As Virginia braces for a ballooning elderly population, the Commonwealth's legislators have passed a law allowing some homeowners to set up an approved temporary health care structure on their property to help them care for a member of their family.

Effective July 1, 2010, if you have a family member who needs assistance with daily living activities (like bathing, eating, or dressing) due to a mental or physical impairment, the local government can’t prohibit you from installing a complying temporary family health care structure on your property to help you care for them. There rules about the size and specifications of the structure, who can live in it, how to get approval from your locality to install it, and more. Read the law for full details.