The assisted living license behind every Columbia community

Which agency licenses assisted living in Columbia, SC?

The S.C. Department of Public Health (DPH) does, through its Healthcare Quality division, which licenses every assisted living building in Richland, Lexington and the rest of the state as a community residential care facility (CRCF) under Regulation 60-84.

Families who grew up hearing “DHEC” are not wrong, just out of date. When Act 60 of 2023 took effect on July 1, 2024, DHEC's health side became DPH and its environmental side became the Department of Environmental Services. The assisted living rules were then republished in the State Register on May 23, 2025 as Regulation 60-84, replacing the old 61-84 numbering. DPH's Healthcare Quality office happens to sit in Columbia, but it regulates a Forest Acres facility exactly as it regulates one in the Pee Dee.

Neither the City of Columbia nor any Midlands county issues care licenses. Zoning, business licenses and fire inspections touch the building; only the DPH license allows it to care for residents.

What does South Carolina mean by a community residential care facility?

In DPH's words, a CRCF provides room and board plus a degree of personal care, for more than 24 straight hours, to two or more adults who are not related to the licensee within the third degree, and a building that fits that definition may market itself as assisted living.

The same license also covers protected group homes for adults with intellectual disabilities or mental illness, which is why the Midlands roster includes small residences run by disability-services agencies and the state's behavioral health department alongside senior communities. In Richland, Lexington, Kershaw, Fairfield, Saluda and Calhoun counties DPH's data shows 78 licensed CRCFs with 2,962 beds. 14 are small residences run by disability-services or behavioral health providers, which leaves 64 that serve older adults, 37 of them in Richland County and 19 in Lexington County.

There are no tiers. A six-bed home off Two Notch Road and a 170-bed campus in Lexington hold the identical license; what separates them is size, the services each chooses to offer, and whether a secured Alzheimer's unit is part of the building.

What does a CRCF license cost the operator?

Regulation 60-84 sets the yearly fee at $10 for each licensed bed, with a $75 minimum, and adds a late charge of $75 or a quarter of the fee, whichever is larger, when a renewal is late (Sections 103.J and 103.K).

That per-bed fee is why we treat licensed beds as the most reliable size measure in our directory: operators pay for every bed they claim. Each license names one legal operator at one address and lasts one year. When a building is sold or moves, a new license follows, which is why our facility pages show the licensee's legal name next to the sign on the door. Enforcement orders are issued against the licensee, so that is the name to search for.

Who has to run a South Carolina CRCF?

A CRCF administrator licensed by the S.C. Board of Long Term Health Care Administrators (part of the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation), plus a named staff member who is in charge whenever the administrator is away (Regulation 60-84, Sections 101.C and 502).

Every employee and direct-care volunteer must also clear a criminal background check before starting work, and anyone with a conviction or no-contest plea for abusing, neglecting or exploiting a child or vulnerable adult is barred (Section 501.A, carrying out S.C. Code 44-7-2910). DPH's record lists the administrator by name, so you can ask for that person on a tour and confirm the license on LLR's lookup.

How often does DPH inspect assisted living in the Midlands?

There is no fixed cycle: DPH inspects a CRCF before its first license and afterward whenever it considers appropriate, and it may inspect or investigate any building at any time without warning (Regulation 60-84, Section 202).

When inspectors find a standard unmet, the facility must send back a signed plan of correction by the deadline on the report, explaining what it fixed, how it will keep the problem from recurring and when. Reports of inspections and investigations, with the facility's response and with individuals' names removed, are public on written request (Section 202.E). South Carolina does not post them online, so the practical route is to ask the facility for its latest report and, if the answer is evasive, request it from DPH.