Industry-Favoring Florida Law Allows For 'At Will' Evictions For Residents In Assisted Living Facilities

In Broward County, Florida the South Florida Sun Sentinel reports:

• Assisted living facilities often market themselves as "just like home," cozy places where people will live just like they did in their houses or condos. But many don't realize their new lifestyle has the equivalent of a month-to-month lease.
  
  Under Florida regulations, assisted living operators need give residents little more than a 45-day written notice in order to evict them. The discharge rules are among the least restrictive in the nation, according to the National Senior Citizens Law Center.
  
  "Florida is an outlier on the wrong side of the curve. It allows people to be forced out at will," said Eric M. Carlson, the law center's directing attorney and long-term care policy expert.
  
  Florida advocates' ongoing efforts to change eviction rules failed again this year, with legislators not acting on reforms proposed by an assisted living task force. The group — composed of assisted living administrators, legislators, policy experts and advocates — was convened last year by Gov. Rick Scott to examine care centers' oversight and regulation.
  
  Florida's Long-term Care Ombudsman Program, which protects the rights of nursing home and assisted living residents, said it will continue to push for discharge policy changes when the group begins meeting again next month.
  
  An assisted living facility doesn't need to document specific reasons for a discharge and its residents have no right to appeal the decision, unlike in nursing homes. The staff isn't required to help residents find another place to live — even if the evictee is alone, sick or very elderly.
  
  State Ombudsman Jim Crochet said assisted living discharges should be handled similarly to those in nursing homes. Proposed changes include requiring the ombudsman program be notified when an eviction notice is issued, and that residents be entitled to a state-supervised appeals hearing.
  
  The ombudsman's office investigated 75 complaints about inappropriate evictions last year, and 72 complaints from residents who said they feared retaliation — including being discharged — for being too demanding or questioning staff decisions.
  
  One reason that discharge regulations aren't uniform is that nursing homes are governed by federal laws, and assisted living facilities by state regulations. And assisted centers, unlike nursing homes, are not allowed to house people with complicated medical conditions or advanced dementia.
  
  So discharges often happen when a resident's health deteriorates and the facility can no longer legally or safely care for the person, said Pat Lange, executive director of the Florida Assisted Living Association, an industry group.
  
  Passing more extensive rules could tie the facilities' hands "if they feel they need to relocate someone in order to meet the resident's needs," Lange said.
  
  Jean Merget, a family consultant with the Memory Disorder Center at North Broward Medical Center, said most of the discharges she's encountered are sensible and handled properly. "I tell my caregivers not to fight discharge decisions," she said.
  
  Some geriatric care managers, who coordinate services for elders, say families sometimes hear nothing about discharge policies when they sign their contracts — then suddenly, the resident is asked to leave, said Rona Bartelstone, the senior vice president of care management for SeniorBridge. "The family feels they have been bait-and-switched," said Bartelstone, of Fort Lauderdale.
  
  Bartelstone said assisted living centers should do a better job telling residents up front about eviction policies and consumers should educate themselves before moving in.

Source: Assisted living evictions have few rules in Florida.

Operator Of Assisted Living Facility Abruptly Goes Out Of Business, Leaving Dozens Of Elderly Residents Incapable Of Independent Living (ie. Dementia, Mobility Issues, etc.) Facing The Boot, Getting Short Notice To Pack Up & Leave

In Des Moines, Iowa, The Des Moines Register reports:

• Anxiety was high [] at an assisting living center across from Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines, where dozens of elderly residents were notified [] they might have to move before Christmas.
  
  The owners of Walden Point Assisted Living gave the state 90 days’ notice that it was no longer going to be licensed as an assisted living complex, instead becoming an independent living facility, because their primary contractor, Brightstar Care of Ankeny, abruptly ended services.
  
  Residents who feel they need a higher level of care in assisted living will have to move from the facility [...] by Dec. 16. In the interim, services are being provided by a temporary contractor.
  
  The Rev. James Craig contacted the Reader’s Watchdog, wondering what residents, most in their 80s and 90s, were supposed to do. He said most of the residents need help with basic living, including medications, and many cannot walk without assistance.
  
  “Many are unable to find an alternative place to live without assistance, and will have to live at Walden Point without assistance or potentially be homeless or forced to make hasty decisions about where to live, or be forced into the homes of family or friends,” he wrote.
  
  At a meeting [] with residents, Jesse Burns, who represented Walden Point’s owners, said Brightstar, the service provider, gave the facility no notice it was ending its service contract. “That’s never happened before in 23 years I’ve been in this business,” he said.
  
  Burns said the facility looked for a permanent replacement to Brightstar to take over the assisted living responsibilities and couldn’t find one, so it had to make a decision to change its licensing status.
  
  Workers said they were scrambling to see which residents could continue to live at Walden Point with services provided from independent home care agencies.
  
  DHS said the state's managed care providers were working with case managers for residents to provide services that could be provided under Medicaid.
  
  Residents who determine they have to move will receive deposits back and have their housing payments pro-rated, he said.
  
  At the meeting, family members expressed anger and concern for residents — some of whom have dementia, mobility issues and other disabilities. They also worried about meals, security and other services after the assisted living de-certification is complete in mid-December.
  
  But officials from Iowa’s Department of Inspections and Appeals and Department of Human Services said they would be monitoring to make sure residents receive care, medication and other services until the transition is made. Some services can be covered by Medicaid and Medicare if a resident doesn't need an assisted living facility.
  
  “My understanding is that they got a call from Brightstar saying they are out of business,” said Dave Werning, a spokesperson for the inspections department. “They have contracted with a temporary contractor for the time being. Our concern is that they continue to receive services until they’ve been relocated. Those who have to be relocated will be relocated.”
  
  Werning said Iowa’s Long Term Care Ombudsman was also assisting with residents’ transitions.

Source: Elderly may be forced to move before Christmas.

For a story update, see Iowa developers twice stripped elderly services after getting millions in tax credits:

• Father-and-son developers from Iowa City have received more than $26.4 million in federal tax credits to provide affordable assisted-living care for Iowa seniors — but they twice have decided to pull services and eliminate oversight of their facilities, state agency records show.
  
  ***
  The contractual agreement hinged on a promise that the licensed assisted-living center would offer support services to seniors for 50 years, according to the Iowa Finance Authority, which approves the federal credits and oversees compliance.
  
  ***
  "This has been a nightmare for residents," said the Rev. James Craig, who has been trying to help members of his congregation at the center. "Even for those who can stay, this is creating major problems."
  
  Craig said he's been told by an administrator that about 44 units are filled at the 64-unit facility, and all but 10 residents are trying to stay. Many of the residents are more than 80 years old and have dementia and other health problems, he said.
  
  "Most thought this would be their forever home when they moved in," he said.

Sale Of Decades-Old Assisted Living Facility Leads To The Boot For Over Two Dozen Seniors, Leaves Equal Number Of Staff Members Looking For Work

In Clovis, New Mexico, the Clovis News Journal reports:

• Just when they thought they were settled down to live out their retirement years, residents at the Clovis Senior Citizen Resident Center are looking for new homes.
  
  The nonprofit Christian-based community is shutting down on June 1, more than six decades after it opened.
  
  “We have sold the property and the facility, and the new owners don’t feel as if their mission with the property is to have an assisted living facility here,” said Senior Citizen Resident Center Administrator Bobby Jack Stewart.
  
  Stewart said there are other factors, such as state regulations requiring a new sprinkler system, but the primary reason for closing is the new owners are “moving a different direction than an assisted living facility.”
  
  Stewart said a local church is purchasing the facility, but he could not comment on which church or what they plan to do with the property because the sale is not complete.
  
  The facility opened 67 years ago, Stewart said. In 1990, it became an assisted living facility.
  
  “We were the oldest state-licensed assisted living facility in the state of New Mexico,” Stewart said. “Back then it opened under the terminology ‘new and innovative’ because they hadn’t even invented the name ‘assisted living’ at that point.”
  
  “Now they (assisted living facilities) are all over the place, but there’s not that many in Clovis.”
  
  Today, the center is home to 26 senior citizens and an equal number of employees.
  
  The residents are in the process of finding new homes, and they’re not happy about it, according to Stewart. “Most senior adults … they don’t like a lot of change,” Stewart said. “It’s not been real favorable.”
  
  Additionally, employees will be in need of jobs. One in particular is Virginia Shonkwiler, the assistant administrator. “I’m very sad,” Shonkwiler said. “It breaks my heart that we have to close our doors.”
  
  Starting out as the dietary director for 17 years, Shonkwiler has been with the organization for 25 years. “It’s like a second family here. It’s another home to go to. You get so connected with the residents and the employees … It’s just been a privilege and joy to work with the elderly, and we’re really going to miss everybody.”
  
  Stewart said he uses his Christian faith to remain hopeful about the future. “The good Lord knows what’s going on and will take care of us,” he said. “I believe that with all my heart.”

Source: Clovis Senior Citizen Resident Center closing.

Refusal To Make American Sign Language Interpreter Services Available To Deaf Persons Raises Fair Housing Issues For Dozens Of Nursing Homes & Assisted Living Facilities In Metro NYC-Area

From a recent announcement by the New York City-based Fair Housing Justice Center:

• [T]he Fair Housing Justice Center (FHJC) announced that several defendants have settled a lawsuit that was filed in the Eastern District of New York (EDNY) in November 2015. The lawsuit, which stemmed from an eight-month systemic testing investigation by the FHJC, alleges that the operators of dozens of nursing home and assisted living facilities refused to make American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter services available to Deaf persons.
  
  Though denying the allegations, the following defendants have entered into separate agreements to resolve the housing discrimination lawsuit, Crown Nursing Home Associates, Inc., Cliffside Nursing Home, Inc., Forest View Nursing Home, Inc., Ultimate Care Assisted Living Management, LLC, EBC White Plains, LLC, Hungry Harbor Care, LLC, Sayville Senior Care, LLC, and Armonk Senior Care, LLC.
  
  The settlements were so-ordered by the Hon. Judge Raymond J. Dearie in December 2016 and April 2017. The settlement agreements contain similar injunctive relief that apply to thirteen assisted living facilities and four nursing homes. Some of the provisions include:

• Agreement not to refuse to provide a reasonable accommodation to obtain auxiliary services including ASL interpreters when appropriate for effective communication;

• Adoption of policies and procedures that will ensure Deaf people have access to ASL interpreters or other auxiliary services as needed to provide effective communication when appropriate;

• Training for key facility staff on the legal rights of Deaf persons under fair housing and other civil rights laws as well as sensitivity issues and best practices for working with Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing persons; and

• Agreement to maintain and make available specific records over several years for review by the FHJC to document efforts made to comply with the terms of the settlements.

• In addition, the settlements also provide for a monetary recovery totaling $242,500, including damages and attorney’s fees. Claims against other defendants are still pending.
  
  FHJC Executive Director Fred Freiberg stated, “These settlements help to ensure that Deaf and Hard of Hearing populations have greater access to assisted living and nursing care in the New York City region.” The FHJC has partnered with the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) to provide training to key personnel in the facilities named in these settlements as well as in settlements that were reached last year in a similar lawsuit filed in the Southern District of New York.
  
  The FHJC is represented by Eric Baum and Andrew Rozynski of Eisenberg & Baum, LLP.
  
  The mission of the FHJC, a nonprofit civil rights organization, is to eliminate housing discrimination; promote policies and programs that foster open, accessible, and inclusive communities; and strengthen fair housing enforcement in the New York City region.

Source: Nursing Home and Assisted Living Facility Operators Settle Fair Housing Claims Brought by the FHJC (Agreements Ensure Deaf & Hard Of Hearing Populations Can Access Auxiliary Aids & Services).

Four Nursing Home/Assisted Living Residence Operators To Cough Up $495K, Agree To Make Facilities Friendlier To Hearing-Disabled To Resolve Fair Housing Suit Accusing Owners Of Refusing To Make American Sign Language Interpreter Services Available To Deaf Persons

The New York City-based Fair Housing Justice Center recently announced:

• [T]he Fair Housing Justice Center (FHJC) announced that four operators of nursing homes and assisted living facilities have settled a lawsuit filed in federal court for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) in November 2015.
  
  The lawsuit, based on an eight-month testing investigation conducted by the FHJC, alleged that the defendants refused to make American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter services available to Deaf persons. While denying these allegations, the three nursing home operators Archcare/Catholic Managed Long Term Care, Inc., Jewish Home Lifecare, and Elant, along with assisted living provider Atria Senior Living, Inc. entered into separate agreements to settle the lawsuit.
  
  The settlement agreements contain some common injunctive relief including:

• Agreement not to refuse to provide a reasonable accommodation to obtain auxiliary services including ASL interpreters when appropriate for effective communication;

• Adoption of policies and procedures that will ensure Deaf people have access to ASL interpreters or other auxiliary services as needed to provide effective communication when appropriate;

• Training for key facility staff on the legal rights of Deaf persons under fair housing and other civil rights laws as well as sensitivity issues and best practices for working with Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing persons; and

• Agreement to maintain and make available specific records over a period of years for review by the FHJC to document efforts made to comply with the terms of the settlements.

• The settlements were so-ordered by the Hon. Judge Paul A. Engelmayer in August, September and early October. The injunctive relief applies to a total of 12 nursing home facilities and 16 assisted living residences operated by the defendants and located in the FHJC service area. In addition to the injunctive relief, the FHJC obtained a total monetary recovery of $495,000 including damages and attorney’s fees.

Source: Fair Housing Lawsuit Alleging Discrimination Against Deaf Elderly People Resolved (Agreements Ensure Access To Auxiliary Services Including American Sign Language (ASL) Interpreters At Assisted Living & Nursing Home Facilities).

Anonymous Tip To State Social Services Agency Triggers Probe, Subsequent Arrest Of Central Florida Man For Allegedly Abusing POA To Take Title To Alzheimer's-Afflicted, Nursing Home-Bound Mom's Home, Living Off Her Money, Leaving Her Facing The Boot After Stiffing Care Facility Out Of $14K+

In Grand Island, Florida, Villages-News.com reports:

• A 60-year-old man was arrested after an investigation revealed he was living off his mother’s money and had stiffed her nursing home.
  
  The man’s mother, who has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease, was facing eviction from the Springs of Lady Lake Assisted Living Facility and owed more than $14,000,
  
  The investigation was launched after an anonymous tip to the Department of Children and Families in which the tipster said Brian Scott Schaffer was living on his mother’s money at her home in Grand Island, according to an arrest affidavit from the Lady Lake Police Department.
  
  Armed with his mother’s power of attorney, Schaffer had taken ownership of his mother’s home.
  
  In an interview with a DCF agent and a Lady Lake police detective, Schaffer admitted he was living on his mother’s Social Security check and her late husband’s pension. He said he couldn’t afford to pay her nursing home bills. Asked if he was planning to bring her home to care for her, he said he was not physically able to do so.
  
  He was arrested [] at his home in Groveland on a warrant charging him with felony exploitation of the elderly. He was booked at the Lake County Jail and released after posting $5,000 bond.

Source: Son accused of living off mother, stiffing her assisted living facility.

For story update, see Man won’t be prosecuted in case of looting of mother’s Social Security:

• A 60-year-old man who admitted to living on his mother’s Social Security and stiffing her assisted living facility in Lady Lake, won’t be prosecuted in the case.
  
  Brian Scott Schaffer had faced a felony charge of exploitation of the elderly after an investigation had been launched as the result of an anonymous tip to the Department of Children and Families.
  
  ***
  However, the prosecutor’s office announced [] that the case is being dismissed. In a court filing, State Attorney Brad King stated, “Evidence legally insufficient to support prosecution.”

Foreclosure Forces License Revocation, Shutdown Of Longtime Assisted Living Facility, Leading To Short-Notice Boot For 28 Frail Residents

In Ridgefield, Washington, The Columbian reports:

• The state Department of Social and Health Services shut down a longtime assisted living center in Ridgefield after the facility went into foreclosure and was sold at public auction.
  
  DSHS issued notice of its intent to revoke the operating license for Carolees at Ridgefield on March 21, after learning owner Carol Fox had fallen behind on her mortgage payments and was facing foreclosure, said Nancy Tyson, district administrator for DSHS residential care services. At the time, 28 residents lived there, Tyson said.
  
  The license revocation was effective April 18, after a 29-day appeal period expired without Fox challenging the state decision, Tyson said. All of the residents had relocated before the April 18 revocation, she said.
  
  The property sold for $3 million at a public auction March 29. Fox's lender, Matrix Advisors IV, took possession of the deed of trust.
  
  The property also included 12 cottages that were rented but were not licensed as part of the assisted living facility.
  
  Walt Bassett, 84, and his wife, Vera, rented one of the cottages for 11/2 years before learning in early April that they had to move out. "That's when everything hit the fan and everything went to pot," Walt Bassett said.
  
  The Bassetts were told the facility had sold and they had a week or two to find a new place to live. "It was a very short time, and it didn't seem reasonable," Walt Bassett said. "There was no forewarning," he added. "We didn't know anything was going on until it was too late."
  
  The Bassetts were renting a cottage month to month for $1,500, which included prepared meals. They paid for the month of April, and another $300 in advance for the month of May, but Walt said the couple never got any of their money back when they were forced to move out. The Bassetts moved into a new facility April 15.
  
  Fox could not be reached for comment.
  
  Carolees at Ridgefield, 888 S. Hillhurst Road, operated as a licensed assisted living facility for 24 years. The facility was licensed to house 36 residents.

Source: State puts end to Carolees assisted living center (Ridgefield facility had operated for 24 years until foreclosure, auction).

Assisted Living Center Operator Files For Ch. 11 Protection; Future Of Senior Residents Uncertain

In Eugene, Oregon, The Register Guard reports:

• In a last-ditch effort to save his company, Sunwest Management CEO Jon Harder placed himself and 14 individual assisted living centers — including Alpine Court in Eugene — into Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In legal maneuvering that unfolded in the waning days of 2008, Harder sought an injunction to stop nine big investment banks from seizing the most profitable of the company’s nearly 270 assisted living centers across the country.

***

• While creditors haggle, 16,800 seniors in Sunwest centers around the country — including about 5,000 in Oregon and 600 in Lane County — wait to see how Sunwest’s collapse will affect their housing. [...] The 90-plus foreclosures or receivership actions pending against Sunwest affiliates have “put at risk the well-being of residents at Sunwest-related facilities,” according to court records.

For more, see Assisted living sites face legal challenges Sunwest Management (CEO Jon Harder files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, including Alpine Court).

See also, Statesman Journal: Sunwest tries to halt foreclosure (Founder's bankruptcy filing is effort to protect senior living homes, court papers show):

• [T]he ongoing foreclosures and court judgments threaten to "result in a chaotic free-for-all in which the fastest creditors through the door will grab what they can and run," Harder's attorneys warned in court documents. [...] "This affords, in our opinion, the very best opportunity to have the least disruption to the lives of residents of the retirement facilities," said Stephen English, a Portland attorney who represents Harder.

Go here for other posts on the financially strapped Sunwest Management and its senior care facilities.

Miami Official Cites 98 Small Neighborhood 'Mom & Pop' Assisted Living Facilities, Other Group Homes For Allegedly Scoring Improper Real Estate Tax Exemptions/Discounts By Making Bogus Homestead Claims

In Miami, Florida, The Miami Herald reports:

• Already the focus of intense scrutiny by lawmakers and elder advocates, Florida’s troubled assisted-living industry has taken another hit: Miami-Dade’s new property appraiser has accused scores of the homes’ owners of gaining improper homestead exemptions that could cost taxpayers millions of dollars.
  
  This month, the Miami-Dade Property Appraisers’ Office issued $1.7 million in tax liens against assisted-living facilities that claimed homestead exemptions — resulting in a discount on their property taxes — to which they were not entitled, the office said. Under Florida law, an ALF owner must live on the property in order to qualify for a homestead exemption — which lowers the tax burden only for the portion of the facility in which the owner lives, not for any part of the home that generates income.
  
  Of close to 200 homes that were cited by the department, 98 were ALFs or other group homes where the owner did not live on-site — meaning they were not eligible for any tax relief.

***

• Under Florida law, violations of the homestead statute are assessed back taxes with a 50 percent penalty and 15 percent interest. Lopez-Cantera said his office also referred the ALFs on his list to the Miami-Dade state attorney’s office, but added prosecutions are unlikely because the tax-avoidance was only a misdemeanor.

***

• Pat Lange, who is the executive director of the state’s largest ALF industry group, the Florida Assisted Living Association, said she was “struck” by Miami-Dade’s failure to catch the ALF tax cheaters, given the large amount of money at stake. “We applaud Lopez-Cantera for taking this action, if it was done appropriately,” she said.
  
  But, Lange added, her group is concerned that some of the ALFs on the county’s scofflaw list may not actually be ALFs. The state licenses a variety of congregate living arrangements, Lange said, and a news release issued by the property appraiser’s office left open the possibility that some of the homes being fined might be adult family care homes, or other types of group homes that may be entitled to a homestead exemption.

For the story, see Almost 200 ALFs accused of cheating on property taxes.

19 Elderly Residents Face Threat Of Eviction As Lender Forecloses On Michigan Assisted Care Home

In Traverse City, Michigan, the Traverse City Record Eagle reports:

• Fears of eviction prompted tears and uneasiness for some local elderly assisted-living home residents, as well as for their friends, family and caretakers. French Manor Inn on Seventh Street was foreclosed this week after Irwin Union Bank rejected the business' restructuring plan under Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Owner Trish Gilroy hopes an interested buyer will purchase the facility and prevent it from closing. "I'm worried about how they're going to adjust to transition," Gilroy said of the 19 residents. "These people are fragile; there are a lot of women here in their 90s."

For more, see Assisted-living residents may face eviction.

June 1, 2008 update:

For story update, see WPBN-TV Channels 7 & 4: Assisted living home remains open (French Manor was set to close but after an emergency hearing on Friday, it's doors will remain open). Assisted Living

Another Aging, Money-Losing Nursing Home Bites The Dust, Causing Displacement Of Over 70 Seniors By Thanksgiving; Significant Medicaid Cuts Impact Closure Decision

In Hutchinson, Kansas, The Hutchinson News reports:

• Staff and residents of Dillon Living Center were notified [] that the facility at 1901 E. 23rd Ave. would close its doors at the end of November.
  
  Officials blamed ongoing losses by the 96-bed assisted-living and skilled nursing home, as well as a need for $3 million to $4 milliown in building upgrades to make the facility competitive in today’s care-home market.
  
  The closure will affect 71 residents and about 70 full-time-equivalent staff, said Ken Johnson, president and CEO of Hutchinson Regional Healthcare System.
  
  “The hardest part of this decision is the burden we’re placing on our residents, their families and our staff,” Johnson said. “Moving to a new home or place of work is stressful, so our priority is to ease that transition for everyone.”
  
  The organization is planning to schedule meetings with officials from other long-term-care facilities in the community to help residents transition to new homes, Johnson said.
  
  ***
  The home, [...] has been “sustaining very significant losses” annually for the past decade, Johnson said, including losing about $1 million per year the past two years. [...] “The industry is moving to a homelike atmosphere,” Johnson said. “We feel very much like an industrial or institutional assisted-living facility, on both sides.”
  
  While housing about 20 people in assisted living and 50 in skilled nursing, the operation lacks an independent-living segment, which helps feed new residents into the home as they transition through different levels of need, helping maintain the facility’s census, Johnson said.
  
  Recent cuts to Medicaid through KanCare by the state also have had an impact, though they are not directly the cause for the decision, Johnson said.
  
  “This decision has been in the works a long time, but significant cuts on Medicaid payments add to the prudence of the decision,” he said.

For the story, see Dillon Living Center care home closing at end of November.

NJ Prosecutors: Woman Abused POA To Drain Dementia-Stricken Mom Out Of Her Life Savings; Money Was Earmarked To Fund Monthly (Rent) Payments At Assisted Living Facility Where Victim Lived, Received Care

From the Office of the New Jersey Attorney General:

• Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino and the Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor (OIFP) [] announced that a California woman has been charged with stealing more than $87,000 from her elderly mother, who resides in an assisted living facility in Wayne, N.J.
  
  Pamela M. Land, 68, of La Canada, California, who had been serving as her mother’s power of attorney, was indicted on charges of misapplication of entrusted property, and theft by unlawful taking, both in the second degree. The indictment was handed up to Superior Court Judge Mary C. Jacobsen in Mercer County [].
  
  According to prosecutors, the elderly woman had given her daughter unfettered access to her financial assets to oversee funding for her continued stay at an assisted living facility for patients suffering from dementia.
  
  ***
  “Stealing the life savings of an elderly person is reprehensible, but it’s especially gut wrenching when the crime is committed by the ailing victim’s own daughter,” said Attorney General Porrino. “To make matters worse, the allegedly stolen money was intended to ensure proper care of the defendant’s mother who was suffering from the debilitating effects of dementia.”
  
  ***
  According to prosecutors, Land stole approximately $87,746 while acting as power of attorney for her mother between May 2013 and January 2016. Instead of making monthly payments to the residential facility where her mother lived, as she was required to do under a contract with the facility, Land allegedly accessed her mother’s money to make purchases for herself and to pay her own bills. She also used her mother’s credit cards for goods and services she herself received, and used her mother’s money to make payments on those cards, which were eventually closed for non-payment of outstanding balances, according to prosecutors.

Source: California Woman Charged with Stealing More than $87,000 from Her Elderly Mother Who Resides in a Passaic County Assisted-Living Facility.

Operator Of Assisted Living Home Serving Dozens Of Low-Income People w/ Chronic Mental Health Issues Blames Poor Medicaid Reimbursement Rates For Having To 'Transition' Into Providing Less Costly Services, Gently Giving Current Residents The Boot w/ 6-Month Relocation Effort

In Spokane, Washington, the Inlander reports:

• By the end of October, the 127-bed Carlyle Care Center will stop providing round-the-clock care to people with chronic mental illness, nonprofit Pioneer Human Services announced to staff and residents on Wednesday, April 26.
  
  The Carlyle, at Post Street and Second Avenue in downtown Spokane, often serves people who would otherwise be homeless, are transitioning out of Eastern State Hospital or Sacred Heart's Adult Psychiatric Unit, are in hospice care, or have a court order to be in a residential care facility, according to Pioneer.
  
  The people who live there, long-term or short-term, are referred in, and often on Medicaid. They receive meals, medications, nursing care, room cleaning, activities and other care.
  
  Because Medicaid rates haven't kept pace with the cost of providing that intensive care, the facility will have to transition and provide a different type of service, says Hilary Young, a Pioneer spokeswoman.
  
  "Like a lot of publicly funded services, rates have not kept pace with the costs," Young says. "It's really expensive."
  
  Some of the residents at the Carlyle already transition in and out in a manner of weeks or months, so some of them would already be on their way to lower-level service facilities, she says. About half the residents stay for more than a year, and the other half stay for less time.
  
  "Over the next six months we'll be working with partners in the community and other assisted living providers to secure housing for everybody who lives at the Carlyle today," Young says. "Words like 'closure' tend to cause panic, I would say this is a transition. There are still going to be housing resources for high-needs people, and Pioneer still expects to be in that role, just not in assisted living."
  
  When residents were told about the change on Wednesday, Frontier Behavioral Health, which provides mental health services to many of the people who live at the Carlyle, had staff on site to make sure they knew that a team of people would help them transition through this, says Jeff Thomas, Frontier's CEO.
  
  "The fact there’s that amount of time is really fortunate," Thomas says. "It's really a testament to Pioneer’s commitment to helping people transition out."
  
  While the news could be unsettling or concerning for the residents and community, Thomas says both agencies will work with the Spokane County Regional Behavioral Health Organization and other care facilities over "the gift of time we do have" to find people stable housing, and patients will continue to receive mental health care from Frontier.
  
  "We were there, so they had a sense there’s a community team approach working to assist them, so they aren’t going to be kicked to the curb or put out in the cold," Thomas says.
  
  It's still not clear what the Carlyle will transition into, though it may look more like supportive affordable housing, where residents are typically much more independent, and don't need meals or nursing services, but still have access to on-site case managers or treatment groups, Young says.

Source: Carlyle Care Center to stop providing assisted living for 127 people with chronic mental health issues.

Financial Instability Claims Another Assisted Living Facility; Shutdown To Force More Senior Citizens Out Of Their Residences While Employees Lose Jobs

In Penobscot, Maine, the Castine Patriot reports:

• Northern Bay Residential Living Center will close in several weeks, but not until all residents have found another home, administrator Marjorie Love said.
  
  “It’s the lemonade we can make out of these lemons, that they have the option to move to the right home.”
  
  Ordered closed after more than eight years in the financial receivership of the Department of Health and Human Services, the result will be employees losing their jobs, families of residents traveling further for visits, volunteers staying home, and a community losing one of its linchpins.
  
  Like the elementary school and Northern Bay Market, the nursing home at Penobscot’s main intersection has been part of the town’s fabric for decades.
  
  “I think it’s hard on everyone,” Love said.
  
  While Penobscot students, who spend time with residents weekly, know that the center will close this spring, “when it’s really going to hit the kids is next Halloween,” Penobscot Community School Principal Allen Cole said.
  
  The Halloween practice of grade school students, and some parents, parading to the center in full costume to meet with residents is a decades-long tradition.
  
  In recent years, residents came and shared a Thanksgiving meal with students at the school.
  
  The interaction between students and residents is good for everyone, Cole said.
  
  “It turns out no matter what the kids do, the residents love having them,” he said. “And it’s the one thing where our kids, some of them, get to interact with elderly people….They are forced to get out of their own comfort zone. We have no one-to-one parallel thing to replace that.
  
  “There’s nothing that will or can take that spot,” he said.
  
  A January 15 deadline to find a purchaser set by Judge Michaela Murphy in Maine Business and Consumer Court early in December was not met, and therefore DHHS was granted legal rights to sell the nursing home and assisted-living bed rights to other elder-care companies.
  
  The nursing home section was closed in 2014, upon a legal petition to the court by DHHS, based on alleged violations.
  
  However, the assisted living center “is being closed as not financially viable,” Love said. “It’s not a quality issue, it’s an expense [issue].”

Source: Closure of Northern Bay Living Center ‘hard on everyone’.

Operating License Revocation, Foreclosure Force Frail Residents Out From Assisted Living Facilities

In Hayden, Idaho, the Coeur D'Alene Press reports:

• The operator of the two Autumn Haven assisted living facilities in Hayden has been notified by the state of Idaho that its operating license has been revoked. A bank is foreclosing on the properties and taking them over in March, said Idaho Department of Health and Welfare spokesman Tom Shanahan. The properties will be auctioned off by the bank, he said.



• Twenty residents had been living at the facility when the bank began foreclosure action. About half have already moved out. The bank contacted the state in December to notify officials of the foreclosure.



• Shanahan said an official from the department visited the facilities last week, and determined all residents currently living there have at least one option for alternative housing. "Many are probably in the process of moving out," Shanahan said.

For the story, see Assisted living facility loses license (Tenants moving out; bank forecloses on two Hayden facilities).

Nebraska Senior Care Residents Among Those Affected By Financial Problems Of Oregon-Based Assisted Living Center Operator

In Seward, Nebraska, the Seward County Independent reports:

• Heartland Park Senior Living Community is among four senior assisted living centers in Nebraska fighting off foreclosure by filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Seward Senior Living LLC which goes by the Heartland Park name is owned by Sunwest Management Inc. [...] The other three in Nebraska include: Willow Ridge Senior Living Community in McCook; The Oaks Senior Living Community in Wayne; and Northridge Senior Living Community in Kearney.

***

• Sunwest also filed for bankruptcy on 14 other locations nationwide. Sunwest serves more than 17,000 residents in more than 250 communities in 37 states.

For more, see Senior communities fighting off foreclosure.

Go here for other posts on the financially strapped Sunwest Management and its senior care facilities.

HUD: Landlord Drove Elderly Couple Out Of Rented Home Because Of Manager’s Perception That They Were Unable To Care For Themselves

From a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development press release:

• HUD CHARGES MINNESOTA PROPERTY OWNER, MANAGER WITH DISCRIMINATING AGAINST ELDERLY COUPLE (Manager pressured couple to move to assisted living even though they were able to live independently):
  
  The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is charging a Foley, Minnesota property owner, manager, and management company with violating the Fair Housing Act for forcing an elderly couple to vacate their apartment because of the manager’s perception that they were unable to care for themselves.
  
  HUD brings the charge on behalf of the couple, alleging that Big Norway, LLC, Northern Management Real Estate Services, Inc., and its employee, Laura Schroden, pressured the couple to move to an assisted living facility even though there was no evidence that the couple was a safety threat to themselves or to others.

***

• According to HUD’s charge, Northern Management’s Vice President of Operations, Laura Schroden, contacted the couple’s children and grandchildren multiple times in a campaign to pressure the couple to move out of the building.
  
  Big Norway, Northern Management, and Schroden cited the couple’s “forgetfulness” and how easily they “would get agitated when involved in different situations” as evidence of management’s belief that the couple “should be in assisted living.”
  
  Schroden described the couple as “handicapped” even though there had been no incidents involving the couple’s health or safety in their more than three years of tenancy at the apartment complex. The family, who visited frequently, maintained that the couple was still active and capable of living on their own: they managed their own bills, shopping, and laundry, and frequently babysat for their great-grandchildren. After one of the couple’s complaints to management, Schroden allegedly told their grandson that they should move “right away or they may find themselves without housing.”
  
  Although the couple repeatedly informed management that they did not want to move and did not need help, after more than three months of pressure they moved to a townhouse in a senior community 20 miles away, where they could no longer visit frequently with their family. The couple continues to live independently. (lawsuit here).

Five 90+ Year Old Senior-Holdouts Who Refused To Be Booted From Gentrifying-NYC Assisted Living Home After Its Announced Shutdown & Sale Finally Agree To Leave After Squeezing New Owner/Condo Developer For $3.35 Million In 'Cash For Keys' Deal

In Park Slope, Brooklyn, The Associated Press reports:

• Five elderly women who refused to leave their assisted-living home after its closure was announced will finally vacate as part of a $3.35 million settlement, attorneys said [last week].
  
  The holdout residents, ages 91 to 101, will be required to leave Prospect Park Residence by Aug. 31, and will each receive $533,333 under the deal reached Tuesday in Brooklyn state Supreme Court. Eleven former residents or their estates will also receive payouts.
  
  "It's definitely a win for our clients. We got them a significant amount of money and time to make plans to find appropriate placements nearby that they can move to," said Fred Millett, one of the attorneys for the holdouts. "This allows them more options to look at places that they can maintain their standard of living."
  
  The agreement comes more than two years after the facility announced it would be closing and sold for conversion to condominiums in the upscale Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn. Most of the roughly 125 residents vacated in short order, but a handful fought the move, sparking a web of litigation. Separate lawsuits alleging wrongful deaths remain unresolved, as well as litigation over the status of the $76.5 million building sale.
  
  Frank Carone, an attorney representing building owner Haysha Deitsch, said he was pleased with the settlement and that it allowed a focus on the remaining lawsuits. Deitsch, in an email, suggested the holdouts' families were simply motivated by greed.
  
  "I believe it was always about money for the families of the residents," he said. "They are getting plenty of it, and now we can all move on."
  
  Ten former residents or their estates will receive payments of $25,000 under the agreement. One other former resident will receive a payment of $433,333 under a deal that Millett said had been separately negotiated.
  
  "In the perfect scenario, PPR would have never closed," Millett said. "We did all we could the last two years keeping it open."
  
  Joyce Singer, whose mother Alice has remained at the facility, expressed fear Deitsch would follow through with the agreement and said while the money would help in the transition, it still would be difficult.
  
  "It's going to be unbelievably distressing for her," she said. "She loves that room. There isn't a day that goes by that she doesn't say to me how much she loves looking out those windows."

Source: Fight Over Assisted-Living Home Closure Ends in $3.35M Deal.

See also, The New York Times: With $3.35 Million Deal, 5 Holdouts Will Leave a Brooklyn Seniors’ Home.

Note: One of the lawsuits, filed in Kings County (Brooklyn) Supreme Court is captioned Berger et al. v. Prospect Park Residence LLC et al., Index No. 6639/2014 (New York State Supreme Court, Kings County), which plaintiffs brought under the New York State Social Services Law, the Public Health Law, the Rehabilitation Act, and the federal Americans with Disabilities Act. Source: MFY Legal Services.

Nursing Home With History Of Dealing With Sexual Abuse Allegations Ordered Shut Down By State Regulators Over New Unreported Claims Of Unwanted Touching Of Demetia-Suffering Residents; Loved Ones Sent Scrambling To Find New Accommodations For Over Four Dozen Vulnerable Adults Getting The Boot

In Port Orange, Florida, WFTV-TV Channel 9 reports:

• Families in Port Orange are trying to find where to move their loved ones after the state ordered the closure of a Volusia County assisted living facility in light of claims that residents were being sexually abused.
  
  According to these documents obtained by Channel 9's Jeff Levkulich from the Agency for Health Care Administration, officials allege the administrator at Grace Manor in Port Orange turned a blind eye when it came to a male resident who had been allegedly sexually assaulting female residents since May.
  
  ACHA said none of the incidents were documented, and there were no investigations.
  
  Neither police nor the Department of Children and Families were called in to investigate.
  
  One of the solutions to keep the man away from the women was to lock residents in their room at night. But officials said that could have had disastrous consequences if a fire were to break out. Levkulich was told to leave the building when he tried to talk to management. "We are just trying to find out what's going to happen to the people here," he said.
  
  Management handed Levkulich a statement from Tod Petty, president of Thrive Senior Living:
  
  “The safety of our residents is always a top priority. We understand the seriousness of this issue. This is why we have already made some internal steps. But we continue to review our policies and procedures and will make changes as needed.”
  
  A resident's wife, Kathy Catsantonis, said she was looking for a new place for her husband. "I'm shocked. The place is fabulous. I mean, it's immaculate. I'm just shocked," she said.
  
  An employee told Levkulich they are working to keep Grace Manor open.
  
  It is not the first time Grace Manor has been investigated. Investigators said a nursing assistant admitted to sexually battering three elderly women in 2015, but Channel 9 learned that prosecutors dropped the charges against him.(1)

Source: State orders Port Orange assisted living facility to close after sex assault allegations.

See also:

State-shuttered Port Orange ALF sued earlier for abuse (Grace Manor houses some 52 patients in the 54-bed facility, and must cease operation by July 26):

• The 19-page AHCA order documents at least three incidents when a male patient attempted to engage in sexual acts with female residents — all of them unwanted. A Port Orange Police Department incident report states that the three alleged victims and the male patient all suffered from dementia and "due to their mental state, no crime occurred."

Nursing Home Accused of Ignoring Predator:

• An assisted living facility in Volusia County, Fla. negligently hired a man with a history of extreme physical and sexual violence and gave him free rein in the institution where he raped mentally impaired residents, a lawsuit claims.

-------------------------

(1) See Despite confession, charges dropped in elderly sexual abuse cases, police say:

• [C]harges have been dropped because, according to records, the patients' memories are so poor that they have no recollection of being sexually abused.
  
  "Without those key witnesses or DNA this case is dead. It does not matter if the suspect confessed, prosecutors need to prove a crime was committed," WFTV legal analyst Bill Sheaffer said.

Pittsburgh Assisted Living Retirement Community Faces Foreclosure; 150 Elderly Residents Paying $300K To Get In Face Loss Of Home, Investment

In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, KDKA-TV Channel 2 reports:

• Some local senior citizens who thought they were set to live out their golden years in the lap of luxury are facing a frightening reality. The assisted living community where they live, Covenant at South Hills, is in foreclosure and they may lose their homes and considerable investments.

• Residents paid a $300,000 deposit to get into the community and pay a $3,000 monthly living fee for upscale living conditions and quality extended medical care.

***

• Now, seven years after it opened, Covenant is only 40 percent occupied and the non-profit board that runs the facility can't pay the bills.

For more, see South Hills Senior Living Community In Foreclosure.

For story update, see:

• The Jewish Chronicle (1-12-09): Covenant South Hills files for bankruptcy,
• Pittsburgh Business Times (1-2-09): Creditors ask judge to sell Covenant at South Hills (Bank says senior living center's debts top $48 million),
• The Jewish Chronicle (12-24-08): B’nai B’rith: Covenant residents’ interests will be protected.