Los Gatos Seniors' Home Closure Leaves Residents Scrambling to Relocate

LOS GATOS (KPIX) -- A senior residence home in Los Gatos will be closing its doors in September, leaving a lot of families scrambling to find nearby places where their aged loved ones can live.

It's fair to say that those who moved in to the Los Gatos Meadows senior living and care home likely thought this would be the last place they would call home but, it turns out, their journey is not quite over.

In February, the 150 residents were told they have seven months to find a new place to live. The old buildings are set on a wooded hillside and the property owner, a company called Covia, says this presents an unacceptable fire danger. The plan is to demolish the structures and rebuild the facility as senior condominiums.

"They say the two toughest things -- most stressful things -- in life are getting divorced and moving and my mom's going to be 87 and she's one of the younger ones up there," said former mayor and current county supervisor Mike Wasserman.

Wasserman placed his mother at Meadows four years ago. He acknowledged that, for about a year, Covia has warned new residents that there were plans to demolish the facility eventually. He said he accepts the reasoning but the situation is throwing a lot of families into crisis.

"The problem with 150 people leaving at one time is the senior facilities around here are all maxed out ... it's not easy on where they're going to go."

Wasserman says that, typically, rooms at senior homes only open up when someone dies, so those on waiting lists may run out of time and be forced to relocate to a facility much farther away.

Covia is offering a $2,500 relocation grant and refunding a $4,000 "community fee" which residents pay when they first move in.

But, Wasserman says, many facilities are now charging twice that amount so seniors on fixed incomes may be in trouble.

KPIX attempted to reach Covia on Sunday but their Walnut Creek offices were closed and staff at the facility said there was no one there that could speak about the issue on a weekend.

"Nobody's doing anything illegal or wrong," Wasserman said. "It's just a little more time and a little more dollars would make things a whole lot better for these senior citizens."