San Diego County, open seven days
Senior placement agency in San Diego
What a placement service actually is: somebody local who finds out what your parent needs, works out which licensed homes can accept that, rings them to check what is available and what they are charging this month, and goes with you to see the ones worth seeing. Free to your family. Call (619) 340-1539.
What a shortlist is drawn from
The register, not a network of homes that pay to be in it
California licenses 195 care homes in the City of San Diego and 21 more in La Mesa — 216 in all on the record read 21 October 2026, holding 8,358 licensed beds. 158 of the San Diego ones are houses of six beds or fewer, and almost none of those has a website, a sign or a listing anywhere. A family searching on its own is searching the homes that advertise.
We publish the whole register, including the homes we have no relationship with and the ones whose record is not flattering, because a shortlist drawn from a network is not a shortlist. You can read it without ever calling us.
- 216
- licensed homes published, named
- 1,583
- state visits on the record
- 191
- approved for a non-ambulatory resident
- 168
- holding a hospice waiver
What we are
A local advisor, paid by the home
- Somebody who answers the phone here, seven days, 8am to 6pm, and who has been inside the homes being recommended.
- A translator for the paperwork: the pre-admission appraisal, the physician's assessment, the admission agreement and what in it is negotiable.
- A shortlist of two or three homes that can actually accept your parent's level of need, with what each is charging this month rather than what its website says.
- Somebody who will tell you the answer is not to move, when the answer is not to move.
What we are not
And what nobody should claim to be
- Licensed. California licenses the facility and separately licenses home care organisations; it does not license placement or referral services. Anyone can call themselves a senior living advisor.
- A medical opinion. What your parent needs day to day is a question for her doctor, and every home will ask for that in writing before it can admit her.
- Able to promise a bed, a date or a price. Availability and admission are the home's decision, and any agency that guarantees them is guessing.
- A lead broker. Your details do not go to a list of communities. One advisor calls you back.
Tell us what is actually happening and we will come back with the two or three homes that can take it — including the six-bed houses you will not find on your own.
How we are paid
By the home, after the move, and that is the whole arrangement
It is worth knowing exactly, because it is the only real conflict of interest in this business.
A care home pays a referral fee when somebody we introduced moves in, normally worked out from that home's monthly rate. No invoice reaches your family, and the resident's rate is not supposed to rise because an agency was involved — ask the home to confirm that to you directly rather than taking our word for it.
Every agency in this business is paid this way, the national ones included, so "free to families" is not a point of difference and we would rather tell you who does pay. What differs is what happens around it, and those are the questions to ask anybody:
- Do you get paid by every home on the list you are showing me?
- Will my details go to more than one home before I say yes?
- What do you actually do after move-in, when the fee is already earned?
The longer version, including what the national services disclose
Where most people start
The pages families actually use
All free, all without speaking to anybody.
When a parent can no longer live alone
The signs that carry a consequence, what Medicare does not pay for, and free numbers that belong to nobody selling care.
All 195 licensed homes
Named, with licence numbers, bed counts and the state's own inspection and citation record for each.
Leaving hospital this week
What a discharge planner can and cannot do, and the order to do things in when the date is already set.
A short stay
Two weeks is still a licensed admission, which is why the doctor's signature sets the timeline and not the room.
What it costs, and who pays
Private funds, Medi-Cal and its waivers, VA benefits, and the one thing Medicare does not cover at all.
En español
El registro del estado, cuánto cuesta, y qué hacer cuando su mamá ya no puede vivir sola.
Common questions
Senior placement, answered
- What does a senior placement agency in San Diego actually do?
- It finds out what somebody needs, works out which licensed homes can accept that, rings them to check availability and the current rate, and goes with the family to see the ones worth seeing. The useful part is the middle: there are 195 licensed care homes in the City of San Diego and most of them have no website, so the search a family can run on their own is a search of whoever advertises.
- Do you charge families?
- No. A care home pays us a referral fee when somebody we introduced moves in, normally worked out from that home's monthly rate. No invoice reaches the family, and the resident's rate is not supposed to rise because an agency was involved — ask the home to confirm that to you directly. Nobody in this industry charges families, so "free" is not a point of difference and we would rather tell you who does pay.
- Are senior placement agencies licensed in California?
- No, and it is worth knowing. California licenses the facility — a Residential Care Facility for the Elderly — and separately licenses home care organisations. It does not license placement or referral services. Anyone can call themselves a senior living advisor. That is exactly why this site publishes licence numbers and the state's own inspection record rather than asking to be trusted.
- How is this different from the national referral sites?
- They are paid the same way we are. The differences that matter in practice: a national service usually passes your details to several communities at once, which is why families describe being rung for a fortnight, and its list is the homes in its network. Ask any agency three things — do you get paid by every home you are showing me, what happens after move-in, and will my details go to more than one home before I say yes.
- What if the right answer is not moving at all?
- Then we will say so, and we have no way to be paid for it. In-home support hours through IHSS, adult day programmes, or simply more time are frequently the right answer and the honest one. The call that starts "I am not sure it is even time" is a normal call to get.
- Which parts of San Diego County do you cover?
- The City of San Diego including La Jolla, and La Mesa, with the surrounding East County and South Bay cities handled case by case. If a family is better served somewhere we do not cover, we will say that rather than stretch.
Licensing figures are recomputed from the California Department of Social Services, Community Care Licensing Division record read 21 October 2026, not typed in by hand. General information for families, not legal or medical advice.
Last reviewed . Figures are re-checked against their sources whenever this page is revised.
Tell us what is happening, and we will tell you what we would do
Four questions, about a minute. One advisor here in San Diego calls you back — not a national call centre, and not a queue of communities ringing you for a fortnight.
Who are we helping?
Start with your family member. You can discuss the details with us by phone.
Prefer to talk now? (619) 340-1539, open every day until 6pm.