General Relief Assisted Living Home Program

Overview

The General Relief program provides temporary financial assistance for eligible adults needing placement in assisted living homes.

It covers supportive services for daily activities but does not include nursing or medical care. Participants contribute to the cost of care based on their income, keeping $200 monthly as a personal needs allowance. The rest of their income is paid directly to the assisted living home.

Participants receive a calculation sheet with the daily rates when moving into an assisted living home. The program is entirely funded by the State of Alaska's General Funds, allocated annually by the Alaska State Legislature.

Who qualifies?

Adults that live in Alaska who are at risk of abuse, neglect, and exploitation by others may qualify. Applicants must meet income and resource limits and must apply for alternative financial assistance, including Medicaid and Adult Public Assistance.

They must also meet one of more of the following criteria:

• A disability from a severe mental illness, intellectual, or developmental disability that significantly affects daily living skills and requires supervision or support
• A major health impairment, such as hearing, speech, visual, or orthopedic, that limits participation in community activities
• A significant deficit in adaptive behaviors like self-care, communication, mobility, or independent living

How to sign up

Waitlist information

(Please note the ranking order on the waitlist is subject to change)

The Alaska Department of Health implemented a waitlist for General Relief Assisted Living Home (GRALH) benefits on March 1, 2019. The waitlist will be in effect indefinitely and will not affect those currently receiving General Relief benefits. Applicants on the waitlist will be selected in priority order based on the guidelines in Alaska Administrative Code 7 AAC 47.465.

Each applicant will receive a letter providing a unique identifier and instructions on how to use it to check their waitlist status. Applicants on the waitlist are drawn starting with Tier 1, then Tier 2 and then Tier 3 per 7 AAC 47.465. 

• Tier 1: People who the department has determined are vulnerable and in need of protective placement under AS 47.24.017(d)
• Tier 2: People who will be discharged directly from an institution for mental disease, a facility operated by the Department of Corrections, a hospital, or a long-term care facility
• Tier 3: All other individuals

Being drawn from the general relief waitlist

When drawn from the waitlist, the applicant, guardian, and referring agency will get a letter stating the applicant is eligible for General Relief (GR) services. GR services begin the date the applicant is drawn.

The applicant or their representative has 20 business days from the letter's date to confirm with Senior and Disabilities Services (SDS) that they want to use the GR Assisted Living Home Care benefit. Confirmation can be made by phone, secure email, fax, or letter using the contact details in the letter.

After confirming interest, SDS will send a letter with next steps. If no response is received by the deadline or if the benefit is declined, the applicant will be removed from the waitlist and their application will be closed.

Find a general relief living home

• Municipality of Anchorage - General Relief ALH Providers 
• Kodiak - General Relief ALH Providers 
• Kenai Peninsula - General Relief ALH Providers 
• Southeast - General Relief ALH Providers 
• Mat-Su - General Relief ALH Providers 
• Fairbanks - General Relief ALH Providers 
• Parks Elliot Steese Highways - General Relief ALH Providers 
• Roadless Interior - General Relief ALH Providers 
• Southwest - General Relief ALH Providers

How to use

Confirming intent to utilize general relief benefits

Applicants drawn from the waitlist must start using the GR benefit within 60 days of approval or risk losing it. This means they must identify and move into an assisted living home with a GR Provider Agreement by the date on the confirmation letter. A list of GR-assisted living home providers is available on the GR webpage and is updated monthly.

After being drawn from the waitlist, confirming interest, and moving into a GR-assisted living home, the home provider must send a Client Activity Form (CAF) with a completed release of information to Senior and Disabilities Services (SDS) within 10 calendar days. Once SDS receives the CAF, the applicant and the assisted living home will get an approval letter with benefit dates and a calculation of the applicant’s share of care costs.

If the applicant does not move into an eligible assisted living home by the listed date or declines the benefit, the GR Unit will close the application, noting the decline or failure to use the benefit.

Resources