Learning how to open a group home starts with understanding the right business model. Most guides focus on licensing first, but there’s a more practical way to get started.
Most guides on how to open a group home start with licensing requirements and state regulations — and scare you off before you get to the part that matters.
So let’s do this differently.
Here are the actual steps our students follow to go from zero to their first resident in 30–90 days.
Step 1: How to Open a Group Home by Choosing the Right Model
There are two completely different types of group homes, and most people confuse them.
Licensed care facilities are medical operations — think assisted living facilities, memory care
centers, or licensed residential treatment programs. These require state licensing, clinical staff, and months of regulatory approvals.
Housing provider group homes — which is what we teach — are residential housing
businesses. You provide housing. Care is handled by professionals already serving your residents. No license required. Protected by federal Fair Housing law.
Before you do anything else, get clear on which model you’re following. Everything in this guide
is based on the housing provider model.
Step 2: How to Open a Group Home for Your Chosen Population
Group homes serve a wide range of populations. The most common among our students:
• Seniors — high demand, stable government-backed income through SSI and housing programs
• People in recovery — sober living homes, extremely high demand and undersupplied
• Veterans — growing niche with strong referral networks through VA programs
• People with disabilities — stable long-term residents, strong referral networks through nonprofits
You don’t need to pick one forever. But starting with one population helps you build the right referral relationships and find the right property faster.
Step 3: How to Open a Group Home with Strong Referral Sources
This is the step most people skip — and the reason most new operators struggle with vacancy.
Referral sources are the case managers, social workers, nonprofit placement agencies, and healthcare organizations that work with people who need housing. They have clients right now who need somewhere to live.
Before you have a property. Before you have a business license. Start making calls.
Introduce yourself. Tell them you’re opening a group home for your chosen population in the area and you’d like to be a resource when they have clients who need housing. That’s it.
Operators who build these relationships first open with a waitlist. Operators who skip this step open with empty beds.
Real Student Story: The Shaking Hands Win
One of our Skool community members documented her first week of making referral source
calls in real time. This is what she wrote:
“Last Monday my hands were shaking as I dialed the first couple of organizations I’d found. Now, a week later — a few more contacts from a Fiverr freelancer I hired — I’m turning people away, responding to emails about meetings, and fully grasping what I’ve opened myself up to. I got the Gold Course a few years ago. Now I’m taking steps. This may just work out.'”
— Anonymous Skool community member
One week. Shaking hands to turning people away. That’s what building your referral list does.
Step 4: How to Open a Group Home Without Buying Property
You don’t need to buy a property to open a group home. Most of our students use the master lease model.
Find a landlord with a 4–6 bedroom home that isn’t performing well as a traditional rental. Offer to sign a long-term lease. The landlord gets a stable, reliable tenant who pays on time. You get a property without a mortgage or down payment.
Real Student Story: Jasmine — One Craigslist Call
Jasmine found her first landlord partner with a single Craigslist post. She was living in a homeless shelter with three kids at the time. No savings, no real estate experience, no connections.
She made the call. The landlord said yes. She furnished the home with donated furniture and filled it with residents she found through her referral sources.
Within a year she had three homes running and was netting six figures.
“If you’re not living in a homeless shelter, you’re already ahead of where I started.” — Jasmine, Detroit
Step 5: Set Up Your Business
Once you have a property lined up:
• Business entity — LLC in your state
• Business bank account — keep finances separate from day one
• Lease agreement — your master lease with the landlord
• House rules — your resident agreement
• House manager — someone to handle day-to-day operations on site
The Gold Course includes templates for all of these — contracts, scripts, house rules, and financial tracking tools.
Step 6: Move In Your First Residents
With your referral sources in place and your property ready, your referral contacts will send you clients. You screen them, sign your resident agreement, and collect your first payment.
Most of our students open within 30–90 days of getting started. The operators who move fastest are the ones who started building referral relationships before they had a property.
Step 7: Hire a House Manager and Scale
Once your first home is running, your house manager handles the day-to-day. Your job becomes oversight and growth.
Our student Terren has 5 homes — zero owned properties, all structured through partnerships and leases.
Our student Evie now operates 20+ homes across multiple states. Both started with the same first step you’re reading about right now.
Ready to Open Your First Group Home?
The Group Home Riches free 5-part course covers every step in this guide in detail — including the legal framework, the master lease conversation, referral source scripts, and financial templates.
→ Get the Free 5-Part Course Here
Join 2,000+ group home operators in our free Skool community — post wins, get strategy from active coaches, find local partners, and connect with people doing exactly what you’re trying to do.
