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Every year in October the Atria my Mother is at in So Cal raises the rents beyond a normal and acceptable rate. (She is in the Independent Living area of the facility, so she pretty much takes care of herself). The entire community of residents are all SO worried that they are going to have to move and it's causing extreme undue stress on them and family members. Several times EVERY day my Mother brings it up and says she has to move along with several other residents. It's ALL they talk about and it's so wrong. Who can be contacted about this serious problem in upper government? Why aren't the elderly protected when it comes to this? The astronomical fees and the yearly increases are beyond the normal inflation rates, and it's a form of ABUSE in my opinion. Taking advantage of the Elderly is ABUSE. I visit daily and it's all the residents talk about!! I'm going to contact Social Services regarding this to make a formal complaint. Atria Corporate does not care and only wants to rip everyone off just like all of the other Assisted Living facilities. Someone needs to do something about this!!

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Basically it is The United States of America. We are all about profit. That's why Hospice is becoming what it is becoming when it started as a mission. Atria will do this as long as the traffic bears it. It is why houses are costing more and more and more. It is why apartments cost is surging and surging. When Atria gets no one and Pacifica gets them all then the prices will line up more with others. And do know, while Atria's prices are going up and up and up so are their costs of hiring, their costs of maintenance (if they can FIND maintenance), and all other costs. We out here living in homes and apartments are a part of this inflationary surge as well. Bless us, because after all that has happened with Covid in all the countries in the WORLD, guess who is recovering the BEST? WE are.
All of that said, it is very sad. I remember my brother going into his ALF and their saying (just before covid) that we could expect (and this was in writing) yearly raises on anniversary of intake of 3% to 5% barring anything unforeseen. Well, Covid came. And that was that. While my brother is now gone, I would bet raises are above that now.
Alas. We all have our stories. And it IS tough. But there are more and more and more seniors. We ARE the commodity that needs the commodity of housing. And the costs will continue to surge as long as the traffic can bear it.
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rexcrayola Jan 2023
My dad is 100 years old and the increase for this year was 14%. I argued with them and they dropped about $300 dollars off, but he is still paying over $7,000 a month in base rent alone. It's obscene.
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Supply and demand. It’s going to get a lot worse once the boomers start needing to move into AL in large numbers. These are for profit companies, not charities.
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It's capitalism 101, you charge as much as the market will bear in order to maximize profits.
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For the same reason the Atria nearest me got away with poisoning three people, two fatally. They were paying double the price of your mom for tgeir in house aides too.
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I feel you! I just got off the phone with one of the Executive Directors of my fathers facility in Sugar Land Texas. They tried raising his rent 930 dollars a month. That brings his "base rent" to $7,000 / month! I haggled with her and got them to drop $300/mth off. I told her that they needed to send some sort of back up with the rent increase to show how they calculate these increases! She suggested that maybe my dad could move to a smaller apartment! He is 100 years old for gosh sakes. I am so mad I could spit bullets! I think I will inquire with the attorney general's office to see if there is anything that can be done.
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It seems like as long as there is an opportunity to raise the price of something, it will happen.

On the flip side, everyone is paying more for everything and so prices increase accordingly.

I feel sorry for younger people who are just starting out. I feel equally sorry for older people who don’t have resources to meet their needs.

The guy in the middle suffers too because they make too much money to receive a helping hand when they need it.

We are all hurting unless we are very wealthy!
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We had to move our step-mother, saved $1,500 per month, it is crazy that the government does not regulate this, they want everyone to die broke. Take your last breath and spend your last dollar.

The day of inheritances from the average joe are going away, as we are all living too long.
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Probably the same way the energy companies can get away with raising our prices 50% or the food companies can get away with raising our food prices 10% per WEEK? Or Comcast gets away with being a monopoly AND raising their rates at the same time, on a regular basis, where our only option is to cancel service and have no TV or internet?

Same as your option is to get your mother out of Atria and into a different IL or AL.

If you find the right 'upper government' person to contact to remedy this problem, please post about it so we can ALL get this problem rectified, especially those of us living on fixed incomes and watching our life savings get eaten up by inflation. But like you said, the government has pretty much destroyed our economy which will get even WORSE in January when gas prices are slated to go up once again. But hey, these politicians have to keep getting THEIR 6 figure incomes raised even HIGHER every year while the rest of us poor slobs struggle to survive......all they have to do is keep raising taxes! Greed knows no bounds, does it?

God help us all.
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IL facilities are private businesses just like a rental unit with perks. They can raise rates whatever they want. If you find it is too much then protest with your feet and move.
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kristiboylan Dec 2022
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Business
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Inflation. Everything costs more now - all the food they're fed, electricity, employees' pay. The facility has to charge more in order to provide services. The rise of our cost of living is everywhere, not only assisted living. Anger might better be directed at the actual reason this is happening to all of us, not just what's being experienced by the elderly.
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RST888 Nov 2022
Believe me I know what's going on but this is ridiculous. Most of what is going on is more of "Greed-flation" throughout this nation. The government has pretty much destroyed our economy.
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I would tend to agree with you, but suggest that you take Mom to an Elder Law Attorney to read over her contract and discuss it with both of you. You have to decide if the place is worth the price or if she'd rather move and find a place that has a better policy.
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Have you read her contract? That might give you an idea of what they can do regarding raising the rents.

I don't know if AL counts as rental property (I doubt it), but California has a 10% limit on how high rents can be raised each year, and individual cities often have their own rent control laws.

This is why I steered clear of big chain nursing facilities for my mother. They're all about the money first and foremost.
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There are no caps in my state. And rents have gone thru the roof. My grandson's rent for an efficiency apt. is going up $300.00 a month. His dad is buying a 2 bdrm condo for him. His cousin is going to share with him. Good deal for both of them to save money.
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My State has rental caps. Landlords can only raise rent 4% a year. Some states do not have these laws so it means the private AL can raise rents as high as they want.
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