1. Provide the title of your story or series and the names of the journalists involved.
When Foreclosure Threatens Elder-Care Homes, Laurie Udesky Janet Roberts of the New York Times helped with Computer Assisted Reporting.
2. List date(s) this work was published or aired.
April 17, 2010 (online) April 18,2010 (print)
3. Provide a brief synopsis of the story or stories, including any significant findings.
Headlines everywhere have described the storm of foreclosures that continue to overwhelm the housing market. Less noticed has been the impact on single-family homes that are used as lucrative care facilities for the elderly. In California, residents of such homes pay an average of $2,500 a month for a shared bedroom and $3,500 a month for a private bedroom. But as my article and accompanying blog show financial overreaching by proprietors has led to foreclosures of these homes and often the fragile residents and their families are the last ones to hear about it — when an eviction notice has been posted to the door. My investigation for the Bay Area pages of the New York Times found that an astonishing 16 percent of the 1,600 San Francisco Bay Area properties licensed as small residential-care homes for the elderly had been in some stage of foreclosure since June 2006, including 100 homes that had been under foreclosure in the six months prior to the article's publication. My reporting also provided a look at the shadowy side of the business of buying and selling properties for licensed elder care. In addition, it revealed loopholes in the law, which made it possible for owners of homes used for elder care to keep secret that their properties had fallen into financial ruin.
4. Explain types of documents, data or Internet resources used. Were FOI or public records act requests required? How did this affect the work?
Research included searching court records, foreclosure data, state government data and reports, county assessors and recorders records, legal notices of foreclosures in newspapers, academic reports, Internet websites that buy and sell residential care facilities for the elderly, health studies on transfer trauma, congressional reports and testimony, police reports. I requested specific data on foreclosures of residential care facilities for the elderly from the California Department of Social Services, and was told that the agency does not track this information.
5. Explain types of human sources used.
Families of relatives of residential care facilities, administrators and owners of residential care facilities for the elderly, ombudsmen, representatives from Adult Protective Services, Department of Social Services, California Department of Aging, local, state and national ombudsman, sources from care facility trade groups, commercial realtors, police officers, elder advocacy organizations, tenants' rights groups, bank representatives, gerontologists, police officers
6. Results (if any).
I was informed by advocates that copies of my article "When Foreclosures Threatens Elder Care Homes" were submitted to members of the California Legislature in preparation for a vote on legislation that would require owners to inform their elderly residents, their family members, and state agencies as soon as foreclosure is initiated. The bill passed with bipartisan support, but was vetoed by out-going California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
7. Follow-up (if any). Have you run a correction or clarification on the report or has anyone come forward to challenge its accuracy? If so, please explain.
No
8. Advice to other journalists planning a similar story or project.
There are many hurdles to getting information. Community Care Licensing, which oversees residential care facilities for the elderly in California did not return calls or emails. They also don't track information on foreclosures. What I did was cross-referenced addresses of elder care facilities with foreclosure data. There are a couple of sites that have this information: Foreclosure radar is one. You can sign up for a 7-day free membership, if you don't have an expense account, and cross reference. I think it's best to start with advocacy organizations, and see what information they have and who's calling them for help. Ombudsmen are helpful as well. They are the contact points for families with concerns about living conditions in residential care homes for the elderly. It's very difficult finding family members of residents who want to talk on the record, so that's something to be aware of. Once you have solid data of elder care homes in foreclosure you can call up and see what information you can get out of the owners or managers. Sometimes the property owners run the elder care homes. Sometimes they rent it to a manager, who may also be unaware that the property is in foreclosure. Be prepared to make a lot of calls to these places. If you can't find a family member to talk to through advocates, you could try staking out a property and waiting for a relative of a resident to exit the house.