Application Forms Now Available for Relocation of Facility for Small Providers

Posted on March 20, 2025 by Bobbie Guidry

Some small residential providers have had challenges complying with AL statutes due to what would be cost-prohibitive remodeling required, or unwillingness of a landlord to allow the changes in rented settings. Changes were made to 144G.195 in the 2024 legislative session to allow these settings to relocate within certain parameters.

Eligibility Details

An existing assisted living facility or assisted living facility with dementia care licensee may be eligible for relocation if all three of the following apply:

• The facility has a licensed resident capacity of five (5) or fewer residents.
• The new facility address is within the geographic boundaries of the municipality in which the facility is currently located or within the geographic boundaries of a contiguous municipality. For purposes of assisted living facility license relocation, a municipality is defined as a city, town, or village. Contiguous means being in actual contact, touching along a boundary or at a point.
• The licensee has not relocated within the previous three-year period. MDH may approve an additional relocation within a three-year period upon a licensee's demonstration of an extenuating circumstance.

MDH has now posted information and application forms for qualifying facilities seeking relocation:

• Relocation of Existing Assisted Living License Application (pdf)
• Assisted Living License Relocation Checklist (pdf)
• Assisted Living Plan Submittal Form (pdf)

No assisted living services shall be provided at the new facility location until the Minnesota Department of Health approves the licensee relocating to a new address. Upon approval of the relocation, the licensee will need to give 60 days' notice to residents at the current location regarding the move to the new facility location. 

To receive consideration, the licensee must:

• Notify the commissioner (MDH) by submitting a form that will be developed by MDH and paying a relocation fee.
• Obtain plan review approval for the building to which the licensee intends to relocate and a certificate of occupancy from the Department of Labor and Industry or delegated authority.

• Upon receipt of the certificate of occupancy, MDH must inspect the building and approve or deny relocation within 30 calendar days.
• Relocation may only occur within the geographic boundaries of the municipality in which the facility is currently located or those of a contiguous municipality.
• A relocation may only relocate one time in any 3-year period unless, due to extenuating
• circumstances MDH approves another relocation.
• When approved, the facility must provide each resident with a new assisted living contract and comply with coordinated move requirements.
• A licensee denied approval may continue to operate in the current location, and either go

through the closure process or notify MDH of intent to relocate to an alternative new location and repeat the process.

For providers who are enrolled with DHS to provide waiver covered services, a second Subdivision of the statute addition provides for a limited exemption from the customized living setting moratorium and age limitations and requires a facility that receives approval to relocate by MDH, and that is also enrolled with DHS as a customized living setting for CADI and BI waiver plans to inform the commissioner of human services (DHS) of the intent to relocate.

If the licensee at the time of the intended relocation is providing customized living or 24-hour customized living services under the brain injury (BI )and community access for disability inclusion (CADI) home and community-based services waiver plans to at least one individual, and the licensee intends to continue serving that individual in the new location, the licensee must inform DHS of the licensee's intention to do so and meet the DHS enrollment  requirements. An accompanying change to 256B.49 allows the transfer of customized living enrollment dates from the original facility to a relocated facility if the original facility was enrolled prior to Jan. 11, 2021 to deliver customized living or 24-hour customized living for BI or CADI waiver plans if all of the  requirements are met.

A transfer of enrollment date is allowed only if the facility relocation is due to:

1. a provider that rents the original setting being unable to continue to rent the original setting because of eviction, nonrenewal of its lease by the property owner, or sale of the property by the owner;
2. a provider that rents the original setting being unable to make the necessary updates or improvements to the original setting to comply with the physical plant and other requirements under state or federal law, including but not limited to chapter 144G;
3. a provider's monthly rent increasing more than three percent in a 12-month period;
4. the original setting being destroyed or damaged by fire, lightning, flood, wind, ground shifts, or other such hazards, including environmental hazards, to such an extent that the original setting cannot be repaired and the safety of residents would be jeopardized by continuing to reside in the original setting; or
5. a provider or an entity that directly or indirectly through one or more intermediaries is

controlled by, is under common control with, or controls the entity enrolled to provide customized living services at the current setting purchases a new setting and the commissioner of health approves the relocation of the provider's assisted living facility license to the newly purchased setting.

When a relocation is necessitated by a qualifying situation as listed in (1) to (5) above, the providermust submit a notification to the commissioner of human services, the ombudsman of long-term care, the ombudsperson of mental health and developmental disabilities, relevant lead agencies, each resident's case manager, and either each person receiving services at the setting or the person's legal representative. The notification must be made at least 30 days prior to the relocation date and on forms and in the manner prescribed by the commissioner of human services.

A provider proposing to transfer a customized living setting enrollment date to a new setting must submit, with the provider's notification to DHS the following information:

1. the addresses of the vacating location and of the proposed new location;
2. the anticipated date of the move to the new location;
3. contacts for the lead agency and each resident's waiver case manager;
4. documentation that the Department of Health has received an application to relocate for the new location; and
5. documentation that the customized living provider's assisted living facility license is not conditional.

DHS has 30 days to approve or deny requests to transfer the original setting's customized living enrollment date to the new setting. DHS must deny requests to transfer a customized living enrollment date to a new setting if:

1. the new setting approved by the commissioner of health is adjoined to or on the same property as an institution or one or more licensed assisted living facilities;
2. the requesting provider fails to notify the commissioner of human services of the proposed relocation within the time frames required;
3. the requesting provider's assisted living facility license is conditional; or
4. the requesting provider is changing ownership at the same time as the proposed relocation.

The setting to which the original customized living enrollment date is transferred must:

1. comply with setting requirements in the brain injury and community access for disability inclusion federally approved home and community-based services waiver plans and as the requirements existed on the customized living enrollment date of the original setting;
2. have a resident capacity less than or equal to the resident capacity of the original setting;
3. not require or coerce any resident of the original setting to move to the new setting, consistent with informed choice and independent living policies, and
4. provide each resident with a new assisted living contract and comply with the coordinated move requirements under section 144G.55.