How assisted living is licensed in Charleston, Berkeley and Dorchester

Which agency licenses assisted living in Charleston, SC?

The S.C. Department of Public Health (DPH) licenses it, through the Healthcare Quality office, under the name community residential care facility (CRCF) and the standards in Regulation 60-84; a building in Mount Pleasant, North Charleston or Summerville answers to the same state rules.

Older paperwork may still say DHEC. The Department of Health and Environmental Control was divided on July 1, 2024 under Act 60 of 2023, with licensing, inspections and enforcement moving to DPH and environmental work going to the new Department of Environmental Services. DPH then republished the CRCF rules as Regulation 60-84 in the State Register on May 23, 2025, retiring the old number 61-84.

Charleston, North Charleston, Mount Pleasant and the three counties handle zoning, building permits and fire inspections, but none of them issues the license to care for residents. That comes only from DPH, so the DPH record is the first thing to check.

What makes a building a community residential care facility?

Under DPH's definition, a CRCF provides room and board plus a degree of personal care, directly or by arrangement, for more than 24 hours in a row to two or more adults who are not related to the licensee within the third degree; buildings that meet that test may market themselves as assisted living.

The definition is broad on purpose. It covers a five-bed residential home in a North Charleston neighborhood and a community of more than 190 beds in Mount Pleasant's Carolina Park, and it also covers small homes that serve adults with intellectual disabilities or mental illness. DPH's data shows 60 licensed CRCFs in the three counties with 3,452 licensed beds; 4 are small community residences run by the county disabilities board, which leaves 56 that serve older adults, 42 of them in Charleston County.

There are no tiers. Every CRCF holds the same license; the differences families notice come from size, the services each operator chooses to offer, price, and whether the building has an Alzheimer's special care unit.

How much is a CRCF license, and why should a family care?

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

Because the operator pays by the bed, the licensed-bed number on DPH's record is a reliable gauge of size. The license is also tied to one licensee at one address for one year. When a building is sold, the buyer needs a new license, which is why our facility pages show the licensee's legal name. With national operators the licensee is often a limited liability company whose name looks nothing like the sign out front; that legal name is the one enforcement orders use.

What qualifications must a CRCF administrator have?

The administrator must hold a community residential care facility administrator license from the S.C. Board of Long Term Health Care Administrators, part of the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, and the facility must designate someone to act in the administrator's absence (Regulation 60-84, Sections 101.C and 502).

Staff and direct-care volunteers must clear a criminal background check before they start, and anyone with a conviction or no-contest plea for abusing, neglecting or exploiting a child or vulnerable adult is barred (Section 501.A, under S.C. Code 44-7-2910). DPH's record names the current administrator, which we reproduce on each facility page; a quick search of LLR's license lookup confirms the license is active.

How often does DPH inspect assisted living around Charleston?

There is no fixed cycle: DPH inspects each CRCF before its first license and afterward as it deems appropriate, and it may inspect or investigate any building at any time without notice; cited problems require a signed plan of correction by the date on the report (Regulation 60-84, Section 202).

A plan of correction has to say how each problem was fixed, how a repeat will be prevented and when each step happens. South Carolina does not post CRCF inspection reports online, but Section 202.E makes reports of inspections and investigations, with the facility's response, public on written request, minus individuals' names. The practical move is to ask the facility for its latest report on the tour and to request it from DPH if the answer is evasive.