Retirement village residents in WA face eviction
Relatives of 36 elderly residents with dementia at Hollywood Village claim their loved ones are being evicted by Queensland-based Retirement Care Australia.
Families say they have been told to find new homes for their relatives, some of whom are in their 90’s, by 1 June, and then move them by 1 December, 2007.
Jim Toohey, the acting chief executive of the Queensland company, said the site needed to be redeveloped to comply with new regulations over dementia care coming into effect in 2008.
“We have over 500 people there, we have to come up with a redevelopment that impacts on the smallest number,” he said.
Some families say they paid a $190,000 bond for a place at the village and expected their relatives to remain there for the rest of their lives.
The families were given a timetable in a booklet handed out at meetings last week.
Relatives of the dementia patients say they are worried their relatives are being moved so the company that bought the village from the Salvation Army two years ago, can make bigger profits by developing up-market retirement homes.
