State health officials have ordered dozens of senior citizens and people with disabilities to leave their adult-care apartments at the East Danforth and Hudson Ridge towers.
The Department of Health order cites “immediate risks to resident health and safety” after a review of the enriched housing programs.
Enriched housing provides long-term care, housekeeping, food and other services. But virtually none of those services were being rendered, said City Councilmember Michael Patterson. Hudson Ridge is in his northeast district, and he has been working with tenants to help them navigate what comes next.
“Simply put, the residents that I’ve spoke to that are in this program, that live at Hudson Ridge, are terrified,” Patterson said. “They don’t know why they have to move, they don’t think it’s fair that they have to move, and many of them don’t want to move.”
The directive to vacate was first reported by News10NBC. In total, around 75 residents were told to leave the buildings. Danforth, on West Avenue, and Hudson Ridge, on Seneca Manor Drive overlooking the Route 104 expressway, are both owned by the Rochester Housing Authority, with the enriched housing program facilitated by Family Service Communities.
“As a result of these findings and because the operator agreed it lacked the resources to correct the identified violations, the operator initiated an expeditious emergency closure of the Enriched Housing Programs and the transfer of residents to appropriate placements that could serve their needs,” a statement from the state Department of Health reads.
Tenants were told the services were being canceled effective next Wednesday, May 28.
In a statement, RHA said it would not be evicting anyone from the buildings. RHA also said it owed hundreds of thousands of dollars in back rent from Family Service Communities. The organization is supposed to pay rent to RHA on behalf of the tenants.
Patterson said the figure came in at $400,000.
“This is extremely concerning and a disregard for the residents of our facilities—people who rely on these services for their basic safety and well-being,” the statement reads. “The Housing Authority has been working in good faith with Family Services for months to recover six figures in back rent that they were supposed to pay on behalf of the residents who paid them to do so, yet our outreach has been met with silence or vague responses at best.”
A message left Wednesday evening with Family Services was not immediately returned.
As to why the state moved so suddenly, given the issues with payments and reporting have existed for years, is as of yet unclear.
There appears to be no problem with the buildings themselves, according to inspection reports the state provided to WXXI News. Those reports, the most recent in 2023, show Danforth was cited for six violations between 2022 and 2023, all related to records and reporting -- including not filing a quarterly report in 2022 and failing to supply records in 2023. Hudson Ridge had four violations, the most recent being in 2022 for failing to provide minimum services to its residents.
City records show Danforth has two code violations, one for an external infestation last year, and the other for a required updated inspection record for a piece of equipment earlier this year. Hudson Ridge has no violations, records show.
When asked what specific violations led to the emergency closure, a spokesperson for the Department of Health said to file a Freedom of Information Law request.
