qualify.
• Proof of ownership or a lease for the building.
• Sketch, plat, photographs or drawing of the home and grounds showing windows, doors, room measurements and bed placement.
• Ownership disclosure: the names of all owners, including anyone holding 10 percent or more, and the registered agent.
• Administrator or on-site manager name. If you do not know the name yet, you must supply it before the permit issues.
• CPA financial stability affidavit if the home will have 25 beds or more. The affidavit must show the applicant can operate as a going concern for two years.
• Zoning and local approval records showing the residential care use is allowed at your address.
• Application fees, starting with the $300 application processing fee due on submission.
• A staffing plan and training schedule that meets the minimums described later in this guide.

Step-by-Step: How to Start a Personal Care Home in Georgia

Step 1: Set the bed count and license type

Decide how many beds you will license and whether you need a memory care certificate. Bed count drives almost everything else: the administrator's qualifications, the staffing minimums, whether a CPA affidavit is required, and which tier of the annual license fee applies. A home with 24 beds and a home with 25 beds face different rules, so settle this number before you look at buildings. Decide, too, whether you want a personal care home or an assisted living community, since the two use separate permits.

Step 2: Ask DCH about a Certificate of Need before you buy or lease

Contact DCH Healthcare Planning and ask whether a Certificate of Need applies to your project. Do this before you buy or lease a building. Get the answer in writing if you can. Do not assume the answer from a neighbor's experience or from a broker.

Step 3: Resolve zoning and local requirements before you sign a lease

Zoning and other local requirements are your job to resolve with local officials, and they are not handled by DCH. If the property is inside a city, start with the city's planning and zoning office. If it is in unincorporated county territory, start with the county. Ask whether a personal care home with your planned number of residents is a permitted use at that address, and get the answer in writing. DCH and local officials publish their own building and other requirements, so ask them directly what applies to your property.

Make the lease contingent on zoning approval and on your DCH permit. A lease with no contingency can leave you paying rent on a building you cannot license.

Step 4: Form the business entity

The governing body applies to DCH, so the entity should exist before you file. For an LLC, file Articles of Organization with the Georgia Secretary of State Corporations Division. The filing fee is $110 total, which is the $100 fee plus a $10 service charge. Online filings through eCorp take about 7 to 10 business days, and paper filings take about 15 business days. Expedited review costs $120 for 2 business days, $275 for same day if received by noon, or $1,200 for one hour on business days. A corporation files Articles of Incorporation at the same $110 cost.

If you want to hold a name while you prepare, a name can be reserved for 30 days for $35. The name must include an LLC designator such as Limited Liability Company, LLC or L.L.C., and it must be distinguishable on the Secretary of State's records. Check the Secretary of State's name rules before you file. For the full formation sequence, see how to start an LLC in Georgia.

Choose your registered agent carefully. An entity cannot be its own registered agent, and changing the agent later costs $5 per entity (minimum $20) plus the $10 service charge.

Step 5: Register a trade name if you will operate under another name

If the home will operate under a name other than the entity's legal name, you must register a trade name. Trade names are not filed with the Secretary of State. File with the Clerk of Superior Court of the county where the business is chiefly carried on. The clerk fee is about $165 plus the cost of publishing notice in the county legal organ once a week for two weeks. Confirm the current clerk fee and publication charge with your county clerk. Details are on the Secretary of State business division FAQ.

Step 6: Obtain the local occupation tax certificate

Georgia issues no general statewide business license. The local license is an occupation tax certificate, often called a business license, issued under O.C.G.A. Title 48, chapter 13. A business inside a city pays the city. A business in unincorporated territory pays the county. More than half of Georgians live outside any city, so the county is the issuer for many operators. Each of the 159 counties and about 537 cities sets its own formula, deadlines and prerequisites, so ask the issuing office what you need. Private employers with more than 10 employees must file an E-Verify affidavit to get the certificate (O.C.G.A. 36-60-6). See Georgia business license requirements and Georgia E-Verify requirements for business licenses.

Step 7: File the DCH application with all fees

Submit DCH's application forms with the full set of attachments listed above. DCH reviews only complete applications, so check that your package is complete before you submit it. Pay the $300 application processing fee on submission. The annual license fee follows the tier table in the next section. Confirm with DCH when the annual license fee is collected and how to pay it.

Do not admit any resident until DCH has issued the permit. Operating without one is not a gray area under the rules.

Step 8: Put a qualified administrator in place

The home must have an administrator at least 21 years old. Qualifications depend on the number of beds, as shown in the table below. Hire or designate your on-site manager and direct care supervisors, who must also be at least 21. Hands-on staff must be at least 18.

Every staff member must complete training within the first 60 days. That training covers current emergency first aid, CPR with return demonstration, evacuation procedures, residents' needs and rights, recognizing and reporting abuse, neglect and exploitation, and infection control. Direct care staff and the administrator or manager need at least 16 hours of training each year. A trained staff person must be in the home whenever residents are present.

Step 9: Build a schedule that meets the staffing minimums

The minimums are floors, not targets. The rules require homes to staff above these levels when residents' needs call for it. Build your schedule from the resident assessments, not from the minimums alone.

Step 10: Register for taxes and insurance before you hire

Register with the Georgia Department of Revenue through the Georgia Tax Center (gtc.dor.ga.gov) for withholding before your first payroll. Sales tax registration is free, but register for it only if the business sells taxable goods or has employees. Registration with the Department of Revenue is not a business license. Review the state tax picture on the Georgia business taxes overview. Georgia has no state paid sick leave or family leave mandate, so confirm any leave obligations you will owe under other law with a qualified professional.

Workers' compensation insurance is required once you have three or more workers, and that count includes part-time staff. Buy the policy before the third worker starts. See Georgia workers' compensation insurance requirements and hiring your first employee in Georgia.

DCH Fees for Personal Care Homes

These figures come from Rule 111-8-25-.03, effective March 10, 2025.

Fee	Amount	Notes
Application processing fee	$300	Due on submission
Personal care home annual license	Starts at $350	Higher tiers by bed count, reaching $1,500 for more than 50 beds. A $750 tier sits between them. Confirm tier boundaries with DCH.
Memory care certificate	$200 per year	Required if the home holds itself out as providing specialized dementia care
Accreditation discount	25% off	Available if the home is accredited by a nationally recognized accreditation organization that DCH approves
Assisted living community	Same table as personal care homes	Confirm the current figures with DCH

Administrator Qualifications and Staffing Minimums

The table below summarizes Rules 111-8-62-.08 through .10. Read the rules themselves before you finalize your staffing plan.

Requirement	Rule
Administrator fewer than 25 beds	At least 21, with an associate's degree, or a GED or high school diploma plus two years of experience in a licensed personal care home or other health care setting
Administrator 25 beds or more	At least 21, and licensed by the State Board of Long-Term Care Facility Administrators
Waking hours	One awake direct care staff person per 15 residents
Night, fewer than 25 beds	One staff person per 25 residents
Night, 25 beds or more	An average of one staff person per 20 residents
Premises	Someone on the premises 24 hours a day, with at least one staff person per occupied floor
25 beds or more	At least two staff on the premises at all times

Assisted Living Communities: A Short Overview

An assisted living community is a separate license under Rule 111-8-63, not an upgraded personal care home. You cannot provide assisted living care under a personal care home permit. If assisted living is your goal, plan for the assisted living application from the start.

The assisted living application under Rule 111-8-63-.05 adds a floor plan and photographs to the personal care home requirements. Any initial application also requires a CPA financial stability affidavit. Assisted living communities follow the personal care home fee table, so the fees above apply, subject to confirmation with DCH. Speak with DCH before you design the building, because the floor plan you submit has to match the home you actually build.

Business Costs at a Glance

Item	Cost	Timing or notes
LLC Articles of Organization or corporation Articles of Incorporation	$110	Online about 7 to 10 business days; paper about 15 business days
Expedited review	$120, $275 or $1,200	2 business days, same day if received by noon, or one hour on business days
Name reservation	$35	Lasts 30 days
Annual registration	$60 ($50 plus $10)	Filed January 1 to April 1 each year. Confirm the current window and late penalty with the Secretary of State.
Trade name registration	About $165 plus newspaper publication	Filed with the county Clerk of Superior Court. Confirm with your county clerk.
Reinstatement after administrative dissolution	About $260	Avoid this by filing your annual registration on time

A typical single-member or partnership LLC owes no Georgia franchise tax. Corporations, and LLCs taxed as corporations, owe a net worth tax of $0 to $5,000 depending on net worth. Check with a CPA about which structure fits your tax position.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Signing a lease first. Zoning and the Certificate of Need question should be answered before you commit to a building.
• Admitting residents before the permit issues. Each resident admitted without a permit is a compliance problem on its own.
• Calling the home assisted living. A personal care home permit does not cover assisted living care.
• Advertising dementia care without a memory care certificate. Marketing language counts, not just the services you deliver.
• Ignoring bed count. Moving from 24 to 25 beds changes your administrator requirement, staffing minimums and CPA affidavit obligation.
• Staffing only to the minimum. The rules require staffing above the minimums when residents' needs call for it.
• Treating the state as the only license issuer. There is no state business license. The local occupation tax certificate comes from the city if you are inside one, or from the county if you are not.
• Filing a trade name with the Secretary of State. Trade names go to the Clerk of Superior Court in the county where you operate.
• Hiring before insurance and withholding are in place. Workers' compensation is required at three or more workers, including part-time staff.
• Missing the annual registration window. Late filings carry penalties, and continued delinquency can lead to administrative dissolution.

What to Expect: Realistic Results

A licensed, well-staffed home may give residents and families a more predictable daily routine and a defined structure for care, and it may help your business earn the trust of referral sources. Results depend on your staffing, training, building condition and the needs of the residents you admit. This guide cannot promise a permit approval date, occupancy level or revenue. Plan for a timeline that allows for a complete application, local approvals and any delays in staffing, and keep cash reserves to cover the period before you reach full occupancy.

If you plan non-medical in-home services rather than a residential home, that is a different path with different requirements. See starting a home health care business in Georgia.

Next Steps and Professional Advice

Start with the entity and the DCH and zoning questions, because they determine whether the project is viable. Then build the staffing plan around your bed count. Confirm every fee and deadline on the agency pages named in this guide, since fees and tiers can change.

Because this project involves licensing, real estate, employment and tax obligations at once, consult a qualified Georgia attorney for the entity, lease and licensing questions, and a CPA for the financial stability affidavit and tax structure. This article is informational content, not legal, tax or licensing advice.