By Grand Rapids Senior Advisor Care Team · Published October 30, 2026
What did LARA renewal inspections find in West Michigan homes?
Most homes passed cleanly. Of the 322 most recent renewal reports we read for licensed homes in Kent, Ottawa, Allegan, Montcalm and Ionia counties, 233 established no rule violations and 89 established at least one.
A renewal licensing study is the periodic re-inspection LARA's Bureau of Community and Health Systems completes when a home applies to renew its license. The consultant visits, reviews records, interviews staff and residents, and writes up any rule the home is not meeting. The report ends with a recommendation, usually renewal -- contingent on a corrective action plan when violations were found.
These numbers come from the reports themselves, posted on each home's LARA facility profile, not from a summary. We counted only the latest renewal for each home, so a home cited three years ago and clean since counts as clean.
Which Michigan licensing rules are cited most often at renewal?
Kitchen and dietary rules for homes for the aged lead the list, followed by general maintenance and storage, admission and retention of residents, and employee health records.
| Rule | Subject | Homes cited at latest renewal |
|---|---|---|
| R 325.1976 | Kitchen and dietary (HFA) | 26 |
| R 325.1979 | General maintenance and storage (HFA) | 16 |
| R 325.1922 | Admission and retention of residents (HFA) | 11 |
| R 400.685 | Resident admission and assessment plan (AFC) | 10 |
| R 325.1923 | Employee's health (HFA) | 10 |
| R 325.1975 | Laundry and linen (HFA) | 10 |
| R 325.1954 | Meal and food records (HFA) | 9 |
| R 400.15310 | Resident health care (large AFC) | 7 |
Rules numbered R 325.19xx belong to the home for the aged rule set; R 400.6xx and R 400.15xxx are adult foster care rules for different home sizes. A home can be cited under several rules in one report.
Why are homes for the aged cited more often than AFC homes?
Mostly because there is more to inspect. In our count, 33 of 52 homes for the aged had at least one violation at their latest renewal, against 56 of 270 adult foster care homes.
A home for the aged with 80 apartments runs a commercial kitchen, a laundry, a maintenance department and a staff of dozens, and each of those has its own rules and records. A six-bed family home has a household kitchen and two or three caregivers. More systems mean more places for an inspector to find a missing temperature log or an out-of-date staff health screening.
That is why a raw violation count is a poor way to compare a large home with a small one. Compare homes of the same type, and read what was cited.
Should a kitchen or maintenance citation worry a family?
Usually less than a citation about care. Food storage temperatures, cleaning schedules and maintenance logs matter, but they are a different kind of finding from a missed medication or a resident left without help.
Read the narrative under each cited rule. Inspectors describe exactly what they saw -- a walk-in cooler without a thermometer, expired food, a broken call light -- and that detail tells you whether the problem touched residents. Then look at the home's next report. A kitchen citation that never reappears suggests the corrective action plan worked.
Citations about admission and retention, resident health care and medications deserve more attention. Those rules govern whether the home is caring for people within what its license allows, and they are the ones families should ask about by name.
How do you find a home's renewal report?
Open the home's LARA facility profile and look for the most recent report titled Renewal Licensing Study or Renewal Inspection; every facility profile on this site links straight to it.
On our profiles, the inspection section summarizes the latest renewal -- the date, whether violations were established and which rules were cited -- and lists every report LARA has posted. Our guide to checking a LARA license explains the other report types, including interim inspections and special investigations.
If a home's last renewal is older than its license period suggests, or the home was renewed by administrative review rather than an on-site visit, ask when LARA last walked through the building.
What should you ask a home about its last renewal?
Ask what was cited, what the corrective action plan promised, and how the home checks that the fix is holding.
A good administrator will answer without hesitation and may show you the plan. Then ask a broader question: what would an inspector find if they arrived tomorrow? The answer tells you whether the home treats inspections as an event or a standard. Pair that with a walk past the kitchen and laundry -- the two places homes for the aged are cited most.
Frequently asked questions
How often does LARA inspect adult foster care homes and homes for the aged?
LARA re-inspects at license renewal, may conduct an interim inspection near the midpoint of a license period, and investigates rule-related complaints whenever they come in; each produces a report on the home's facility profile.
Does a clean renewal mean a home has no problems?
No. It means the inspector found no rule violations on that visit. Check the home's special investigation reports too, which follow complaints between renewals.
What is a corrective action plan?
It is the licensee's written plan to fix violations a report established. LARA typically recommends renewal contingent on an acceptable plan; families can ask the home to see it.
