A 68-year-old woman says she is being evicted from a Kansas City, Missouri, senior care center and is stressed about potentially being homeless, according to a report.
Vivian Jackson is getting kicked out of the Emanuel Cleaver II Senior Living Community, where she resided for three years, The Kansas City Star reported. She said that management gave her until July 31 to leave the property after being accused of partying and having too many guests in her apartment.
She denies the allegations against her and is now concerned that she will have to resort to living out of her car, according to the outlet. Jackson’s nurse, Virginia Sanders, backed up her patient, telling the KC Star that the only additional visitors she had over were her sons.
Jackson has also been grappling to get affordable housing and could not go to a shelter due to ongoing health problems. Other senior centers were considered, but Jackson has been waitlisted.
According to a study from the National Library of Medicine, Black people are more present in nursing homes versus assisted living, and systemic racism could play a role in that. Additionally, they may have less access to assisted living communities due to the assumption that they cannot afford it or the establishments’ target clientele.
“Other factors related to systemic racism, such as residential racial segregation, also may influence black-white disparities in LTC [long-term care] use,” the study says. “Research suggests that black nursing home residents are more likely than white nursing home residents to receive care in lower-quality settings.”
During her time at the center, Jackson claimed that her apartment flooded multiple times even after it was repaired by management, leaving her injured, the KC Star reported. When Jackson and her nurse asked management for more time to move due to power outages, they wouldn’t budge. Jackson continued to pack up her belongings with uncertainty about where she is going to live next, per the outlet.
“I’ve lost so much weight because of stress, and I don’t really have anybody to help,” Jackson told the outlet last week, later adding: “I have a lot of health issues. I can’t work. If I could work at McDonald’s or something to supplement the income to help me, I would do that, but I can’t do it. It’s hard to even stand on my legs.”
