SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND)- Seniors are demanding answers after an independent living facility announced it was raising rent over 100% to compensate for inflation and rising costs.
Jacqueline Harmon said when she moved into the Lewis Memorial Christian Village last summer, she thought she had found her forever home.
"I had no intentions of ever moving from here until I passed. But with it going up like this- I can't afford it," Harmon explained.
Just this month, she was notified her rent was jumping 115% from about $1,300 to over $2,900 a month.
"I can understand them increasing in a little bit, even $100 or even more. But then when we got this letter, it doubled- and I think that's an awful lot for seniors," Harmon explained.
She lives in an independent living center, run by the non-profit housing organization Christian Horizons Living.
"My husband was assistant chief of police at the Springfield Police Department. If it wasn't for his pension, I wouldn't even be here today," Harmon said.
The owners pay for maintenance, lawn care and the water and sewer bill for her two-bedroom apartment. They also include a fitness center and pool access in the monthly rent.
"They stopped or lowered their donations to church, they've cut back on their medications already, they've cut back on their food. It's just ridiculous," Kamyra Day, Harmon's daughter, told WAND news.
Day said her mom, and other neighbors, are taking drastic steps to afford the increase. Now, she's worried her mother will have to move out for good.
"All of them are scrambling, trying to find another place to move to- and there are no openings," Day explained.
Harmon's neighbor told WAND News, over the past five years, there have been three to five percent increases in rent. But nothing ever this high.
"It's just like a slap in the face," Harmon said.
Her neighbor, Nancy Seefeldt, said she donated her husband's annuity to the facility to buy and help pay for upgrades. Now, Seefeldt is being priced out of her home.
"I think the bus was about $90,000. My husband and my pictures are on the back- and it breaks my heart to leave it here," Seefeldt explained.
Well said.
