SEATTLE — Residents of Norse Home in Seattle's Phinney Ridge neighborhood are scrambling to find new homes after it was announced last month the facility would close.
"Real shock. None of us saw this coming," said Elizabeth Steele, who has lived at Norse Homes for three years. Steele said she's saddened at the thought of not seeing her close friends anymore because they'll likely all end up in different places.
"We eat our meals together. These are our friends, our community, our neighbors and we’re not going to be in the same place. They’re not moving us all to the same place, we’re all have to go and find our own place," she said. Steele said the announcement came as a complete shock.
"I thought I'd go out of here feet first!" she joked. "I think we all thought it would be here."
Pat Seavoy just moved into Norse Home two months ago. She said she's furious she'll have to move again.
"I sold my house, I paid to get in here and then two months later I'm told I have to get out," Seavoy said.
The facility has been in Seattle since the 1950s and is run by the nonprofit, Transforming Age. The executive director told KING 5 that they are committed to preserving the legacy Norse Home and creating an improved environment for future residents.
"This difficult decision to temporarily close Norse Home was made with the best interests of our residents, current and future, in mind," the statement reads. "Our aging structure needs to be rebuilt from the inside out to sustain Norse Home into the future. By revitalizing Norse Home we can ensure the community will be sustainable, more comfortable, and better equipped to meet the needs of our residents for generations to come.”
KING 5 asked how long the remodel would take and if residents who currently live there would be welcomed back but have not received responses to those questions.
Residents have until June 30, 2025, to find a new place to live.
"I'm determined to stay until the last day," Steele said. Her son, John Engber said he's upset at how the organization has gone about all of this.
"I just don't think I ever expected that a nonprofit retirement community would treat their residents this way," Engber said. Steele said she feels blindsided by the decision and hasn't heard much from the organization. She told KING 5 the organization said it would pay for moving expenses.
"We're not stupid," she said. "And we've made lots of decisions in our lifetime and we're still most of us are still thank God able to make those decisions for ourselves and here we are being shoved around."