Officials say seniors and their families are choosing assisted living over nursing homes, even if their medical needs may be better met by nursing homes' 24/7 medical care by licensed nurses and doctors. Minnesota only started requiring assisted living facilities to be licensed and monitored in 2021 and since then, assisted living complaints have risen. Assisted living facilities, which got their start in the late 1980s, were intended for mostly independent seniors who needed help cleaning, cooking and administering medication. "Family members often are the ones that are driving the push to assisted living, but residents [are] too, because assisted living still has a better positive association." Increase in complaints about assisted livingThere are about 2,200 assisted living facilities in Minnesota, compared to 329 Medicaid-certified nursing homes.