How to open an APD group home in Florida

To open an APD group home you need a license from APD under Rule 65G-2, F.A.C., which was rewritten effective March 26, 2026. In short: secure a home that meets the physical and zoning rules, apply in APD iConnect with Form 65G-2.002-A, prove you can operate 60 days without payment, pass background screening and an APD inspection, and wait up to 90 days after your application is complete for a decision. The license lasts one year. Residents' care is then billed as residential habilitation under the iBudget waiver.

Bedrooms: 80 square feet of usable floor space for a single, 60 per person when shared; at most two residents per room in homes licensed since July 1, 2014; direct access from a common area; no bunk beds, futons or cots. Bathrooms: one toilet, sink and tub or shower for every three residents, indoors and private. Living space: at least 35 square feet of combined living and dining area per household member.

Safety: smoke and carbon-monoxide detectors, hot water no hotter than 120°F, indoor temperature between 68 and 80°F, an approved fire inspection before licensure and every renewal, and monthly fire drills. A written Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan is updated every year and staff are trained on it within 30 days of hire. The home must be accessible for its residents' disabilities and feel like a home — residents decorate their own rooms, and no exterior sign may identify it as a disability facility.

The operator needs 90 college credit hours in a relevant field, or a high school diploma plus three years of relevant experience, and must be on-site or on call at all times with a named backup. Direct care staff must be 18 or older with a high school diploma and one year of relevant experience or 30 semester hours of related coursework (the experience can be waived with 90 days of supervised work if APD is notified within five days of hire). The rule sets no numeric staff ratio, but someone must be present whenever residents are home, and residential habilitation billing assumes minimum direct-care hours per resident per day by support level.

Staff training follows the same clock as every APD provider — Zero Tolerance before any service, then Core Competencies, in-person CPR and first aid, and HIV/AIDS within 90 days — plus medication administration and validation if staff give medications, behavioral emergency procedures where a resident needs them, and training on each resident's behavior plan. Details are in APD staff training requirements and the MAR and Rule 65G-7.

Under chapter 419, F.S., a home for six or fewer residents counts as a single-family use — allowed in single-family or multifamily zoning without local approval unless it's within 1,000 feet of another home of six or fewer or 1,200 feet of a larger community residential home. A home for 7 to 14 needs written notice to the local government, which can approve, deny, or let 60 days pass (counted as approval); within 1,200 feet of another such home or 500 feet of single-family zoning is overconcentration. On top of that, APD's own rule allows no more than three facilities within 1,000 feet without a local variance. The application walks you through checking nearby homes on AHCA, DCF, and APD lists.

You must show you can run the home for 60 days without state or third-party payment — bank statements, pay stubs, or a line of credit — and failing to is a mandatory ground for denial. No license fee amount is published, so ask your regional office. Once residents move in, care is billed as residential habilitation: a daily rate, switching to the monthly rate when the resident is in the home 24 or more days of the month (filed after the month ends). The tiers are Standard, Behavior Focused, Intensive Behavior, and Enhanced Intensive Behavior; anything above Standard needs an APD designation. Room and board isn't covered by the habilitation rate — it's paid separately. Current amounts are in the iBudget rate table, and general startup costs in what it costs to start an APD agency.

Rule 65G-2 makes denial mandatory for, among other things: an incomplete application with missed deadlines, disqualifying offenses of the applicant or anyone with a controlling interest, a prior license revoked or relinquished, Medicaid or Medicare sanctions, no proof of 60-day funds, uncorrected inspection violations, verified abuse findings, and false statements. The common stalls are softer: no inspection until every document and screening result is in, an application abandoned after 90 idle days, and a missing zoning notice that voids the license.

A licensed home lives on documentation: the resident census (update APD within five days of a change), medication records, incident reports, staff training and screening, fire drills, and daily service notes — all reviewed at monthly or quarterly monitoring and again at renewal. Waiversoft keeps it in one place for Florida APD providers: staff files with expiration tracking, consumer records, caregiver scheduling and clock-in, and the incident reports and survey-ready records reviewers ask for.