ALW guide
Applying for ALW from home (not from a hospital or nursing home)
If your family member lives at home, you can apply for ALW through Beta. How to start, what the community waitlist means and how to use the wait.
This guide is for a person who lives at home, with family or alone, and not in a hospital or nursing home: you can apply for the Assisted Living Waiver (ALW) through Beta from there. The same is true anywhere that is not a nursing home. Applying asks Beta to be your agency and to send your waitlist request to the state. The state fills the community list in the order requests come in. No one can promise how long the wait will be.
Important: The state, not Beta, keeps the waitlist and decides when openings are released, and nobody can promise how long the wait will be. Asking to be added to the list is not approval, and a change in where the person lives doesn't create approval either.
How to start
1. Check whether ALW may fit. The person must be 21 or older. They need full-scope Medi-Cal with no monthly share of cost, and the level of care a nursing home gives. They must be able to live safely in an assisted-living home in one of the fifteen ALW counties. See the eligibility page, or take the fit check, which saves nothing you enter.
2. Choose a Care Coordination Agency. The Care Coordination Agency (CCA) is the state-listed organization that does the ALW paperwork and care planning with you. Beta can be yours in every county where ALW operates.
3. Ask to be added to the state's waitlist. You apply, and Beta becomes your agency. State policy requires Beta to screen your request within seven calendar days and send the waitlist request form to the state. Within three calendar days of the screening, Beta must confirm in writing that the request was received. That notice gives the date your place on the list starts.
Most people applying from home are in the community group, filled in the order requests come in. First priority goes to people with at least 60 days in a nursing facility or other institutional setting when the request is submitted. Understand the waitlist. The application process page has all ten steps.
While you wait
Four things matter most. Keep Medi-Cal active and answer every county notice. Keep your phone number current with us. Keep one folder of records. Keep the person safe where they are now. The full list is on the waitlist readiness checklist.
You can look at homes that take ALW while you wait. A home on the state's list may have no room today. Do not pay a non-refundable fee or make a plan you cannot undo because of a listing. See homes on the state list
If things change while you wait
Tell Beta's ALW team if the person goes into a hospital or nursing home. Also tell us about a sharp decline, a lost caregiver, a move, or a change of representative or Medi-Cal. And tell us if they can no longer stay safely where they are.
If the person needs care now, don't wait for ALW. The what if ALW doesn't fit page lists programs that may help in the meantime. In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) pays for help in the person's own home. PACE (Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly) is for people 55 or older in a PACE service area who need nursing-home level of care.
What surprises people
Some things people hear are not true. There is no typical wait time. A home cannot create an opening (the state calls it a waiver slot), and no one can sell you priority. An Adult Protective Services (APS) referral is for a real safety concern. A documented safety concern places a person in a priority group under state policy, and it is not a shortcut anyone can request. More on the common mistakes page.
When an opening is released
Community requests get openings only when some remain after the priority groups. When the state releases an opening to your family member, we call you. Current policy generally gives Beta 60 days from that notice to submit a complete application. Read what happens after a slot opens.
Apply for ALW. Applying asks Beta to be your agency and to send the waitlist request to the state. The state decides eligibility and releases openings.
About this informationUpdated October 26, 2026. Reviewed August 27, 2026. Program details may change. View official sources and page limitations.
Written by Beta's ALW team and reviewed by Sergio B., Program Coordinator, against the official sources this page lists; facts checked through August 27, 2026. Where this page and an official source differ, the source controls.
This page gives general California ALW information. DHCS decides eligibility after the nurse assessment and releases openings. Each home decides its own admissions. Nothing here is an eligibility decision or a promise of enrollment, and it does not guarantee a place in a home. You may choose any Care Coordination Agency listed by DHCS and any participating home.
Something out of date? Tell Beta's ALW team.