IHSS Humboldt County: phone numbers, the Eureka office, enrollment and $18.40 pay

What IHSS covers and who can get it in Humboldt County

IHSS is a state program, directed by the California Department of Social Services (CDSS), for blind, aged and disabled residents who need a care provider in order to remain safely at home. Humboldt County IHSS serves elders, disabled adults and disabled children.

Depending on assessed need, authorized help can include:

• domestic tasks such as cleaning, meal preparation and errands;
• personal care such as grooming, bathing and bowel and bladder care;
• transportation to medical services;
• protective supervision.

The county's eligibility page lists four conditions. To qualify you must live in California, in your own home; be 65 or over, blind or disabled; be receiving Medi-Cal; and have low income under the SSI/SSP standards. The page adds that someone whose income is above those standards may still qualify with a share of cost, so a pension or other income is not automatically a reason to give up.

How to apply: the Humboldt County IHSS phone number

Applications start by phone. The IHSS line is 707-476-2100, and the county also lists a toll-free number, 866-527-8614, which helps if you are calling from Garberville or another part of the county far from Eureka.

1. Complete the application. The county takes your details and opens the request.
2. Health care certification. CDSS requires the county to receive a completed SOC 873, signed by a licensed health care professional, before it can authorize any services.
3. Home assessment. A DHHS employee visits and looks at your abilities, medical condition, living arrangement and the resources you already have.
4. Notice. A written decision follows. If it is a yes, it sets out each authorized service with its monthly hours; if it is a no, CDSS requires the reason to be stated.
5. Choose a provider. In the county's words, a family member or friend may serve, or you can select someone through the Care Provider Registry.

CDSS treats the approved recipient as the provider's employer, so the hiring, training, supervision and any dismissal are yours to handle. For interview prompts and a written agreement you can adapt, read how to hire a private caregiver.

The IHSS office in Eureka: address and hours

All IHSS business runs through one address: 808 E St., Eureka, CA 95501. The county posts two sets of hours:

• Lobby: Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m. (closed over lunch).
• Payroll: Mondays through Thursdays from 8:30 until 11:45 a.m. and again from 1 until 4:45 p.m.; on Fridays, the morning window only.

Plan Friday payroll questions for the morning. The Public Authority hands out free masks, gloves and sanitizer to current recipients and providers at this address (call ahead, supplies are limited), and the county's own Live Scan appointments take place here too.

IHSS pay in Humboldt County: $18.40 an hour

Humboldt County providers appear in the CDSS county wage spreadsheet (its "IP Effective 10-1-2026" tab, pulled October 15, 2026) at $18.40 an hour, effective January 1, 2026. The county's enrollment page explains the formula: under the labor contract between SEIU and the county, IHSS providers earn $1.50 above minimum wage. With California's minimum at $16.90 from January 1, 2026 (DIR), adding $1.50 gives exactly $18.40 (our arithmetic).

The union is SEIU Local 2015. When it reached a tentative agreement with the Board of Supervisors in October 2023, it described wages moving from $16.00 to $17.50 in January 2024, then $18.00 in January 2025, with a further step listed for January 2026, plus the county's first spending on provider training and protective equipment. The rate currently in force is the $18.40 shown by both CDSS and the county.

In the workbook 34 counties pay more than Humboldt and Tehama pays the same amount. For comparison with private-sector pay, BLS OEWS May 2025 figures for home health and personal care aides across the North Coast Region of California nonmetropolitan area (Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake and Mendocino counties, per the BLS area definitions) show 10,140 jobs, a median of $16.74 and a mean of $17.16 an hour. Eureka, Arcata and Fortuna are all absent from the UC Berkeley Labor Center's tracker of city and county wage ordinances, which leaves $16.90 as the floor for private jobs.

Weekly cap and paid sick time. A provider serving several recipients may not exceed 66 combined hours in a workweek under CDSS rules. For 2026/27 each provider is credited 40 sick hours, starting on July 1, 2026; to check a balance, ring the state's IHSS Service Desk at (866) 376-7066. To set Humboldt beside the other 57 counties, use our IHSS pay by county list.

How to become an IHSS provider in Humboldt County (BOUNDS portal)

Humboldt County moved provider enrollment onto an online system called BOUNDS. Brand-new providers follow these steps, and so does anyone whose last IHSS paycheck is over a year old; the clock gives you 90 days from registration. Applicants under 18 cannot join the registry.

One fork comes first. If you already have a recipient, such as a parent you will care for, the county asks you to stop and call IHSS Payroll on 707-476-2100 to discuss your steps. The sequence below is written for people joining the registry without a recipient in mind.

1. Register in BOUNDS. You need your own email address; one that a recipient already uses will not work. Login details arrive from noreply@jumpfaster.com, so check spam. The county warns that att.net, yahoo.com and sbcglobal.net addresses are known to block these emails, and asks you to call if nothing arrives within 24 hours.
2. Watch the training videos in the portal, each one to the end. The county says the set changed from 14 to 10 videos on September 30, 2026, with the content unchanged.
3. Complete the "Provider Application with Signature" online, saving each section, then press Send; the portal asks you to sign in once more, and that second login is your digital signature.
4. Book an in-person orientation under "Training Events" and take two originals: an unexpired U.S. government-issued photo ID (license, state ID or passport) and a Social Security card bearing the same name. Photos and copies are refused.
5. Book a fingerprint check (Live Scan) under "Appointments". The county releases next month's slots when each month begins, on its first working day. Since July 1, a Live Scan at the 808 E St office costs $33.25.
6. Submit the registry application packet through BOUNDS, by mail, at orientation, or in person at the IHSS main office.

No computer? Call 707-476-2100 for a one-on-one appointment; the county also publishes a list of free computer and Wi-Fi locations. For the statewide picture, including the SOC 426 and SOC 846 forms, see our IHSS provider enrollment guide; adult children and spouses can also read paying a relative to provide care in California.

IHSS Public Authority Humboldt County and the caregiver registry

State law created the Public Authority to be the IHSS providers' employer of record and gave it a provider registry to run. Legally it stands apart from the county, yet the Board of Supervisors is its governing body, and it shares the 808 E St office and the 707-476-2100 number.

How the registry works. When a recipient calls, staff compare the recipient's needs with provider skills, availability and other factors, then hand over a list of names. The recipient interviews and hires; the registry is a free referral service, not an employer. Joining it is optional, so you can work as an IHSS provider without it.

IHSS Advisory Board. This 11-member body, appointed by the Board of Supervisors, includes at least six people who use IHSS or personal care services. It meets on the fourth Monday of the month, 2 to 4 p.m., in the Silvercrest conference room at 2141 Tydd St., Eureka. The remaining 2026 dates are October 26 and November 23, with no December meeting. Anyone may attend; interpreter requests go to the Public Authority at least five working days ahead, at 707-476-2100 or Ihsspublicauthority@co.humboldt.ca.us.

IHSS in Eureka, Arcata, Fortuna and the rest of Humboldt County

The wage, phone line and registry are identical in every town. What changes is distance from the Eureka office, which matters most for orientation and Live Scan.

• Eureka: home of the IHSS office. See caregiver jobs in Eureka and Eureka caregivers.
• Arcata and McKinleyville: north of the bay. See Arcata caregiver jobs and caregivers in Arcata.
• Fortuna, Garberville and Redway: south along US 101; the toll-free 866 number reaches the same IHSS staff.

Countywide pages: Humboldt County caregiver jobs and in-home caregivers across Humboldt County. Further inland, read IHSS in Shasta County; down the coast, IHSS in Sonoma County.

Humboldt County IHSS phone numbers and contacts

Adult Protective Services in Humboldt sits in the DHHS Behavioral Health Branch at the same E St address. IHSS providers are mandated reporters, so keep the abuse lines handy.

Help beyond your authorized IHSS hours

An IHSS notice sets a fixed number of hours a month. Families often want more: overnight cover after a hospital stay, help during winter storms or power outages, or a backup when the regular provider is away. Those hours are arranged privately, at a rate you agree with the caregiver.

A Humboldt household looking for those extra hours can list them on CaregiverConnect without paying. Interested caregivers send applications; the household picks, hires and employs the person it chooses; we take no commission from caregiver pay and do not run background checks ourselves, though caregivers can upload proof of one. Optional paid plans exist. For private rates, see California in-home care costs. If you are a Humboldt provider with open hours in your week, a caregiver profile is free to set up.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

1. County of Humboldt, In-Home Supportive Services (phones, 808 E St office, lobby and payroll hours, services)
2. County of Humboldt, IHSS Eligibility (application, home assessment, eligibility conditions, share of cost)
3. County of Humboldt, IHSS Provider Enrollment (BOUNDS steps, $1.50 above minimum wage, $18.40, Live Scan $33.25)
4. County of Humboldt, IHSS Public Authority (employer of record, caregiver registry)
5. County of Humboldt, IHSS Advisory Board (membership, 2026 meeting dates, contact)
6. County of Humboldt, Adult Protective Services (abuse reporting lines)
7. CDSS, IHSS wages by county (workbook sheet "IP Effective 10-1-2026"; Humboldt $18.40 from January 1, 2026)
8. CDSS, In-Home Supportive Services (SOC 873, recipient as employer, approval notice)
9. CDSS, IHSS Program Requirements (66-hour weekly maximum)
10. CDSS, IHSS Provider Paid Sick Leave (FY 2026/27, Service Desk)
11. CDSS, Adult Protective Services (statewide reporting line)
12. California DIR, minimum wage FAQ ($16.90 from January 1, 2026)
13. SEIU Local 2015, Humboldt County in-home care providers reach tentative agreement (October 2023)
14. BLS OEWS May 2025, home health and personal care aides by area; area definitions (web.archive.org copy dated October 1, 2026)
15. SEIU Local 2015 (union phone line)
16. UC Berkeley Labor Center, inventory of local minimum wage ordinances