I-Team: Residents left with few options as low-income assisted living facility closes in Roxbury
BOSTON -- For more than five years, Cheryl Lewis has called Landmark at Longwood in Roxbury her home.
"I was going to be here for life," she told WBZ-TV's I-Team.
The low-income assisted living facility has been in the community for more than two decades. But all that changed in July when Lewis and nearly 80 other residents were told they had to move out in 90 days.
"I was laying in my bed and I almost fell out of it. They are forcing us out," Lewis said.
With the clock ticking, residents said staff members told them they would not be fed or cared for after October 5.
Dan Harris with the Boston Center for Independent Living said it is challenging to place folks because there are not a lot of affordable options.
Of the 266 registered assisted living facilities in Massachusetts only 20% are low-income, according to the state.
"A vulnerable population, you got three months to find a new place to go... it doesn't make sense. Can you imagine saying to somebody, 'Hey we got to pack up all your belongings that you have here, but we have no idea where you're going to go. People are just scared," Harris told WBZ. "The only help I can provide is getting you on a wait list that doesn't move."
Lewis said she didn't have any good choices. "My income was so low that a lot of these assisted livings wouldn't take me," she said.
Several weeks ago, the state Office of Elder Affairs send Landmark a letter asking that it give residents an additional thirty days to find a new place to live.
Bill Henning, the executive director at Boster Center for Independent Living, said Landmark "played a great role in the community but in 90 days, the people (are) being asked to leave. It's disruptive, can disrupt people's health care, can disrupt their social well-being. It's terrible."
Facing pressure from the state and the threat of a lawsuit, Landmark told the I-Team that most of the residents have moved and agreed to care for the few that remain until their assisted living agreements expire.
Henning said when low-income assisted living homes close, people by default are going to end up in nursing homes where they don't need to be. That's what Lewis is facing as she moves into a rest home in South Boston.
"I'm very upset about it. I really don't want to go nowhere but I have no other choice," she told WBZ.
But some nursing homes are also shutting down at the end of the year, as the I-Team reported last month. Henning sees this as a potentially troubling trend.
"I think you have a phenomenal crisis in long-term services and support, long-term care for seniors, people with disabilities. I hope the next governor jumps on this right away," he told WBZ.
Since 2020, ten assisted living homes have closed. Weeks ago, the state changed the regulations for assisted living facilities that are closing, now requiring them to give residents a four-month notice. But advocates say for vulnerable folks that is still not enough time.