Assisted Living Feasibility Study in Washington

Approvals that hold together in Washington

Washington assisted living stands out for how rarely its SBA approvals come apart. Among Washington care home loans approved in FY2017 through FY2024, the cancellation floor is 3.4%, and the ceiling, which also treats any loan still awaiting disbursement as cancelled, is that same 3.4%. Cancellation is the one metric on which this cell stands apart. Few Washington care residence approvals in the file were cancelled after approval, and the ceiling matches the floor.

The class also carries unusual weight in this state. Washington ranks 3 of 50 states for SBA loans to assisted living without nursing care, with 248 approvals worth $223.4 million over FY2017 to FY2026, and its location quotient of 3.40x puts the class at several times its national share of SBA lending. Among the classes Washington borrowers finance, assisted living is 8 of 39. Size is unremarkable: Washington's median care home loan, $805,500, is 1.06x the class median nationally, with half of all approvals between $399,025 and $1.2 million, a band that suits buying an existing residence or a modest addition more than building a large campus.

One dominant holder on the 7(a) side

SBA 7(a) carried 238 Washington approvals and SBA 504 only 10, so most operators financed property, business and working capital in one guaranteed loan. Columbia Bank is the current holder of 105 of them, worth $97.0 million, so one lender's credit view comes close to setting the standard here. Gesa CU holds 16 for $16.8 million and Sound Credit Union 15 for $7.2 million; Commonwealth Business Bank and U.S. Bank, National Association hold 9 apiece. With a franchise share of 0.00%, every Washington operator stands on its own licensing and census record. For the 109 Washington care loans that disbursed during FY2017 to FY2021, recorded charge-offs stand at a floor of 0.00%, matched by 0.00% inside five years, and both can only rise as those loans age.

What a Washington assisted living study must test

Demand is concentrated: King County holds 92 approvals, Snohomish 59, Clark 29 and Pierce 22, so a study has to show that a new or acquired home is not simply dividing a private pay base that nearby residences already serve. On the cost side, caregiving staff should be priced at full licensed capacity, because labor rather than debt is usually the swing line in a care budget. Coverage of debt service belongs on a ramp of occupied beds instead of stabilized occupancy, and on the payer mix the operator can document. For collateral, the appraiser has to value a converted residence without its license as well as with it. Approvals peaked at 43 in FY2022 and eased to 18 in FY2026.

A boundary on these numbers: this class covers assisted living without on-site nursing only. Memory care carries no separate code, and residences that provide nursing are filed under nursing care codes, which are grouped under skilled nursing and under continuing care retirement communities. A Washington project mixing care levels is only partly described here, and its study should read the skilled nursing record next to this one.