The growing number of people suffering from dementia creates new challenges for society, based on the need to create new types of architectural and planning solutions for boarding houses where such people can be comfortably and safely accommodated. Countries with the most developed economies already have accumulated experience in organizing such spaces depending on the financial capabilities of service customers. Russia is one of those countries in which the transition to market relations has created opportunities for organizing private initiative in this area, along with state institutions, which were created mainly in the previous historical period on the basis of special requirements for elderly people. However, people diagnosed with dementia represent a special category that needs special conditions of stay in such institutions. The development of a new trend can be traced so far at the stage of adaptation of existing buildings for the needs of such institutions, since neither special government programs nor a high level of income of the population in need of such changes has not yet been achieved. At the same time, focusing on the peculiarities of the existing buildings, there is a possibility of their improvement in terms of redevelopment of premises and partial reconstruction. The article highlights the main architectural and planning problems faced by people working in such type of boarding houses and the residents. The author provides a review of literature related to this topic. On the basis of comparative analysis, the author shows the relevance of solving problems in Russia related to the predominant location of these facilities in buildings adapted for these purposes and the need to adopt baseline data for the development of recommendations to improve the situation in this area.