As deadline for closure passes, residents at Holland Home struggle with uncertain future
Wednesday was the day Nona Arnold and 149 other residents of Celebrate Senior Living South Holland have circled on their calenders for two months.
When management for the storied senior living facility known as Holland Home told seniors in early November the building would shut down, Jan. 10 was the tentative date for closure. But that day came and went with more than half the residents still living at the facility, said Tony Shir, a spokesperson and board member for Elevate Housing Foundation, which owns the property.
“It’s just hard to try to find a place at short notice like this,” said Arnold, a 74-year-old former nurse and McDonald’s manager. “I cried for two days.”
During an interview in her living room Wednesday, Arnold and two other residents, Mary Simmons and Patricia Rawls, explained in detail why it is difficult to find a new place to live and that it also takes time to close on a move. Two months was never enough time, they said.
Arnold and some of the other 85 remaining residents are under various government assistance programs. She pays $648 dollars a month for her place and the state picks up the rest of the rent, which is a little less than $2,000 a month. But many facilities that sent representatives to entice residents do not accept government checks, removing them as an option.
For places that do accept government money, many have a two- to three-year wait list, said Rawls, 67. The already high demand for affordable senior living facilities in the south suburbs is compounded by the recent closure of Village Woods near Crete in addition to the Holland Home.
“They had an influx of people putting in their applications,” Rawls said of a nearby facility. “They put you on the wait list. Everybody got a wait list.”
She said a Catholic Charities building has a two-year waiting list.
But even for those who get into a facility with immediate vacancies that take a government subsidy, a final hurdle is whether that place offers independent living. Many provide only assisted living or nursing home style care which takes more of residents’ government assistance checks and leaves them with only $90 a month, according to Arnold.
“They say they do that because (for) some people it’s hard for them to manage their money,” said Arnold, explaining she doesn’t need nursing or assisted living care. “But everybody isn’t like that. And you work too hard to give someone your money for them to give you just $90 a month.”
She said Holland Home’s management tries to help them find new housing but it’s not meeting the needs of herself or her fellow residents.
Simmons, Rawls and Arnold said they all paid January rent. But Shir said of the 85 people remaining, 60 are no longer paying rent while they look for a new place.
If a resident is relying on government assistance, the state requires residents to follow a final verification process before it signs off on cutting a check for a resident’s new rent check. Simmons said someone from the state has to physically visit the space a resident wants to live to ensure it’s up to code.
That’s a good rule, the three residents agreed. It keeps them safe and makes sure their new apartment meets their needs. But it also takes time.
Arnold said she wonder why the management for Holland Home didn’t give them more notice.
“If they was going to do this, why they didn’t do it and say ‘we’ll give you a year?’ Why do it in the middle of winter?” said Arnold.
Shir said Thursday there is no new deadline to move residents, but said management is doing what it can to ensure residents have a place to go to. He said understood the long timeline for residents relying on government assistance.
Rawls said she found a place with an opening and was waiting for the government to inspect her room. Arnold perked up.
“Is it around this way?” she asked.
“It’s in Dolton,” Rawls responded.
“Is it an apartment building?”
“Yeah.”
“They got any more?” Arnold asked.
“Nuh-uh,” Rawls said shaking her head, noting it’s not even a done deal for her. “I don’t want to put all of my eggs in one basket.”
“Right, like I did,” Arnold said of her effort to move to a building in Calumet City.
Simmons and Rawls gave her their contacts. Arnold thanked them.
“Yeah, I better go on and call this building,” she said.
