Recovery Residence & Supportive Housing Insurance Review Checklist

Operators of recovery residences, sober living homes, and supportive housing often start the insurance conversation the same way a landlord would. They describe the building. Then the questions turn to staffing, program rules, resident agreements, and funding sources, and the conversation stalls while someone goes looking for documents.

That happens because a housing program is not evaluated the way a rental building is. Two identical duplexes on the same street can be reviewed very differently depending on who lives there, what services are provided on site, who is on staff, and what the resident has signed. Underwriters need to understand the program before they can evaluate the property.

The operators who get through this smoothly are usually not the largest ones. They are the ones who can describe their program clearly and produce the documents that back up the description. This article covers what to prepare.

Why program details drive the review

Before the building details matter, carriers want to understand what the organization actually does. A few questions come up in nearly every review:

None of these questions is a trap. They exist because the same building can represent very different operations. The clearer your answers, the fewer rounds of follow-up questions come back from underwriting.

The readiness checklist

Gather these before your review. Check items off as you collect them, or print this page and work from paper.

• A one-page program description Who you serve, how many beds or units, length of stay, services provided on site versus referred out, and house rules or program expectations. This single document answers more underwriting questions than anything else on the list.
• Property schedule and ownership structure Every address with bed or unit count, year built, construction type, and whether the property is owned or leased. Note which entity holds title or signs the lease, since operating entities and property-holding entities are often different.
• Your standard resident agreement The lease, occupancy agreement, or program agreement residents sign, along with any house rules or handbook attached to it.
• Staffing plan and position descriptions Who works at each site, hours of coverage including overnight and weekend, employee versus contractor status, and credentials held such as CRS, CPRS, RCP, LSW, or LCSW. Note whether any residents serve in house manager roles.
• Certification, licensure, and accreditation documents NARR affiliate certification, state agency licenses, and accreditation certificates such as CARF or Joint Commission, with current expiration dates.
• Current policies and declarations pages Everything in force, including property, general liability, professional or abuse-related coverage, umbrella, auto if you transport residents, workers' compensation, and directors and officers coverage if you are a nonprofit. Note each expiration date.
• Loss runs Claims history reports from current and prior carriers, usually covering several years. Request them early, because carriers can take weeks to produce them.
• Funder, grant, and contract insurance requirements The insurance section of every county contract, state agreement, grant award, or managed care agreement. These often specify minimum limits and additional insured language, and they are a common source of mismatch between what is required and what is in place.
• Landlord and lender requirements If you lease any property, the insurance clause in each lease. If any property is financed, the requirements in the mortgage or loan documents.
• Vehicles and transportation details Any vehicle used to transport residents, including owned vehicles, vehicles with staff or residents driving, and personal vehicles used for program purposes. Include driver lists if you have them.
• Written policies and incident procedures Medication storage or self-administration policy, naloxone protocol, incident reporting, grievance process, background check policy, and resident supervision expectations. Carriers often ask whether these exist in writing.
• Building systems and safety features Roof, electrical, plumbing, and heating update years, plus smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, sprinklers, egress, fire inspections, and any certificate of occupancy or local housing inspection reports.
• Vendor and contractor certificates Certificates of insurance for maintenance vendors, contract clinicians, food service, transportation providers, and property managers, with a note on which are current.

Situations worth raising directly

A few circumstances come up often in housing programs and are better discussed up front than discovered later:

• The operating entity and the property-owning entity are different, and the policy names only one of them
• Properties were added, or a new house opened, without the carrier being told
• The program changed its model, for example adding case management, moving to a different ASAM level, or shifting from private pay to contract funding
• A county or state contract requires limits or additional insured wording that nobody has compared to the current policy
• Residents or peer staff drive program vehicles
• A house sits partly vacant between cohorts or during renovation
• Several separate policies exist across properties and entities that have never been reviewed together

Each of these is ordinary in this field. Each is also much easier to sort out before renewal than during a claim or a contract audit.

A note on timing

Start 60 to 90 days ahead of your renewal date. Housing programs usually take longer to review than standard rental property, because there are more documents and more carrier questions. Loss runs and funder contracts in particular can take time to assemble. If a contract or grant deadline requires proof of insurance by a certain date, mention that at the beginning rather than at the end.