96-year-old senior living resident facing eviction
Jacques has called Pacific Grove Senior Living her home for 22 years. On August 16
By Leslie Duarte, Rosemary Wright
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PACIFIC GROVE, California (KSBW) — As Jean Jacques celebrated her 96th birthday in July, she never considered that just one month later, she would be advocating for the roof over her head.
Jacques has called Pacific Grove Senior Living her home for 22 years. On Aug. 16, the facility gave Jacques a three-day eviction notice. The notice states that Jacques must pay her outstanding balance of about $110,000 or vacate her unit.
The issue? It was Jacques’ understanding that she would be taken care of for life — regardless of whether she outlived her savings.
The eviction notice was issued by Pacifica Senior Living, the parent company for Pacific Grove Senior Living. When Pacifica acquired the facility from California-Nevada Methodist Homes in 2022, there was an expectation that existing contracts would be honored.
Though the previous owner’s contracts were grandfathered in, their policies were not.
President of Pacific Grove Senior Living’s Residents’ Association, Bob Sadler, says that contracts for “lifetime care” like the one Jacques signed were considered unconditional under the previous owners.
Because some residents pass away before their contract finishes, evictions were not issued to those who outlived their savings, per Sadler. With this in mind, Jacques says the eviction notice came as a surprise.
The wording of the notice itself has come into question as well.
Elizabeth Campos, ombudsman project manager at the Alliance for Aging, says the notice was not approved by Community Care Licensing. Additionally, the notice did not include instructions on how to appeal.
“You do get angry knowing that it’s an elderly person,” Campos said. “Where is this person going to go?”
“She’s devoted all of her savings and money to this place,” Sadler said. “I don’t care what the legal ramifications are here. This is morally unthinkable.”
Jacques has not been contacted by the facility’s business office since receiving the eviction notice. Attempts to contact the office by the Alliance for Aging and the Residents’ Committee have received no reply. KSBW also reached out to the office without reply.
“I’m not going. They’ll have to bury me because I have no place to go,” Jacques said. “They have all my money.”
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