There are six main kinds of housing for autistic adults in California. Most adults start at home with family, so that comes first. The other five run from the most help in the house to the most independence. Most families never hear this part. The Regional Center can pay for staff in your adult's own apartment, for as many hours as they need.
The Regional Center is the state-funded agency for people with autism and other developmental disabilities. It pays for the help, and almost never the rent. Rent and food come from your adult's own money, often SSI, the monthly disability check from Social Security.
1. Living at home with family
Home works at any level of need while you plan the next step. In a Drexel University study, 87% of autistic young adults lived with a parent at some point after high school.
- Where. Your family's home, or a granny flat on the property with its own door.
- Daily life. You're the main help. The Regional Center can add respite (paid breaks for you), a day program and rides. IHSS, the county program that pays for care at home, can pay a caregiver, often a parent.
- Cost. Your family covers the home. SSI pays less when your adult lives with you for free: $907.87 a month instead of $1,233.94, as of October 2026. Ask Social Security if paying you rent would change that.
- Wait. None.
- How to start. Ask your service coordinator, your contact at the Regional Center, about help at home. Apply for IHSS with your county.
The jobs you do without thinking are the first a move will test: the wake-up call, the pill box, the bank card. Home is the cheapest place to hand them over, one at a time.
2. A licensed group home
Choose a group home when your adult needs care day and night, more than one family can give. The state calls it an adult residential facility.
- Where. A state-licensed home for adults 18 to 59, with staff on duty around the clock. For serious behavior needs, some homes add extra trained staff and take four people at most.
- Daily life. Your adult shares the house with other adults. Staff cook, help with medicine and keep watch.
- Cost. Your family pays nothing. Your adult's SSI pays the home $1,444.07 a month, as of October 2026, and your adult keeps $182 a month for personal needs. The Regional Center pays for the care. IHSS stops, since it only covers care in a person's own home.
- Wait. No set wait. It depends on which homes have an opening that fits.
- How to start. Ask your service coordinator to look for homes. Check each home's inspection reports in the state's Care Facility Search before you visit.
Staff can't keep up a routine nobody wrote down. Send the steps your adult already does alone, written in order, so the move doesn't undo them.
3. A host family's home
For an adult who wants family life without staff shifts, a host family is the middle ground. Your coordinator will call it a family home agency home.
- Where. A trained family's own home. Each home takes one or two adults, and each adult has their own bedroom.
- Daily life. Your adult joins in family life. The family handles meals and laundry and helps with medicine, money and appointments. No one stays awake overnight.
- Cost. Your family pays nothing. As in a group home, your adult's SSI usually covers room and board, with money left for personal needs. The Regional Center pays the agency that trains and checks on the family.
- Wait. It depends on finding a family that fits. Matching starts with short visits, and often an overnight stay.
- How to start. Ask your service coordinator for a referral to a family home agency.
The overnight stay tells you more than the tour. Watch bedtime and the next morning, the hours the family handles alone.
4. Supported living in their own place
Supported living is for any adult who wants their own place, at any level of need. California law makes it a priority "regardless of the degree of disability."
- Where. A home your adult rents or owns, in their own name.
- Daily life. Staff come to your adult for what they can't do yet, like shopping, cooking, bills and getting around. The state funds this help "for as long and as often as needed," up to around the clock. Someone is on call for emergencies 24 hours a day.
- Cost. Rent is your adult's, often paid from SSI. The Regional Center pays for the staff, and IHSS can still pay for care. A full SSI check is $1,233.94 a month, as of October 2026. A one-bedroom in Los Angeles County has a federal fair market rent of $2,402, so SSI alone won't cover it.
- Wait. No set wait for the services. Finding a place your adult can afford is often the slow part.
- How to start. Ask for a supported living assessment at your adult's next IPP meeting. The IPP is the written plan of what the Regional Center pays for.
The hours on paper matter less than when they land. Put the help at the hard parts of the day, like getting out the door or making dinner.
5. A shared rental with housemates
Because rent is the hard part, a shared rental suits an adult who likes company and needs the money to stretch.
- Where. A house or apartment your adult rents with one or two housemates.
- Daily life. Housemates share the kitchen, the chores and the bills. Each can have supported living staff, and a supported living agency can help choose housemates and sort out landlord problems.
- Cost. Split three ways, the federal fair market rent for a three-bedroom in Los Angeles County is about $1,253 each, as of October 2026. That's close to one full SSI check. The Regional Center pays for any staff.
- Wait. It depends on finding housemates who fit, and a landlord who says yes.
- How to start. Ask your service coordinator whether other adults at your Regional Center are looking for housemates.
Match on routines, not just friendship. A night owl and an early riser can like each other and still be hard housemates.
6. Their own apartment with a housing voucher
Worth applying for, and slow. A housing voucher fits an adult ready for their own lease whose income can't cover the rent.
- Where. A private rental your adult chooses, paid partly by a Section 8 voucher (officially, a Housing Choice Voucher).
- Daily life. Your adult signs the lease and lives on their own, with supported living staff if needed.
- Cost. Your adult usually pays 30% of their income toward rent. The housing authority pays the landlord the rest, the federal housing department says.
- Wait. Long. As of October 2026, the Section 8 waiting lists for the City of Los Angeles and for Los Angeles County are both closed. The city's housing authority says its list is "unlikely to reopen soon."
- How to start. Check the City of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County housing authorities every few months. Apply to any list that opens where your adult wants to live.
Apply in your adult's own name, to every list that opens nearby. Then keep the address current, because a missed change of address can drop your adult from a list.
How we picked
We included every kind of home where the Regional Center pays for support. We added two ways to make the rent fit: housemates and a voucher. We checked every cost, rule and waiting list in October 2026. Our sources were the state, the federal housing department and the Los Angeles housing authorities.
How do you start planning a move?
Start with the IPP, your adult's written plan of what the Regional Center pays for. Ask your service coordinator to add a housing goal in your adult's own words. "I want my own apartment with a roommate" is a fine start. Supported living starts when it's the goal in that plan. You can ask for an IPP meeting any time. If you're with North Los Angeles County Regional Center, here's how to reach your coordinator.
Then build the skills the next step needs. For a shared rental or supported living, that usually means cooking a few meals, handling money and getting around. Our piece on whether a level 2 adult can live independently lists the eight everyday skills that matter most.
Plenty of the adults we work with can cook a whole dinner with a parent nearby, and can't start it alone. Closing that gap takes small steps, practiced the same way every day, for months. Most of that practice lands on a parent.
That daily practice can sit with someone trained for it. One of our professionals would teach those jobs at home. Every one is caring and holds a master's degree, and the team averages 9.3 years of experience. We'd match your adult with someone who has already helped other adults learn the same jobs. Your family pays $0, through your Regional Center. Find out whether adaptive skills training could get your adult ready for the move.
A lot of parents believe adaptive skills training will shrink their IHSS or respite hours. It's one of the biggest misconceptions about the training, and it isn't true. Adding it won't shrink your respite, the time a paid worker covers so you can rest. It won't shrink your IHSS either. In a letter to every county, the state said not to count Regional Center services when setting IHSS hours.
Questions parents actually ask
Does the Regional Center pay rent?
Rarely. It pays rent only when losing housing, or a medical or behavior need, puts your adult's safety at risk. Even then, it's usually for six months or less.
Where will my adult live after I'm gone?
Wherever you plan for now, while you can still help choose. Put a housing goal in the IPP and write down how your adult's days run. Regional Center services have no upper age limit, so the support goes on after you.
Are there group homes just for autistic adults?
The group homes the Regional Center pays for serve adults with developmental disabilities, and autism is one of them. When you visit, ask how many residents are autistic and what autism training the staff have had.
Is assisted living an option?
Usually not before 60. California licenses assisted living for people 60 and older. For adults 18 to 59, the state licenses adult residential facilities, what most people mean by a group home.
Will my adult lose SSI by moving out?
No. SSI moves with your adult, and the amount depends on where they live: $1,233.94 a month on their own, as of October 2026. In a group home the check is larger, and most of it goes to the home.
Could adaptive skills training cut our IHSS or respite hours?
No. Starting the training won't take hours from either one. When a county works out IHSS, Regional Center help can't be counted. That rule is in a state letter. Read it.
