Need help finding care for my father who has dementia and only social security as income. I feel lost.

Thank you everyone for your responses, they were all helpful!!

Rox - you have been given really good ideas. Another possibility, if Dad is really still able to do his ADL's and pretty cognitive is a "board & care" home. They are usually inexpensive and smaller (maybe 6 -10 residents) who share a home in which the caregivers are the property owner and have an aide or two there also. Now he has to be able to do his ADL (Activities of Daily Living): eating, bathing, dressing, potty and "transferring" on his own. He can be slow in doing these but has to be able to understand like "it is morning & I have to get out of bed and change my clothes, potty and get to the dining room to eat before 9:30". They usually will remind him to take his medications and set them out for them.

The transferring means he can get out of bed to a chair (it can be by using a walker or a cane) and then getting from a chair to the toilet without support of another person but by using grab-bars or his walker for support). They are state regulated so there should be a list of board & care homes on a state database.
It's kinda like a low-rent dormitory. Good luck.

In Iowa we have a program called elderly waiver, you could check into that... Check with the Area Agency on Aging where your Dad lives, they should have case managers or a caregiver specialist who will help you! take care and God bless...

Home Health Care service is the best option for elderly who are not getting proper home health care. With home care services patient can live independently and happy. There are lots of home health care agencies or centers who are providing in home care services for all age group people. 

Contact his county's office for services to the aging (may be called by a different name where you are). There may be affordable senior housing options for your dad. In our county (in PA) there are options ranging from a couple of hundred dollars a month for the truly poor to $700 or so for those with limited income and assets. If your dad is living fully independently now, could he continue to be independent in a setting where there'd be some support? In apartment buildings where there are lots of seniors, even if they aren't technically senior communities, neighbors tend to look out for each other (with rides and errands and such) and are able to stay independent longer. Or, do you feel like he really needs assisted living or even skilled nursing at his point?
You could call your county's office for aging, too, to see what options are available for your father if you can move him closer to you. There may be a residency requirement (he may have to have lived in the county for X number of months or years), so be sure to ask about that.

We're in the process now of getting Medicaid for my mom. Yes, do go to your state's Department of Human Service website and look up Medicaid because as you read above, rules are different in each state. I also contacted my local agency on aging for help and the Alzheimer's Website, which put me in contact with the Alzheimer's chapters both near me and near my mom. They were very helpful. Welcome to our club...we are here for you!

Depending on your dads social security amt and assets he may be eligible for Medicaid. The rules are different for each state. Some states will allow medicaid for personal care homes and assisted living facilities and some only nursing homes. Wish I could remember what website to go to that lists each state and the rules. I live in Pa and moms on Medicaid. Pa Medicaid only allows nursings homes but offers a waiver program for home based community services which pays for respite care 5 hrs a day either in home or adult day care. In order to be eligible for Medicaid though you have to be diagnosed as not being able to fully functional to live totally independently.

Is your Dad a veteran? If so they will help with the cost for like assisted living. My Dad has dementia, and in Michigan they have a program called UPCAP, it helps people that are low income, you have to have under $2000 in assets, and earn less than $2100 a month, they will pay for in home care, if qualified.