An applicant shall be a resident of the state of Washington at the time of application and at the time of admission to the state veterans home. An applicant shall be considered a Washington state resident if (s)he:

(1) Is living in the state at the time of application and has established residence either by declaring an intent to remain in the state or has an unbroken period of physical residence in the state;

(2) Is not living in this state at the time of application, but has demonstrated intent of remaining a resident of this state by maintaining a domicile or voting registration in this state or similar evidence of Washington state residency;

(3) Is not living in this state due to hospitalization or provision of similar care needs in another state resulting from transfer from a Washington state or federal health care or social service agency as long as the applicant has taken steps to maintain Washington state residency similar to subsection (2) of this section.