Assisted Living Waiver
Is the Assisted Living Waiver accepting applications?
Yes, through a care coordination agency, and every new applicant joins the waitlist. What changed in September 2024, who gets openings first, the numbers.
Yes, through a Care Coordination Agency, and every new applicant goes on the waitlist. The Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) stopped taking Assisted Living Waiver (ALW) applications directly on September 3, 2024, when the program reached its maximum capacity. Since then an agency sends the waitlist request, and DHCS releases openings to agencies in priority order under Policy Letter 24-002. The waitlist is not closed; it is the only door.
Important: No agency can move anyone up the list, and no one can say when any one person's opening will come. The dates and numbers below are DHCS's own, each with its source.
What changed in September 2024
Until September 2024, a person already in a nursing facility could be enrolled straight away under the waiver's reserved capacity. On September 3, 2024, DHCS halted the direct submission of new applications that meet that reserved capacity, because the program had reached its maximum enrollment, and placed those applicants on the existing waitlist instead. DHCS announced it in a capacity memorandum dated September 4, 2024, and set the release rules a month later in Policy Letter 24-002, dated October 7, 2024.
The waiver itself did not close. Its current term runs from March 1, 2024 to February 28, 2029, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services approved DHCS's amendment to raise the waiver's capacity for waiver years two to five, effective March 1, 2025. Openings come from those yearly increases and from people leaving the program.
Who gets an opening first
Policy Letter 24-002 assigns openings in this order:
| Order | Group | How it is documented |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | People who have been in a nursing facility or other institutional setting for at least 60 days when the waitlist request is submitted to DHCS | The facility record, such as the face sheet or admission record |
| 2 | People with an imminent need for services | An Adult Protective Services (APS) referral |
| 3 | People with an imminent need for services | A Long-Term Care Ombudsman referral |
| 4 | Everyone else, living in the community when the request is submitted | In the order their requests were received |
The letter sets the split for each release: 50% of the openings released go to the institutional group, 25% to APS referrals and 25% to Ombudsman referrals. DHCS releases openings to community applicants only when some remain after those groups. A person who met the 60-day requirement when the request was submitted keeps that priority even if they move home before an opening is released. Policy Letter 26-001, dated June 22, 2026, clarifies who qualifies for a Long-Term Care Ombudsman referral; ask your agency whether it applies to your family member. How priority works in practice.
How many people are waiting
DHCS publishes an enrollment dashboard, updated monthly. The latest file on its site, read for Beta's waitlist tracker, shows 15,910 people on the waitlist and 14,831 enrolled in March 2026. At a California Senate budget hearing on August 12, 2026, DHCS said 17,886 people were on the waitlist and 14,495 were enrolled. The two figures come from different months and different documents; the tracker shows every month DHCS has published. DHCS does not publish a count by county.
How long the wait is
At the same hearing DHCS gave two averages: 11 to 12 months to enrollment for people moving out of a nursing facility or other institution, and 3 to 4 months for people referred by APS or the Long-Term Care Ombudsman. DHCS gave no average for people applying from the community. A figure of "about two years" that circulates online came from the same hearing, but it was DHCS's answer about the Home and Community-Based Alternatives waiver, not the ALW. The current wait, dated, and the full page.
How releases work
DHCS keeps one master waitlist, organized by the priority groups above and, within each group, by the date the request was placed on the list. Its stated target is to release available openings to agencies on or before the 10th of each month; the number varies with the openings available, with people leaving the program and with the size of each agency's list. When an opening is released to your agency, the agency has 60 days to submit your complete application or tell DHCS you are no longer interested, and it must try to reach you at least three times, in different weeks, at different times of day and on different days of the week, before it can close your request for no contact. Keep your phone number and address current with your agency.
Before that, the agency's own deadlines run: it screens your waitlist request within seven calendar days of receiving it, and confirms in writing within three calendar days of screening, with the date your request reached DHCS. Within your priority group, that date sets your order on the list.
Questions people ask
Can I apply to DHCS directly?
No. Since September 3, 2024, DHCS does not take ALW applications directly. A Care Coordination Agency sends your waitlist request, and later your enrollment package, to DHCS. You may choose any agency on the DHCS list; every agency, by county.
Is the ALW waitlist closed?
No. New requests are added through agencies. What ended in September 2024 was direct enrollment for people in nursing facilities; they now join the waitlist with first priority.
Does paying privately first move me up?
No. Paying privately for a home does not reserve an opening or change your place on the list. Private pay and the waiver.
What is Reserve Capacity?
DHCS's term for the openings it holds for three groups: people with at least 60 days in an institution, people with an APS referral and people with a Long-Term Care Ombudsman referral. Everyone else is "community enrollment".
Where do I see this month's numbers?
On Beta's waitlist tracker, which charts every month DHCS has published since January 2019, and on the DHCS enrollment dashboard it is built from.
Applying asks Beta to be your Care Coordination Agency and to send your waitlist request to DHCS. If you would rather ask a question first, request a callback.
About this informationReviewed October 20, 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 October 20, 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.