How to Become a Host Home Provider in Georgia: Requirements and Training

To become a host home provider in Georgia, you apply through a provider agency under contract with the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities (DBHDD). You must be at least 21, pass a criminal background check, have independent income, and open a home that meets state safety standards to one or two adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities. From application to move-in usually takes several weeks and includes training, interviews, a home inspection, and a matching period.

What a Host Home Provider Actually Does

A host home provider shares their private residence with one or two adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities who are not related to the provider by blood or marriage.¹ Rather than staffing shifts at a facility, you fold the person into your household: shared meals, holidays, daily routines, help with personal care, cooking, transportation, and daily living skills.

You do not work for DBHDD directly. You contract with a provider agency that handles the administrative side and coordinates with the state. You also cannot be employed by the same agency you contract with for host home services.¹

Who Qualifies

Every DBHDD-contracted agency will verify a short list of baseline qualifications before anything else moves forward:

You must be at least 21 years old.
You need a valid Georgia driver’s license and a working vehicle, since you’ll transport the individual to appointments and community activities.
You need proof of legal U.S. residency.
You need a source of income that does not depend on the host home stipend.

The independent income rule matters. The state wants confidence that you can sustain the arrangement even if a payment is delayed, because the role is closer to being a family member than a shift worker.

Background Check and Health Screening

Every adult in your household goes through a criminal history records check under DBHDD Policy 04-104. This is where applications stall most often, so read the disqualifiers carefully before you invest time in the rest of the process.

A conviction for murder, kidnapping, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, aggravated battery, cruelty to children, a sexual offense, arson, theft, or forgery triggers a mandatory disqualification of at least five years from the date of conviction or release from incarceration or probation, whichever is later.²

A conviction for child abuse, consumer abuse, patient abuse, neglect, or maltreatment is a permanent disqualifier with no path back. Drug convictions carry a two-year bar for a first offense and five years for any subsequent offense, though a plea under Georgia’s First Offender Act is not treated as a conviction for these purposes.² Agencies also have discretion to disqualify based on other convictions or a pattern of recent arrests if those relate to caregiving, and a serious pending charge can pause your application until it resolves.

Everyone in the household needs a general health examination and screening for communicable diseases as part of the home study. Anyone who will provide direct support also needs a tuberculosis test before the placement begins and again after any known exposure.³ Schedule these early; lab results can take time.

What Your Home Must Have

Your home must meet standards in DBHDD Policy 02-702 for the Host Home/Life Sharing service model. The person placed with you needs their own bedroom with enough room for personal belongings and any medical equipment they use. The house must be in good repair, clean, and free of hazards, with working smoke detectors and carbon monoxide alarms in the required locations.⁴

If the individual has mobility limitations, the layout has to accommodate them. That could mean ramps, grab bars, or a first-floor bedroom, depending on the person. You’ll also need a written disaster and fire safety plan. The agency inspects the property before approval and looks at the physical environment, vehicle, storage areas, and the overall feel of the home.⁵

Training You Must Complete Before Placement

Training is the piece most applicants underestimate. Before the provider agency can request a site-specific Medicaid provider number for your home, you need to hold current CPR and First Aid certificates from a recognized organization such as the American Red Cross. You’ll also train on recognizing and reporting critical incidents and on reading the Individual Service Plan (ISP) that spells out the goals and support needs of the person in your care.⁶

If the individual needs help with medications or other health-related tasks, you’ll complete Proxy Caregiver training. This authorizes you to perform “health maintenance activities,” essentially the things the person would do for themselves if not for the disability, such as giving prescribed medications or monitoring routine health indicators. Proxy Caregivers may not mix medication doses, prepare IV injections, or administer any medication without a physician’s order.⁷

After placement, you must complete at least 16 hours of continuing training each year from your start date.³ Your agency will point you to the specific courses and track your compliance.

Documents to Gather for Your Application

Your provider agency supplies the forms, and formats vary by agency. Plan to compile:

Government-issued photo ID and Social Security card for every adult in the home.
Proof of homeowner’s or renter’s insurance on the property.
A three-year motor vehicle report from the Georgia Department of Driver Services.
Current proof of auto insurance.
CPR, First Aid, and any completed Proxy Caregiver certificates.
Personal and professional references the agency can contact.
General health exam and communicable disease screening results for everyone in the household, plus your TB test.

The application asks for detailed information on everyone in the residence, including health histories, and typically wants a description of your home’s layout with any existing accessibility features noted. Cross-check documents against each other before you submit. Discrepancies between your motor vehicle report and insurance details are a common reason reviews slow down.

What Happens After You Apply

Once your package is in, the agency interviews you and other household members face to face. They’re gauging temperament, motivation, and whether everyone in the home genuinely supports the plan. A representative then inspects your home against every safety and policy standard, walking through each room, checking emergency equipment, and reviewing the designated bedroom.⁶

From interview to approval usually runs two to four weeks. Incomplete documentation or a slow background check can stretch it longer.

Approval doesn’t mean anyone moves in right away. The agency then works to match you with an individual whose needs, personality, and preferences fit your household. Both sides meet, and day visits or weekend stays let everyone see whether the arrangement feels right. If the person’s support team and the agency agree the match works, you sign a service contract that lays out your responsibilities, reporting requirements, and monthly payment.⁸

Ongoing Obligations Once Someone Moves In

Approval is the beginning of oversight, not the end of it. Your provider agency must visit at least once a month to verify that services are being delivered properly and safely. Those visits look at medication storage, respect for the individual’s rights, progress on ISP goals, and whether the physical environment still meets standards. The agency also conducts an annual assessment summarizing the monthly reports.⁵

Critical incident reporting has hard clocks. A death must be entered into DBHDD’s reporting system within two hours or as soon as practicable. Any other critical incident involving a threat to the individual’s health or safety must be reported the same business day, or by the next business day if it happens after hours. If DBHDD asks for more documentation about an incident, you have 24 hours to provide it.⁹

“Critical incident” covers more than emergencies. It includes anything posing an immediate threat to care, health, or safety. When you’re unsure, report it and let the agency decide whether it qualifies. Under-reporting causes far bigger problems than over-reporting.

How Your Stipend Is Taxed

Host home stipends funded through a Medicaid waiver may be fully excludable from your federal gross income under IRS Notice 2014-7. The IRS treats qualifying payments as “difficulty of care” payments under Section 131 of the Internal Revenue Code, so no federal income tax is owed on them.¹⁰

The exclusion turns on one condition: the person receiving care must live in your home, and your home must genuinely be your primary residence. If you keep a separate home elsewhere and simply work in the care recipient’s home, the exclusion does not apply.¹⁰ Host home providers, by definition, share their home with the individual, so this condition is normally met.

A few caveats. If you don’t operate a separate trade or business providing these services, the payments are not subject to self-employment tax. If the paying agency is treated as your employer, Social Security and Medicare taxes may still apply even though the income is excluded from federal income tax. Vacation pay from the state is not excludable, and direct payments from a care recipient’s own private funds fall outside the exclusion as well.¹⁰

1
Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities. Out-of-Home Services
2
Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities. Policy 04-104 Criminal History Check and Attachments
3
Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities. FY26 Q1 DD Provider Standards Manual
4
Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities. FY26 Q2 DD Provider Standards Manual
5
Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities. Host Home Survey Instrument
6
Star Choices. Process for Enrolling, Matching, and Monitoring Host Home/Life-Sharing Sites for DBHDD Developmental Disability Community Service Providers, 02-704
7
Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities. Proxy Caregiver Updates 111-8-100
8
Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities. FY26 Q1 DD State Funded Provider Manual
9
Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities. Reporting Critical Incidents in the Community
10
Internal Revenue Service. Certain Medicaid Waiver Payments May Be Excludable From Income