Can I run a Golden Girls home for seniors in Texas?

You can rent rooms to independent seniors in Texas, and pure lodging with no services is not licensed at all. But Texas Health and Safety Code Section 260.001 defines a boarding home as furnishing lodging to three or more unrelated elderly or disabled persons and providing support services such as community meals, light housework, meal preparation, transportation, grocery shopping, money management, laundry, or assistance with medication. The catch is that every feature that makes a shared senior home appealing is on that list. The moment you deliver the shared dinners and the house manager you advertised, you are a boarding home and need a local permit. And an unlicensed shared home has no protection from an HOA, because age alone is not a protected class under fair housing law.

Written by Erika Crossley, senior living operator — not an attorney · Information last verified July 2026

This is general information, not legal advice. Erika Crossley is not an attorney. Texas law here turns on your specific property, your recorded deed restrictions, your city, and your individual residents — and municipal ordinances change without notice. Every document she prepares is a first draft for review and signature by your own licensed Texas attorney before it is used with a resident. No outcome, including license approval or permit approval, is guaranteed. Do not buy a property in reliance on this page. Take it to a Texas attorney first.

The line is the services, not the rent

Texas does not license independent living. If you lease rooms and provide nothing beyond the room, the arrangement falls under ordinary landlord and tenant law.

Section 260.001 turns it into a boarding home when lodging is combined with support services for three or more unrelated elderly or disabled residents. The listed services include community meals, light housework, meal preparation, transportation, grocery shopping, money management, laundry, and assistance with self-administration of medication.

You cannot market shared meals, companionship and someone who notices when a resident falls, and then argue you furnish nothing but a bedroom. A regulator, a plaintiff’s lawyer, or an HOA attorney will read the marketing page.

Where the permits apply

—City of Houston requires a boarding home permit. Roughly $307 to start, then an annual renewal and inspection.
—Unincorporated Harris County has required a permit since March 1, 2022, administered by the Sheriff’s Office. Much of Cypress and Spring sits here.
—Fort Bend County adopted boarding home regulations in October 2021, administered by the Fire Marshal outside of city limits.
—Operating without a required permit is a Class B misdemeanor under Health and Safety Code Section 260.0051.

The local occupancy rules that end it before it starts

The City of Katy zoning ordinance defines a family as an individual, persons related by blood, marriage or adoption, or a group of not more than five unrelated persons living together as a single housekeeping unit on a nonprofit cost-sharing basis. A for-profit operator renting rooms to unrelated seniors is not cost-sharing, so inside Katy city limits the model does not fit the definition at any headcount. Most addresses that carry a Katy mailing address, including Cinco Ranch, are not inside the city limits, so the parcel has to be checked rather than the mail.

Pearland amended its Unified Development Code in February 2026. The definition of family went from four unrelated persons down to THREE. Anyone still working from the old number is sizing a house against a repealed ordinance. Confirm the current text with the City Secretary before you buy anything.

And no personal care, ever

A boarding home may not provide personal care services as Section 247.002 defines them. The day a staff member helps a resident bathe, dress or transfer, the home becomes an unlicensed assisted living facility, which since September 1, 2025 is a Class A misdemeanor under House Bill 2510.

And remember the assisted living trigger is personal care services OR the administration of medication. Handing out pills to four or more unrelated residents is enough on its own.

Chapter 260 also does not apply to anyone who is required to be licensed under Chapter 247. You do not get to choose boarding home status. The services you actually deliver choose it for you.

Residents age into needing help. That is the structural problem with this model, and no spreadsheet shows it.

Why the threshold exists, and why you may not want to be under it

Chapter 260 was written because unlicensed homes have hurt elderly people in Texas. Authorities raided an unlicensed home in Atascocita in November 2025, removed three residents aged 66 to 97, and arrested the owner. That is what the permit threshold is for. It is a safety standard, not a number to duck under.

The honest comparison: a licensed home can legally provide care, can charge what care is actually worth, and is the only structure that can even reach the Community Home protections in Human Resources Code Chapter 123. An unlicensed shared house can do none of those things. The license is worth more than it costs.

A senior who owns her own home and takes in one or two housemates is a genuinely different situation, because she is simply living in her house. But a company that does the matching, papers the agreements and collects the rent should get advice on the Texas Real Estate License Act and on Business and Commerce Code Chapter 121, which governs senior living referral arrangements. Leasing property belonging to another for compensation is regulated activity in Texas.

Where to register to get paid

The official Texas and federal sign-up pages — verified June 2026. You don’t have to hunt for them.

Texas Health and Safety Code Chapter 260 →
The boarding home statute.

These are the official portals. Approval and contracting still take real paperwork — that’s the part we help you through.

Ask Erika which path fits your property →

Common questions

Is a Golden Girls style shared senior home legal in Texas?

Renting rooms to independent seniors with no services is not licensed in Texas. But providing support services such as shared meals, housework, transportation or medication reminders to three or more unrelated elderly or disabled residents makes it a boarding home under Health and Safety Code Section 260.001. Section 260.004 lets a county or municipality require a permit, and Houston, unincorporated Harris County and Fort Bend County all do. This is general information, not legal advice.

How many unrelated seniors can live together in a house in Texas?

It depends on the municipality, and the numbers change. The City of Katy defines a family as at most five unrelated persons living together on a nonprofit cost-sharing basis, and that cost-sharing clause on its face does not fit a for-profit operator. Pearland reduced its limit from four unrelated persons to three in February 2026. Verify the current ordinance with the city before relying on any number, including these.

Does fair housing law protect a shared senior home from an HOA?

Not on the basis of age. Age is not a protected class under the federal Fair Housing Act, and familial status protects households with minor children, not older adults. But disability IS protected, under 42 U.S.C. 3604(f), and disability discrimination and reasonable-accommodation claims are the primary fair housing tool used against cities and HOAs that block group homes. So fair housing law is not irrelevant to a care home. It simply does not turn on age. Which protections reach your residents is a question for a Texas attorney.

Related license types

Boarding Home →Adult Foster Care →