Latest news with #Harborside
Daily Mail
10-07-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Senior living home files for bankruptcy wiping out residents' funds
A retirement community on Long Island has filed for bankruptcy, wiping out millions of its elderly residents' savings. Harborside, a continuing-care retirement community in Port Washington, New York, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October last year. Its elderly residents each paid a substantial entrance fee - between $425,000 and $1.7 million depending on the package - as well as thousands of dollars in monthly fees. Entrance fees can be refunded to family members on a resident's death or returned to the retiree if they choose to leave the facility. However, when a facility such as Harborside enters bankruptcy the process ensures that secured creditors are paid before residents. This can mean that once debtors are paid the money due to families has been decimated. Arlene Kohen, an 89-year-old resident at Harborside paid the standard $945,000 entrance fee by selling her Great Neck home for $838,000, according to The Wall Street Journal. Following the bankruptcy her family now expects to receive less than a third of the $710,000 refund the facility promised her. 'That's money that I'll never see,' Beverly Kohen Fried, Kohen's daughter, told the Journal. 187 out of the 210 current and former Harborside residents have accepted the Chapter 11 offer that returns 32 percent of their entry fees to them. Harborside had declared bankruptcy twice before its most recent filing. The complex first opened in 2010 shortly after the housing market crash. In such a climate prospective residents found it harder to sell their homes to cover the steep entrance fees. As a result Harborside filled less than 60 percent of its 229 independent-living units in two years, the Journal reported. The company filed its first bankruptcy in 2014. Then the pandemic once again halted the flow of new move-ins and the business filed for bankruptcy for the second time in 2021. Residents were unaffected by these first two filings because bondholders supported the proposed restructuring. However, when the company defaulted its bonds again in 2022 the new owner that bought Harborside began scaling back the care offered. Most of the residents who either needed that care immediately or planned to incrementally increase their care over time were forced to leave. Among those residents were Bob and Sandy Curtis. The rollback of available care meant Sandy had to be moved to a specialized memory care facility in February. Sandy died in April at 85 years old after a fall. Curtis, 88, remained in Harborside and is hoping to receive a refund of $50,000 of his initial $840,000 entrance fee this fall.
Daily Mail
10-07-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Senior living home files for bankruptcy wiping out millions in residents' funds
A retirement community on Long Island has filed for bankruptcy, wiping out millions of its elderly residents' savings. Harborside, a continuing-care retirement community in Port Washington, New York, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October last year. Its elderly residents each paid a substantial entrance fee - between $425,000 and $1.7 million depending on the package - as well as thousands of dollars in monthly fees. Entrance fees can be refunded to family members on a resident's death or returned to the retiree if they choose to leave the facility. However, when a facility such as Harborside enters bankruptcy the process ensures that secured creditors are paid before residents. This can mean that once debtors are paid the money due to families has been decimated. Arlene Kohen, an 89-year-old resident at Harborside paid the standard $945,000 entrance fee by selling her Great Neck home for $838,000, according to The Wall Street Journal. Following the bankruptcy her family now expects to receive less than a third of the $710,000 refund the facility promised her. 'That's money that I'll never see,' Beverly Kohen Fried, Kohen's daughter, told the Journal. 187 out of the 210 current and former Harborside residents have accepted the Chapter 11 offer that returns 32 percent of their entry fees to them. Harborside had declared bankruptcy twice before its most recent filing. The complex first opened in 2010 shortly after the housing market crash. In such a climate prospective residents found it harder to sell their homes to cover the steep entrance fees. As a result Harborside filled less than 60 percent of its 229 independent-living units in two years, the Journal reported. The company filed its first bankruptcy in 2014. Then the pandemic once again halted the flow of new move-ins and the business filed for bankruptcy for the second time in 2021. 187 out of the 210 residents accepted the offer that returns 32 percent of their entry fees Residents were unaffected by these first two filings because bondholders supported the proposed restructuring. However, when the company defaulted its bonds again in 2022 the new owner that bought Harborside began scaling back the care offered. Most of the residents who either needed that care immediately or planned to incrementally increase their care over time were forced to leave. Among those residents were Bob and Sandy Curtis. The rollback of available care meant Sandy had to be moved to a specialized memory care facility in February. Sandy died in April at 85 years old after a fall. Curtis, 88, remained in Harborside and is hoping to receive a refund of $50,000 of his initial $840,000 entrance fee this fall. The rest of the offered refund, $100,000, could take months to arrive as it is bound up in the complex financial dealings of the bankruptcy. Harborside has filed for bankruptcy three times in the last ten years There are almost 2,000 senior living facilities like Harborside dotted across the country. At least 16 have filed for bankruptcy since the pandemic hit in March 2020, according to Wall Street Journal analysis. Those Chapter 11 filings wiped out $190 million worth of savings from 1,000 families, including 212 from Harborside.
Forbes
08-07-2025
- Health
- Forbes
Trump Megabill Threatens Low-Income Health Insurance And Nursing Homes
Port Washington, N.Y.: The residents of the Harborside, a retirement community that has filed for ... More bankruptcy three times in nine years, hold a rally to call on politicians and others to save their homes and life savings on Oct. 24, 2024 in Port Washington, New York. (Photo by Howard Schnapp/Newsday RM via Getty Images) In the scramble for Donald Trump's megabill, the Senate had to make changes to the House version to pass the body's rules for reconciliation. The result included large cuts in programs that serve the financially needy, including Medicaid. There are two major implications of the Medicaid cuts. One has been discussed widely: the loss of health insurance coverage for millions and the impact on the nation's healthcare system. The second has garnered less attention. There are enormous implications for the availability of nursing homes at a time when changes in demographics have made all forms of senior housing much more important in the U.S. The Medicaid Numbers Medicaid is an expansive program dually funded by the federal and state governments. KFF, formerly known as the Kaiser Family Foundation, has compiled extensive data on the program by analyzing federal government statistics. In 2023, Medicaid covered 19% of all hospital care spending. That was $283 billion out of $872 billion in total Medicaid expenditures, or 32%. Physician and clinical services were 14%, and retail prescription drugs, another 6%. There has been no Congressional Budget Office scoring on the Senate version because of timing. According to KFF's estimate, the Senate bill, which became the law, will reduce federal Medicaid spending by $1.04 trillion over the next ten years, or a $104 billion per year reduction on average. That will result in 11.8 million more people nationwide without insurance. Another measure is the amount of Medicare funding states would lose. Thirty-seven states would lose a minimum of 13% annually, and another five would lose between 7% and 10%. The lack of insurance has broader implications as well because the medical care those 11.8 million people need affects many more. KFF projects the cuts to ultimately affect an estimated 83 million people. In addition to those covered by Medicaid, there are state workers (Medicaid, again, isn't purely federal), and healthcare providers who are independent, working in clinics, and associated with hospitals. As U.S. health expenditures as of 2023 were 17,6% of gross domestic product according to the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker, there is a potential significant impact on the entire economy. Senior Housing The senior housing real estate market incorporates several types of living arrangements, including independent living, assisted living, skilled nursing (also known as nursing homes), memory care, and in-home care. Around for many years, these options are becoming more important because of the country's aging demographics. From 1920 to 2020, the U.S. population age 65 and older grew about five times faster than the total population, as the Census Bureau has written. By 2020, that group numbered 55.8 million, or 16.8% of the U.S. population. By 2024, the 65-and-older group numbered 61.2 million. The under-18 population decreased by 0.2% to 73.1 million. The number of metro areas with more older adults than those under 18 grew from 58 to 112. By 2030, 20% of the population is expected to be 65 years or older, or 71.6 million, as S&P Global notes. The older people grow, the greater the need for specialized housing. However, Medicaid is the primary payer of nursing facility residency, covering 63% of the residents, KKF says. The program paid for 44% of the $147 billion the U.S. spent on long-term care in 2023. 'Most Medicaid enrollees using institutional [long-term care] are dually enrolled in Medicare, compared to just over half of those using home care,' the organization said. According to Senior Housing News, senior living broadly is somewhat insulated from the Medicaid spending cuts, but not immune. 'The bill likely means more financial challenges ahead for nursing homes, hospitals and community health centers and could push them to scale down services or even close their doors,' they wrote. It will take time for the effect of the cuts on senior housing, hospitals, and insurance for lower-income to become obvious. However, it could be disastrous.
Wall Street Journal
07-07-2025
- General
- Wall Street Journal
She Paid $1 Million to Join a Senior Facility. Its Bankruptcy Wiped Her Out.
Arlene Kohen was 89 years old and recently widowed when she moved to the Harborside continuing-care retirement community in Port Washington, N.Y., in January 2020. The facility on Long Island offered independent living units, along with skilled nursing, memory care and assisted living. Getting in wasn't cheap.
Forbes
14-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
California Cannabis: Setting The Record Straight On The One-Acre Cap
Steve DeAngelo is no small figure in the evolution of the commercial cannabis sector – many have called him the 'Father of the Legal Cannabis Industry.' I have watched Steve from afar and have known him for many years. I have worked alongside him on various projects over the years from Mexico City, MX to Roanoke, VA, and many places in between. Recently, I sat down with him to talk about the state of the California cannabis industry. In doing so, one particular issue came up and really seemed to perturb Steve – the One-Acre Cannabis Cap. So I dove beneath the surface to explore this issue more deeply. For years, a persistent myth has circulated in cannabis industry circles: that Steve DeAngelo—founder of Harborside and one of the most visible figures in cannabis reform—was responsible for license stacking and the elimination of California's one-acre cultivation cap. This myth first emerged in the wake of a 2017 article that did not take the full legislative history of license stacking into account, and was later repeated in other publications. A more fully informed understanding of the relevant law and regulations paints a very different picture. As a cannabis attorney who has worked on policy across the U.S. and internationally, I've had a front-row seat to California's legal evolution. The real story is not one of backroom lobbying or last-minute regulatory sabotage—it's a story of legislative sequencing, local government action, and a state struggling to reconcile medical and adult-use cannabis systems. Steve DeAngelo The groundwork for license stacking in California began in October 2015, when lawmakers passed the Medical Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (MCRSA). This framework allowed licensed dispensaries to cultivate up to four acres and permitted multiple licenses on a single property. It also gave local governments a deadline: establish your own cultivation rules or default to the state's. In the months that followed, Humboldt, Monterey, and several municipalities passed ordinances authorizing cultivation in excess of one acre. Humboldt allowed up to four acres per operator and up to twelve acres on some parcels. Cities like Desert Hot Springs, Coalinga, and San Jose approved unlimited license stacking or large-scale operations. In one instance, Coalinga sold a former prison to a cannabis company for more than $4 million. Then came Proposition 64, passed by voters in 2016, legalizing adult-use cannabis. State agencies then set about reconciling the pre-existing medical cannabis regulations with the new adult-use law. In April 2017, the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) issued draft regulations that stated: 'The Department shall not restrict the total number of cultivation licenses a person is authorized to hold, provided the person's total licensed canopy does not exceed four acres.' The term 'person' included both individuals and businesses. Then, in June 2017, CDFA issued a Programmatic Environmental Impact Report reaffirming that policy, and in the same month the Legislature passed SB 94. It merged the state's medical and adult-use systems under one law: the Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (MAUCRSA). MAUCRSA formally eliminated the four-acre limit and reaffirmed that multiple licenses could be held on a single parcel—legalizing unlimited license stacking statewide. A key element in the one acre myth was the idea that Steve supposedly influenced CDFA to remove the one-acre cap in November 2017, but by the time CDFA issued emergency regulations in November 2017, the legal foundation for license stacking was well established. Industrial-scale operations were already underway. Jurisdictions had issued entitlements, and state agencies would have faced legal liability had they attempted to reverse course. Not long thereafter, Santa Barbara County unveiled a licensing program with a cap of 186 acres. Steve DeAngelo never asked anyone to remove a one-acre cap. He never authorized a cultivation plan beyond Harborside's four-acre entitlement. In fact, Harborside only began cultivation after the City of San Jose mandated full vertical integration for dispensaries, back in 2014. Their farm was built not to dominate the market, but to comply with local law. In order to build out that farm, they brought in investors, and Harborside's legal name was changed to FLRish. Yes, FLRish lobbied in 2017—but not on canopy limits. Their efforts focused on keeping doors open for people with cannabis convictions, including DeAngelo himself, who had a prior felony from the pre-legalization era. They also opposed a regulatory scheme that would have forced all transactions through third-party distributors, hurting the small growers FLRish had supported for years. Steve explained, 'the new regulations posed two existential threats, two knives at our throats. One was the felony exclusion—it would have made it impossible to convert FLRish's medical cannabis licenses into adult-use licenses. And the mandatory distribution scheme would have forced us to sever our relationships with the 500 small growers who supplied FLRish, and instead purchase all our cannabis from distributors who knew nothing about the plant.' At CDFA, FLRish weighed in on real compliance issues: provisional licensing, CEQA timelines, canopy definitions, pesticide and testing standards, track-and-trace rollouts, labor safety, and environmental protocols. There was no ask to expand cultivation limits. Now, with federal cannabis reform looming, it's time to set the record straight. The future of this industry depends on fact-based policymaking and mutual respect—not finger-pointing rooted in old myths. License stacking in California was the product of years of legislative development, local ordinances, and public regulatory processes—not the actions of one man. To suggest otherwise isn't just incorrect—it does a disservice to the movement that made legalization possible.
