The building’s age was to blame, and people were told to leave by the end of October
The owner of a retirement home with 40 residents in Cornwall, Ontario, says the building is so old that it needs to be replaced. This has left some people wondering where they will live next.
Heritage Manor is in the west end of the city. On July 27, the owner sent a notice to the residents saying they had to leave by October 25 and that the building would be torn down in November.
“Because of the age of the building, this facility will need a complete makeover,” the owner, Dean Rushlow, wrote in a notice.
He turned down the interview.
“Management will do everything they can to help residents find new places to live,” the notice said. It also said that the home had talked to the City of Cornwall about the situation.
The general manager of Heritage Heights, which is connected to Heritage Manor, said that half of Heritage Manor’s residents will move to the Heights “in the near future.”
She said in an email, “We continue to work with other retirement homes and domiciliary providers to help find suitable housing.”
“Don’t know yet where I’m going.
Angela Sanger, who has lived at Heritage Manor for almost a year, said Thursday outside the home that she didn’t know what the future held.
“Kind of upset because I don’t know where I’m going yet,” Sanger said, adding that she was going to talk to social workers about her situation.
When asked where she would go, another person shook her head.
“I need to tell my son something. She said, “My son brought me here.”
“We know that not only the residents and their loved ones, but also the staff, are very upset by this,” the notice said. “We are doing everything we can to make this change as easy on everyone as possible. It’s too bad that the building has reached the end of its useful life.”
A representative for the Retirement Homes Regulatory Authority said in an email that Heritage Manor has done everything that needs to be done.
Mayor Justin Towndale of Cornwall said that people have been told about other places to stay, including some of the city’s own housing units.
Building dates back to 1970
The notice says that Heritage Manor started out as a Comfort Inn hotel in 1970. In 1985, it became a “senior care facility.”
“The previous owner of the property ran into money problems with it in 2008 and 2009,” the notice said.
“At that time, the current owner bought the property in 2010 and took care of a lot of residents for many years.”