Upland, CA — On June 30, Inland Valley News (IVN) received an anonymous letter expressing dissatisfaction with the way in which senior citizens are treated in San Bernardino County’s senior living facilities.
Claiming to speak on behalf of all senior citizens in the county, the author of the letter focused primarily on the Villa Pacifica Senior Community complex in Rancho Cucamonga, a property owned by The John Stewart Company.
Among the author’s chief concerns were annual rent increases, unresponsive management and “young men” allegedly living on the property rent free with their aging parents.
Current rent at the Villa Pacifica Senior Community is $1,004 per month for a one bedroom unit and $1,174 per month for a two bedroom unit.
According to an employee at the facility, rent at Villa Pacifica Senior Community increases annually and prospective tenants on the waitlist must wait roughly a year and a half before they are able to move into the facility.
In 2019, California passed Assembly Bill (AB) 1482, also known as the Tenant Protection Act of 2019, which caps the yearly rent increase at 5% plus the local rate of inflation. This total percentage cannot exceed 10%.
The author of the letter asserted that these regular rent increases negatively impact their quality of life.
“We live on our social security, where in the world we’re going to get money to buy food,” the letter reads.
The author levied several criticisms at the facility’s management team.
The letter claimed that the facility’s management team is often dismissive of resident complaints, going so far as to accuse management of telling tenants who make these complaints that they are free to live elsewhere.
The letter also claimed that management does not “mix” with the seniors who live at Villa Pacifica and is not doing enough to address allegations of “young” people residing there rent free.
The author expressed concern that there is no manager on site during weekends.
“If I die on that time, my family will sue the company for not having somebody to call for,” the letter reads.
IVN reached out to Villa Pacifica Senior Community’s manager who declined to comment on the specific complaints mentioned in the letter, referring any questions to the facility’s regional management.
Despite the author’s claims that complaints were passed along without discretion, the manager openly questioned why tenants would reach out to IVN and not take these complaints directly to their office.
The letter’s author named several elected officials they hope will take seniors’ lapsing quality of life into consideration, including San Bernardino Mayor Helen Tran, Assemblymember Eloise Gómez Reyes, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, Gov. Gavin Newsom and “whoever is looking for election regarding senior housing facilities.”
The letter claimed that many seniors are “not going to vote for anybody” this election cycle despite the fact that senior citizens are historically the most consistent voters in the country.
The author claimed that seniors have less access to resources than other protected classes and specifically mentioned immigrants, claiming that seniors are not as “well looked after.”
IVN spoke with another resident at Villa Pacifica Senior Community who echoed this sentiment, making an example out of immigrant eligibility for food stamps and claiming that seniors are the “forgotten generation.”
By: Abigail Habib & Aldon Stiles, IVN
