An Important Note for AFH Provider Tenants and Landlords

Adult Family Home (AFH) Providers are ultimately responsible for their residents on a variety of issues.  This can be complicated for AFH Providers who rent when a landlord unduly inserts themselves into the business of the AFH, i.e., where a landlord tries to bootstrap “rent” to include the room/board and services of the AFH residents.  This is a step too far. 

The AFH Providers, as mandated reporters, must report any suspicion of financial exploitation where a resident’s Power of Attorney may be consistently late in paying the monthly rates, for example.  If payment circumvents the AFH Provider, then they are cut off from this important information while still being a mandated reporter and puts their residents at risk. 

Also, there are concerns about protecting the resident’s information—to be kept confidential so that only authorized persons see the contents of the resident’s file, which includes payment records, rate amounts and the basis for the rates, which is typically protected health information.  There should be a bright line between the landlord and any AFH Provider tenant and their residents, to protect the rights of the resident and to ensure the Provider has control to be able to meet their duties.