Federally approved BI, CAC, CADI and DD waiver plans, Minn. Stat. §245A.02, Minn. Stat. §245A.03, Minn. Stat. §256B.492, subd. 1 and 3, 42 C.F.R. 441

This page applies to people who:

1. Want to live in their own home

2. Receive services through one of the following waivers:

3. Live in one of the following arrangements:

To ensure a person or their family maintains control over the home, all of the own home requirements in this section must be met. If any of the requirements are not met, the setting is not considered a person’s own home and requires a residential program setting license, integrated community supports setting capacity report or assisted living license.

General requirements

A person’s own home is a single-family home or unit in a multi-family home (e.g., apartment) where a person lives, and the person or their family owns/rents and maintains control over the individual unit, demonstrated by a lease agreement (if applicable). This means a service provider does not own, operate or lease the home/unit or have direct or indirect financial interest in the person's housing. A person's own home does not include a single-family home or multi-family home where the service provider subleases or has a master lease agreement and subleases.

For a setting to be considered a person’s own home, all of the following must be true:

1. The setting meets the definition of own home (refer to definitions section on this page).

2. The person:

3. The home includes living, sleeping, bathing and cooking areas.

4. The lease (if applicable) complies with Minn. Stat. Ch. 504B.

5. The landlord (if applicable) does not charge different rents to tenants because of the home and community-based services (HCBS) the tenant receives.

6. The services the person receives can be provided in their own home (i.e., not community residential services, customized living, family residential services and integrated community supports).

Requirements for two or more roommates who receive services

When two or more people who receive services choose to live together, all the following requirements must be true for each person:

When a person lives in their own home with roommates, shared staffing cannot be assumed to be the default or primary service delivery method.

Additional criteria

The lead agency should consider the following additional criteria when determining if a setting is a person’s own home:

If any of the additional criteria items listed above are not true, the setting might not be considered a person’s own home and might require a license.

Person

If a person lives in their own home, the person or their legal representative is responsible to:

A person is not responsible to give a service provider office space within their home.

Landlord

The landlord must comply with landlord and tenant law in Minn. Stat. Ch. 504B and the responsibilities outlined in the lease agreement.

While Ch. 504B allows either an oral or written lease, the federal HCBS rule requires a written lease or agreement.

Service providers

Service providers chosen by the person are responsible to:

Service providers cannot:

Case managers

The case manager is responsible to authorize services that comply with the service policies in this manual.

The case manager is responsible to develop a support plan with the person that identifies the type of service(s), frequency of services and amount of service authorized. To develop this plan, the case manager and person must review the person’s assessed areas of need (from their most recent MnCHOICES assessment) and support options to determine the appropriate type and frequency of support. For a detailed list of requirements, refer to CBSM – Support planning for long-term services and supports (LTSS).

The case manager cannot authorize own home services if the person’s living arrangement does not comply with the own home requirements. For additional policy about service requirements, refer to the services section of CBSM – Waiver and Alternative Care programs overview.

When a leased setting is a person’s own home, the lease must be in the person’s name. A person also can ask another person or entity not affiliated with a service provider to co-sign the lease. If no one else is available, the person may choose to co-sign the lease with a service provider.

If the person chooses to co-signs a lease with a service provider, the home is still considered the person's own home if all the following requirements are met:

A person can modify services with the co-signing service provider at any time. If a person terminates services or changes service providers, they can do any of the following with the landlord’s approval:

Transitioning a lease from a service provider to the person

When a person chooses to co-sign a lease with the service provider, they must develop a detailed, person-specific plan to transition the lease from the service provider to the person. The person, provider and others chosen by the person (e.g., legal representative, landlord) must be part of the planning process.

The transition cannot take longer than two years unless DHS approves an extension.

Person-specific transition plan

The service provider must ensure the detailed, person-specific transition plan:

The service provider must share the transition plan with the person’s case manager. The case manager may include Housing Stabilization Services from another provider in the person’s support plan to support this transition plan.

Time-limited extension of the transition period

If, at the end of the two-year transition period, the landlord will not enter into a lease agreement with the person, the service provider and case manager may request an extension from DHS to continue to allow the service provider to continue to co-sign the lease.

To request an extension, the service provider must:

1. Develop an updated person-specific transition plan with the person’s case manager.

2. Submit information using the DSD Contact Form and include the following information in the request:

3. Submit the emailed exception request no later than 60 days before the end of the two-year transition period.

After receiving the request, DHS will:

Federal and state regulations allow an entity to be both a landlord and a service provider for people living in the building.

A setting is not considered a person’s own home when the provider delivers HCBS and owns, operates or leases the setting or has a direct/indirect financial interest in the setting. This type of setting must be one of the following:

Providers in these settings must:

HCBS settings rule

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a federal rule in January 2014 that defined HCBS settings. Learn more about the rule requirements on DHS – HCBS settings transition plan.

Olmstead Plan

As directed by the Olmstead Plan, DHS is working to reduce the number of people who receive services in segregated settings. The Olmstead Plan considers settings controlled by a provider as settings that potentially can segregate people with disabilities. This can include licensed foster care, community residential services and customized living settings. For more information, refer to Minnesota’s Olmstead Plan.