How much money do I need to open a care home in a leased house in Texas?

At a $4,000 monthly rent: about $8,000 covers first month plus a typical one-month deposit (business-use leases sometimes ask for two months). Add the real government fees: $306.56 first-year Houston boarding home permit package, or the HHSC license at $300 plus $15 per bed for Type A/B. An optional done-for-you launch build is available at $3,500 for an unlicensed home (adult foster care or a Houston boarding home) or $5,000 for a licensed Type A or Type B assisted living facility. Furniture, insurance, and any required fire hardware are extra and get bid per house.

Can I open a care home without buying a house?

Yes. Leasing is a common path: you need a landlord who permits licensed care use, first month plus deposit, and your category paperwork. At 3 or fewer unrelated residents Texas requires no assisted living license at all; 4 or more residents with personal care requires an HHSC Type A or Type B license held by you as the operator, not the landlord.

What are the government fees to open a care home in Texas?

For a licensed Type A or Type B assisted living facility: $300 plus $15 per bed to HHSC for a three-year license, plus your local fire marshal inspection fee (set by your city). For a Houston boarding home: $306.56 the first year ($81 permit, $33.56 admin, $192 inspection), then $81 per year. Adult foster care at 1 to 3 residents has no license fee; HHSC enrollment background checks run about $38 to $40 per adult in the household (DFPS fingerprint-check fee tiers).

For operators · free calculator

You do not need to buy a house to open a care home. You need this one number.

Here is the question I get in Houston every single week: what does it actually take to open if I lease? The real number. So let us do it right here. Tell the calculator the monthly rent you can carry and which kind of home you want to run, and it stacks your whole move-in and launch cost, line by line, with the real government fees, all of it on one screen.

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Your core move-in and launch number

Monthly rent you can spend

The lease payment you are comfortable carrying while you fill beds.

What kind of home?

Not sure which one you are? The fire safety guide explains all six categories in plain language.

Your core move-in and launch number, about

$11,806.56

Boarding Home (Houston) · rent $4,000 per month

Line by line

First month of rent$4,000

Security deposit (typically one month, set by your landlord; business-use leases sometimes ask for two)$4,000

Optional, included in this total: AI Operations Blueprint (unlicensed tier), our done-for-you service. The paperwork, permits, inspection readiness, staffing systems, and marketing, built for you. You can do all of it yourself instead; our free guides show how.$3,500

Houston boarding home permit, first year ($81 permit + $33.56 admin + $192 inspection)$306.56

Your launch number$11,806.56

How long until residents

The Houston permit processes in 1 to 4 weeks. Our working target is about 90 days from lease to first resident; your timeline depends on the property and your city. Most Texas cities outside Houston require no permit at all; we confirm your exact address.

Where these numbers come from (tap to open)

Government fees: HHSC license $300 + $15 per bed (hhs.texas.gov, sourced); Houston boarding home first year $306.56 (Houston Permitting Center, sourced). AFC background checks are an estimate at about $38 to $40 per adult: the DFPS fee schedule lists $37.75 (household member) and $39.75 (paid employee) fingerprint tiers, and no primary source states which tier AFC enrollment uses, so the total uses $40. Full source log lives on our fire safety page.
Deposit is an estimate: one month is typical for a residential lease, but your landlord sets it. Business-use leases sometimes ask for more.
Not in this total: furniture, food startup, insurance, your city's fire marshal inspection fee, and (Type B) mandatory sprinklers. The Blueprint maps every one of those for your exact address before you spend.
Blueprint prices are the live prices: $3,500 unlicensed tier, $5,000 licensed Type A/B tier, the same two products on our Open Your Home page.

Start the $3,500 build today →

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Now let us find you the house

We are building a list of homeowners open to leasing to care-home operators. Tell us your budget and category, and if a house fits, Erika and Vanda introduce you directly.

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City you want

State

Riding along automatically from the calculator: Boarding Home (Houston) at a budget of $4,000/mo.

Timeframe

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Goes straight to our inbox and our private match list. No reselling your info, ever (privacy policy). Erika routes and introduces leads only; Vanda Crossley, a licensed Texas real estate agent, handles any actual lease.

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