An Adult Family Home is a dwelling, licensed by the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS), in which a caregiver provides room, board, and care for up to 6 adults not related to the person providing the services. An Adult Family Home that has an existing permitted use as an Adult Family Home may now be expanded to provide services for up to 8 adults per DSHS licensing regulations. You must have approval from DSHS, in accordance with RCW 70.128.066, to operate an Adult Family Home or to add additional services to an existing permitted Adult Family Home. More information is available at the DSHS website:

 DSHS "About Adult Family Homes"

AFH Inspections

In cooperation with DSHS, local jurisdictions, including SeaTac, provide onsite inspection of new or newly renovated Adult Family Homes (AFH) to determine compliance with the Adult Family Home code provisions of the currently adopted International Residential Code (IRC).  An inspection is required for:

● Newly established AFHs including those in an existing home;

● Existing AFHs that add bedroom capacity to serve additional clients

An AFH inspection is conducted after the care provider has obtained a permit through the City of SeaTac Permit Center.  Before requesting an inspection, the care provider must complete an AFH checklist and have it available to the City inspector on site. Please note:

***Separate construction permits may be required if alterations are required to convert a residence or make an existing home compliant with the IRC for the purpose of becoming an AFH***

***Any newly constructed residential structure intended to be an AFH also requires construction permits.***

The AFH Initial Inspection Preparation Checklist can be found at:

 AFH Inspection Checklist

Free viewers are required for some of the attached documents.
They can be downloaded by clicking on the icons below.

Acrobat Reader Windows Media Player Word Viewer Excel Viewer PowerPoint Viewer