If she has started using a walker
The thing that quietly decides where she can live
Nobody warns you about this one. Whether a care home can take your mother turns out not to be about whether they like her, or whether the doorways are wide enough. It comes down to a permission written on that home's licence — and most families only discover it exists when a home says no, or when a home says yes and then changes its mind two months later.
It is worth ten minutes now. Getting it right at the start is the difference between one move and two.
Start here
The word the whole thing hangs on is “non-ambulatory”, and it is not really about walking
You will hear it from every home you ring. What California actually means by it is somebody who could not get out of the building on their own if there were a fire. Two kinds of person count:
- Anyone who leans on something to move — the rule names crutches, walkers and wheelchairs by name.
- And anyone who could not take in what was happening and act on it — who could not follow the alarm, or a person shouting at them to go, and get themselves out.
That second one catches everybody out. If your mother walks around the house perfectly well but her memory has gone far enough that she would not understand what the noise meant, she counts. People are told all the time that she “doesn't need that sort of home, she can walk”. It is kindly meant and it is wrong, and it is how families end up moving someone twice.
The rule is 22 CCR 87101 if you want to read it yourself.
Anaheim, by the state's own record
How many homes are actually cleared
113
of 121 homes
state a non-ambulatory approval on their licence record.
86
cleared for every bed
Their approval covers the full licensed capacity.
27
cleared for some beds
Approved, but for fewer places than they have beds.
8
state none
Not a refusal, but the first thing to establish on the call.
Across the city that is 2,038 approved non-ambulatory places against 2,641 licensed beds. Among the six-bed houses, which are most of the market, 93 of 100 state an approval — so the small homes are not the problem here, and are often the easier answer.
The larger communities
Licensed beds against approved places
This is where the gap is widest, and where a family is most likely to be shown a room that their parent cannot lawfully occupy.
| Community | Licensed beds | Non-ambulatory | Share | Bedridden |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Walnut Village | 334 | 138 | 41% | — |
| Emerald Court | 299 | 259 | 87% | 40 |
| Brookdale Nohl Ranch | 266 | 164 | 62% | — |
| Anaheim Villa | 210 | 172 | 82% | 25 |
| Anaheim Crown Plaza | 200 | 142 | 71% | — |
| Harbor Heights Assisted Living and Memory Care | 199 | 199 | 100% | 5 |
| Marbella Anaheim | 140 | 115 | 82% | 25 |
| The Meridian at Anaheim Hills | 120 | 60 | 50% | 15 |
| Karlton Residential Care Center | 76 | 76 | 100% | 76 |
| Blue Sky Manor Inc | 50 | 50 | 100% | 6 |
| The Cottages at Artesia Anaheim | 38 | 38 | 100% | 16 |
| Family Choice Senior Living | 30 | 30 | 100% | — |
| Ardent Care | 27 | 21 | 78% | 6 |
Read the share column. A building can be licensed for hundreds of residents and cleared for a fraction of them. “Not stated” is not a refusal — it means the state's record for that home does not carry the term, and the honest thing is to ask the home and ask to see the clearance rather than to assume either way.
The ones to ask about first
8 homes where the state's record does not state an approval
Read this carefully, because it is easy to read it wrong. This is not a list of homes that refuse wheelchairs. It means the comments on their licence record do not mention a non-ambulatory approval — which may be because they do not hold one, or simply because it is not written there. Either way it is the first thing to settle with them, and they are all small houses where one phone call gets you a straight answer.
- Archer Residential Care6 beds · 92804
- B & B Home Care6 beds · 92801
- Care Celine6 beds · 92807
- Grafton Cottages6 beds · 92805
- Loveland Senior Living6 beds · 92806
- Orange Hill Quality Care, LLC6 beds · 92807
- Select Senior Care LLC6 beds · 92807
- Siani Residential Care Facility4 beds · 92808
The word that matters in the regulation
“Accepting or retaining”
22 CCR 87202(a) requires a home to notify the licensing agency and obtain an appropriate fire clearance before accepting or retaining a non-ambulatory or a bedridden person. Two clearances, listed separately.
Retaining is the half families discover late. If a home has no non-ambulatory approval and your father's mobility declines after he moves in, the home is not permitted to keep him — and that can arrive as a 30-day notice on the ground that a reappraisal found a need it cannot meet.
Which is the argument for settling this at the start. A home cleared for the whole building costs nothing extra today and saves a move at the worst possible moment.
If you are already holding a notice, read what it has to contain first. If a home has told you it cannot take your parent at all, the prohibited conditions are not the absolute bar they sound like.
On the phone
Four questions, in this order
“Do you hold a fire clearance for non-ambulatory residents, and for how many?”
The number is the answer. A yes without a number is not one.
“How many of those approved places are occupied right now?”
An approval is not a vacancy. A home cleared for 60 of 120 beds can be full on the approved half and empty on the rest.
“Do you also hold a bedridden clearance?”
A separate permission under the same regulation. It matters if your parent is coming out of hospital.
“My mother walks, but could not follow an instruction in a fire. Does she count?”
Ask it in exactly those words. The answer tells you whether the person on the phone knows their own licence. Under the state's definition, she does.
Common questions
Wheelchairs, walkers and the clearance
- Do Anaheim care homes accept residents in a wheelchair?
- Most can, but it is a term on each home's licence rather than a matter of willingness, and the number attached to it varies. Of the 121 residential care facilities the state licenses in Anaheim, 113 carry a stated non-ambulatory approval and 8 do not state one. Under 22 CCR 87202 a home must notify the licensing agency and obtain a fire clearance before accepting or retaining such a resident. An approval is also not a vacancy: some homes are approved for every licensed bed and others for only a handful, so ask how many of those places are free.
- What does non-ambulatory actually mean in California?
- It is much broader than families expect. Regulation 22 CCR 87101 defines a non-ambulatory person as somebody unable to leave a building unassisted under emergency conditions. It expressly includes those who depend on mechanical aids such as crutches, walkers and wheelchairs. It also includes a person who is unable, or likely to be unable, to respond physically or mentally to a fire alarm signal or an oral instruction about fire or other danger and to take appropriate action unassisted. So a parent who walks perfectly well but has dementia advanced enough that she could not follow an instruction in a fire is non-ambulatory under California law.
- My mother only uses a walker. Does this really apply to her?
- Yes. The regulation names walkers specifically. A family is often told their mother does not need a special home because she can walk, and that is not what the rule says — it turns on whether she could leave the building unassisted in an emergency, not on whether she can cross a room. If a home says the question does not arise, ask to see its fire clearance for non-ambulatory residents.
- Can a care home make my parent leave if they stop being able to walk?
- This is why the wording matters. 22 CCR 87202 covers accepting or retaining, so the clearance is needed to keep a resident as well as to admit one. If a home has no non-ambulatory approval and your parent's mobility declines, that can become a ground for a 30-day notice under 22 CCR 87224 — a need identified after admission that a reappraisal says the home cannot meet. Choosing a home with the approval in place from the start avoids a move later, at the worst possible time.
- What is the difference between non-ambulatory and bedridden?
- They are two separate clearances under 22 CCR 87202, and bedridden is the narrower one. 55 of Anaheim's 121 licensed homes state a bedridden capacity on their record. If your parent is coming out of hospital and may be in bed for a long period, the non-ambulatory approval on its own may not be enough, so ask about both.
Care homes pay us a fee when a resident we introduced moves in, including homes named on this page, so we are not a neutral party — check anything that matters against the state's own record. Definitions and duties read at source: 22 CCR 87101 (“Nonambulatory Person”), 22 CCR 87202 (fire clearance before accepting or retaining non-ambulatory and bedridden persons), and 22 CCR 87224 (eviction grounds). Approved counts are read from each facility's own record at the California Department of Social Services on 13 October 2026, where they appear in the comments field. Where a home's record does not state a figure we say so. General information for families, not legal advice.
Last reviewed . Approvals are re-read from the state's record whenever the register is refreshed.
Tell us how she gets out of a building
Not whether she can walk — whether she could leave unassisted if the alarm went off. That one answer rules homes in and out faster than anything else, and we will tell you which Anaheim homes are cleared and have a place free.
Tell us who you are looking after
Four short questions. Nothing you answer is shared with a facility until you say so.
Prefer to talk now? (714) 975-9652, open every day until 6pm.