Hundreds of senior citizens in West Palm Beach have been put on notice that they will need to move out of their homes at Joseph's Village Senior living facility. The 255-unit facility used to be a non-profit run by the state but it went into foreclosure and was purchased by Regal Senior Care Management.
The property manager tells NewsChannel 5 ownership is now transitioning from Joseph's Village to an assisted living facility, which is leaving hundreds of tenants with few options.
"I was very upset," said Nancy Caruso about receiving a letter from management at Joseph's Village on February 26 telling her that she would need to move to the property's south building or move out entirely.
The sixth floor of Caruso's apartment building has already been transformed to assisted living. Management says the fifth floor has been cleared out for the same reason. Now, it's time for Nancy and the rest of the fourth floor to move to the south building or find their own place as well.
"I have no money saved up. I'm by myself. My Social Security check barely pays the rent. I really have no choice but to go there," Caruso said.
For some, the change will be even more jarring. Tenant Cecil Tipton says despite moving in just seven weeks prior to the February 26 notice, no one warned him that he would need to move to the south building. The problem is he's not even going to be able to stay there. That's something Tipton didn't know until a WPTV reporter told him.
"No, I didn't. So it's one thing after another," Tipton said.
Neither Cecil nor any other of Joseph's Village residents will be able to stay in the south building for long because, according to management, the south building will become an assisted living facility as well. Most likely, this is to happen sometime in 2017.
"We are going above and beyond to find our tenants alternative housing," said property manager Joseph Brown. NewsChannel 5 asked Brown to do an on-camera interview to discuss how management is assisting residents with finding new housing and also why tenants didn't receive more warning that they would need to move. Brown declined the request Friday afternoon. We will be following up with Joseph's Village managers and owners to find answers to our questions.