Brookdale Senior Living Rent Skyrockets

By Jondi Gumz

For most people, the holidays are a season of joy – not for senior citizens at Brookdale Senior Living at 100 Lockewood Lane in Scotts Valley.

They are scrambling to find affordable places to live after getting notices of rent hikes from 11% to 17% on Jan. 1 – compare that to Social Security increasing 8.7%.

One woman, 67, said her new rate is $7,000 a month.

“Nobody can afford that,” she said. “This news has stressed people out. This should be a relaxed, joyous time of year… The sad thing is, most people do like it here.”

She provided the figure to Scotts Valley Times with the agreement her name would not be used.

Quite a few residents, she said, have booked a spot at Dominican Oaks, retirement apartments in Santa Cruz where assisted living starts at $5,580 a month.

Some may have to move in with their children.

One reached an agreement with the director to lower the rent increase, and she’s not allowed to talk about it.

Alverda Orlando, 92, moved in after living with her daughter in Santa Cruz. She paid $3,000 a month for a studio. Now she pays $4,000+. Her daughter figures the increase is between 13% and 17%.

After she pays, she has $50 left. Health insurance costs $60 and there’s nothing left for extras like an ice cream or a pair of shoes.

Orlando, who worked 35 years at the Santa Cruz Public Library and wrote a book about Davenport with Ed Dickie and Sally Iverson, said she’s at a point in life where she needs some care. She goes to dialysis three times a week, with a daughter paying for her Metro rides. She volunteered to alphabetize the Brookdale library, and she’s taking an art appreciation class and writing about a princess who lived in Davenport.

“The staff is fabulous,” she said, wishing there were more of them in the dining hall.

A new parking charge takes effect Jan. 1. Residents said they were never charged for parking before.

The Oct. 21 notification letter to residents said “We are constantly working to minimize costs” while continuing to provide quality care services and cited significant increase in expenses due to inflation and pressures of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Brookdale communications manager Heather Hunter elaborated, “Everyone, including older Americans living at home, have seen higher than normal increases in their cost of living this past year.”

She said expenses have increased for wages, utilities, insurance, supplies, food and Covid-19, making rate increases necessary.

“We are also striving to attract and retain the best associate teams for our residents at a time when the overall demand for workers is high and the supply cannot keep up,” she said.

“We typically increase rates each year in January with advance notice and in accordance with the terms of the residency agreement,” she added, noting rate increases vary, depending on care required.

Acknowledging that residents are dealing with rising costs and fixed incomes,” she said, “we actively work with residents to find ways to help offset rising costs.”

Some letters arrived in mailboxes in November.

Elders who questioned rent hikes were asked: Can your family help you? Do you have a house you could sell?

Lots of apartments are empty – only 125 of 180 are occupied, residents say, as some people left to live with family during the pandemic and new people are seen getting tours.

The rent increase letter came when the senior facility temporarily did not have a director.

An expired job listing on GlassDoor said the salary was $129,000 to $165,000.

A Brookdale operations specialist who filled in had two weeks’ off when notices went out.

The new director is the 7th one in six years, residents say.

Employees have left, too.

There used to be four staff in activities, now there are two – “they’re overworked,” residents say.

The bus driver left. With no one qualified to operate a bus with a wheelchair lift, residents who use a wheelchair are left out of field trips.

To fill shortages, the facility turned to “contract labor,” which requires a higher pay, and pushed up labor expenses until September, when employee pay was raised.

The staff who have stayed are praised by the residents—“they love us, they take care of us.”

The new director who started last week did not attend the Nov. 16 meeting of the residents association.

Ordinarily few people attend. This time, 45 residents plus family members came, a huge turnout, plus a Press Banner reporter.

Steven Matzie, coordinator of the Long Term Care Ombudsman program at nonprofit Advocacy Inc. in Capitola and committed to helping older adults, came.

So did Brookdale Senior Living’s director of district operations, who started her Brookdale career 18 years ago as a caregiver.

After an hour of listening to questions, the reporter was asked to leave – despite being invited by residents and following procedure to sign in.

Residents were told the meeting was private and media could not be invited.

According to Matzie, residents in long-term care homes such as Brookdale Senior Living are excluded from Assembly Bill 1482, the California Tenant Protection Act of 2019.

In his opinion, there is no protection for these elders.

All the company needs to do is provide a 60-day notice (based on postmark) of the rent increase.

Legislators elected in November will be sworn in Dec. 8, so action before then is unlikely.

After that date, Gail Pellerin of Santa Cruz will represent the 28th Assembly District, essentially replacing Mark Stone of Scotts Valley, who is retiring.

Scotts Valley Times reached out to State Sen. John Laird of Santa Cruz.

His chief of staff Richard Stapler said, “We will be taking a close look at these rent increases and staffing issues, and confer with the Dept. of Social Services and Aging on potential actions. Sen. Laird takes issues around aging and secure housing very seriously.”

Brookdale Senior Living is a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange, based in Tennessee, the largest operator of senior housing in the U.S., with 60,000+ residents at 700-800 locations, employing 58,400 people in 2019 and 30,000+ people in 2021.

Revenue in 2019, pre-pandemic, was $3.26 billion, then $3.02 billion in 2020, and $2.56 billion in 2021.

The stock price has fallen and some analysts forecast the company will be unprofitable for the next three years.