Donations Provide Reprieve for Elderly Facing Eviction

City officials and private donors agreed Friday to provide $50,000 needed by the operators of a Thousand Oaks retirement village to delay by several months the eviction of 103 elderly residents.

The Thousand Oaks City Council, in a special meeting, voted unanimously to give $25,000 in city money to Pacific Homes, operators of La Serena Retirement Village.

Pacific Homes on Monday served 30-day eviction notices on La Serena residents because the retirement village could no longer afford to stay open. The complex is at the corner of Moorpark and Olsen roads.

David A. Wismer, who organized a fund-raising effort by the adult children of La Serena residents, told the council he had commitments to match the city’s $25,000 to keep the facility open long enough to find a buyer.

The $50,000 donation will be enough to pay bills owed to food vendors and employees, as well as utility and insurance companies, said Roy Haughen, Pacific Homes chief financial officer. “That money will enable us to get through the next few months,” he said.

Pacific Homes officials hope the delay in closing the 105-unit retirement complex will discourage residents from making plans to move from La Serena.

To remain open, the company says it still needs the rent from current residents, who now pay about $133,000 of the $135,000 a month it costs to operate La Serena, Haughen said.

“We are very encouraged that we can find a buyer if we can keep the residents,” Wismer said.

Discourage Moving

John Steinhaus, president of California Lutheran Homes, which owns three Southern California-area retirement homes, said Thursday that his firm is interested in buying the retirement complex. But Steinhaus said he needs four to six months to complete such a deal.

La Serena Manor, the owner of La Serena, owes creditors about $10.8 million, Haughen said. About $8.5 million of the debt is owed to bondholders represented by Security Pacific Bank, bank officials said.

Security Pacific will not begin foreclosure proceedings against La Serena for four to six months, giving any interested buyer an opportunity to submit an offer to bondholders, said William Arnebeck, the bank’s vice president for trusts.

In the meantime, Pacific Homes officials said they are willing to continue operating La Serena without taking their usual management fee while the search for a buyer continues.

La Serena residents who attended the special early morning council session Friday praised the council for the city’s financial help. The council also appointed Mayor Lee Laxdal and City Councilman Alex T. Fiore to work with Pacific Homes and California Lutheran Homes in finding a permanent solution for the financially troubled complex.

“We’re encouraged and hopeful,” said resident Ruth Segerhammar, 81, after the council meeting. “We moved here to stay for the rest of our lives.”

But Wismer, who said he is continuing efforts to secure donations for the complex, cautioned that “there are still some big” questions to be resolved.

Financial problems at the 6-year-old project occurred after Pacific Homes discovered that the complex had not been built to meet state specifications for licensing as a skilled nursing facility.

That kind of nursing care is considered essential to the successful marketing of retirement villages such as La Serena.

Monthly Rent

Residents, who paid $25,000 to $110,000 to move into the complex, pay monthly rents of $850 to $2,800, depending on the size of their apartment and the type of care needed.

But many of the village’s original residents have moved in the last year to other facilities offering skilled nursing care because they have become too ill to care for themselves, Pacific Homes officials said. Refunds given those former residents caused most of La Serena’s financial troubles, officials said.