What Is Memory Care in California?

Memory care is a name, not a license category. Assisted living communities, board and care homes and memory care homes are all licensed by the Community Care Licensing Division of the California Department of Social Services as residential care facilities for the elderly (RCFEs). California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform (CANHR) points out that "memory care" is a marketing term, not a legal term, and advises families to find out which additional services a home using it really provides.

What the law does define is dementia care inside an RCFE. Title 22 of the California Code of Regulations has two sections on it: section 87705, Care of Persons with Dementia, and section 87706, Advertising Dementia Special Care, Programming, and Environments. Both were amended in a regulation package that took effect on 1 January 2025.

The regulations use dementia as a general term for major neurocognitive disorder, which includes Alzheimer's disease and related disorders such as vascular dementia, Lewy body dementia and frontotemporal dementia. Section 87705 says mild cognitive impairment is not considered dementia. For how memory care compares day to day with standard assisted living, see memory care vs. assisted living.

Section 87705 applies to the care of residents diagnosed with dementia in any RCFE, whether or not the home calls itself memory care. In summary, the home is responsible for these things:

• Staff training in dementia care, including hydration, nutrition, skin care, communication, therapeutic activities, behavioral challenges, the environment and help with daily activities.
• Training staff to recognize symptoms that may create or aggravate behavior changes, such as dehydration, urinary tract infections and problems with swallowing, and to recognize the effects of medications commonly used to reduce those behaviors.
• In a home with fewer than 16 residents, at least one night staff person awake and on duty if any resident with dementia is found to need awake night supervision.
• An auditory device or other staff alert on exterior doors and perimeter gates that can be reached by residents at risk of leaving unsupervised, which the regulations call elopement.
• Prior written approval from the resident or conservator before using a wearable egress alert or a location tracking device.

Our guide to California's dementia care rules goes through these requirements and the 2025 changes in detail.

Section 87706 applies to licensees who advertise, promote or otherwise hold themselves out as providing special care, programming or environments for residents with dementia. A home that markets itself as memory care is holding itself out in that way. On top of section 87705, the home must add a narrative description of its program to its plan of operation.

Three more duties follow. Health and Safety Code section 1569.627 says this information must be given to the public on request. Section 1569.628 says the home must give each prospective resident an accurate written description of the program and services before admission. And the regulation requires the home to keep copies of its dementia care advertising for at least three years.

The plan of operation must cover:

No. The Department of Social Services says a person does not have to be admitted to a secured home based solely on a diagnosis of dementia, and that homes may use other methods, such as delayed egress devices, door alarms and resident wrist bands, to keep residents safe.

A home that uses delayed egress devices on exterior doors or gates must have them approved in its fire clearance. Staff are to try to redirect a resident who wants to leave, and a resident who still wants to leave after that must be permitted to do so with staff supervision. The same subsection requires each elopement to be reported to the resident's representative immediately and to the licensing agency no later than the next working day.

A home that locks exterior doors or perimeter gates must notify the licensing agency, have the locks approved in its fire clearance, and keep one of two documents for each resident: a signed statement that the resident understands the doors are locked and consents voluntarily, or a court order showing a conservator's authority. It must also provide indoor and outdoor space where residents with dementia can wander freely and safely. The regulation says locks do not substitute for trained staff in sufficient numbers. More on this in wandering and exit-seeking in memory care.

It is not a medical facility. CANHR notes that an RCFE is not licensed as a medical facility, and that people who need 24-hour nursing care are not permitted to live in one. A memory care home helps with daily living, supervision and medications. It does not provide nursing home care.

It is not a set staffing ratio. The general staffing regulation quoted in the Department's 2025 questions and answers requires staff to be sufficient in numbers and competent to meet residents' needs at all times. It does not give a number of residents per caregiver, so ask each home for its own figures by shift. Training hours and night rules are covered in memory care staffing and training.

And it is not a promise that a resident can stay whatever happens. That is why the written description must state the conditions that would require a move.

The label tells you little. These steps tell you more:

1. 1

   Look up the license

   Every memory care home or unit should appear in the state's facility search as a licensed RCFE. Our guide to checking an RCFE license shows how to read the record.

2. 2

   Ask for the written dementia program description

   A home that advertises dementia care must provide it before admission. Read the sections on staff training, activities and changes in condition.

3. 3

   Ask how the doors and yard work

   Alarmed, delayed or locked? If locked, ask to see the consent statement residents sign.

4. 4

   Ask about nights

   Who is awake, how many staff are in the building, and how the home decides a resident needs awake supervision.

Hamssa Benrekia is a senior living placement specialist in Torrance who holds an RCFE Administrator Certificate. She works with families in the South Bay and Harbor area of Los Angeles County and refers them only to homes licensed by the State of California. She can explain how local homes that offer dementia care differ, and go on the tours with you. See memory care placement, contact Hamssa, or return to the California Assisted Living Placement Guide.