Being in the Bay Area, I can tell you that affordable housing is hard to come by. It’s even worse for the elderly, some of whom have special needs due to the vagaries of aging. Went through several living options for my mother-in-law before she finally ended up in long-term nursing care due to illness and disability (she spent the last 30 or so years in a wheelchair after failed scoliosis surgery — normally successful in 99 of 100 cases, she was #100) before her death in early November at the age of 85.
Well, thanks to a landlord who sees dollar signs instead of people, there will be one fewer facility available.
Atria Chateau Gardens is a small facility in the Willow Glen area of San Jose. Willow Glen is a very popular neighborhood; quite a bit of residential, and a shopping district that attracts shoppers and diners from all over the South Bay. Part of what makes Willow Glen popular is its proximity to many of the tech firms, especially the new planned Google campus adjacent to the Caltrain station a short drive away.
And it’s that proximity that may have prompted the landlord to refuse to renew the lease, leaving 91 residents (or more accurate, their children) searching for new housing.
And it’s not an easy or cheap process. Having been through this, and with a parent who was at least lucid and able to make her own decisions, it was tough enough. Imagine doing this with a parent or other family member who has dementia or in the early stages of Alzheimer’s. As for the cost, you’re looking at over $3000/month for rent, all the way up to in the $4000-5000 range if the resident needs a lot of care. (For my mother-in-law, my father-in-law had made a lot of investments especially after he retired and cashed out his profit-sharing, so she could easily afford her care costs for the 7 years she outlived her husband, but not every elderly person is that fortunate.) And you have to pay a fee equivalent to 1 month’s rent upon moving in; imagine coming up with that sort of money on short notice.
And for the resident, moving from one facility to another means leaving the place you expected to stay the rest of your life, leaving friends you may have made, and having to get used to a new facility, with new caregivers who you don’t know and having to adjust to a new schedule (usually the new residents get the worst schedules when it comes to showering, clothing assistance, etc.). And if the resident has any sort of cognitive disorder it’s even worse. Experts have observed cases of “relocation stress symptom” in seniors who have been forced into sudden moves like this, leading to anxiety, depression and dislocation.
Atria is trying to help the residents by placing them in other Atria facilities in the Bay Area, and will even pay the moving expenses for those residents who go to other Atria properties. it’s still going to be a rough road this holiday season for many families who will be scrambling for housing for their elderly parents or other relatives.
As for the landlord, no word on their plans for the property — but it’s a good bet that they’re either going to remodel or tear down and rebuild the structure, probably for pricey apartments or condos for the Google-ites while ordinary people are priced out of the area.
Merry Christmas….now get the hell out; we’ve got techies to house.