The low-income elderly in Kootenai County face an increasingly slippery problem, Ryan Lineham has found.

Finding a place to live.

"I get probably two to three calls a week for somebody who has Medicaid, they need space for assisted living and nobody has openings for Medicaid," said Ryan, administrator assistant at Lark's Haven Assisted Living in Hayden. "That's what I'm hearing all the time now."

Those seeking beds at an assisted living facility will be making a lot of phone calls, Ryan predicted, if Medicaid is their primary funding source.

Many residential care facilities don't accept Medicaid clients at all, he said. Others cap the percentage of Medicaid-reliant residents they take.

With the county such a retirement destination, what beds are available fill up quickly.

"All these places have been calling (our company), 'I've got a person who needs a Medicaid bed, do you have any openings?'" Ryan said. "I feel so bad telling them I don't have an opening, or might have openings down the road."

That's why Lark's Haven plans to provide aging citizens a new roof to stay under, he said, regardless their insurance type.

The family-owned company recently purchased two residential care homes in Hayden that were previously owned by Autumn Haven, Ryan announced on Monday.

Autumn Haven's license for the facilities was revoked by the state last year. When the homes closed, residents were forced to find new homes.

Lark's Haven has renovated the two facilities, Ryan said, and will be reopening them shortly.

Most important: They will house all Medicaid patients.

"Obviously we would accept private pay if we get calls for it, but we don't get calls for private pay," Ryan said. "We're hoping to fill some of those needs."

The two homes are located at 246 W. Hilgren Ave. and 9886 N. Reed Road.

The Hilgren facility will open up next week to eight clients, Ryan said. When the company gains the necessary permit, 15 residents will be allowed.

The second facility will open around May and be licensed for 10 residents, Ryan said.

"Once we see how quickly they fill up, you never know, we may be able to look at expanding some more, and offer more Medicaid beds," he said.

John Corcoran, founder of nonprofit ElderHelp, said he hears about hunts for Medicaid beds all the time.

"It is hard," Corcoran said of finding a care facility that accepts the state-and-federally funded medical coverage for low-income individuals. "It's a bottom tier of the income structure. They're between 1,500 and 2,000 bucks a month, paid for by Medicaid."

To complicate things, some on Medicaid require additional care for mental issues like Alzheimer's, he added.

Those who can't find a bed here are forced to expand their search out of the area, Corcoran said.

Or some are taken in by their families, which he noted isn't always ideal.

"I just talked to a guy who put his mother in (a facility). He couldn't handle it anymore," Corcoran said. "It was taking care of her 24 hours a day, seven days a week. He didn't have a life."

The need has "increased dramatically" to house Medicaid clients, said Mary Beth Hassell, executive director at Prestige Senior Living at Legends Park.

"We get calls every single day for Medicaid," Hassell said. "Our percentage of Medicaid residents are always full."

Hassell attributes the demand to extended life expectancies.

"(People) live down or spend down their money they've saved all their lives, and it's gone," she said. "We actually have several private pay residents that do end up having to spend down, and then we try to keep them here."

Lark's Haven took out a roughly $1.2 million loan to acquire and upgrade the additional facilities, Ryan said.

The company also owns an assisted living facility on Thames Court in Hayden, and an adult family home in Moses Lake, Wash.

Lark's Haven can afford all Medicaid residents because of its low overhead, Ryan said.

Owned by his parents, Lark and Ray, the company relies on its small, family staff for most of the operation.

"It's never really been about the money for us," said Ryan, whose wife Shanna is also an administrator at the company. "It's about helping people who don't have the money to afford something like this."

For information on becoming a Lark's Haven resident, call 772-2146.