Lawmaker seeks action after elderly suffer in powerless Tallahassee

TALLAHASSEE — State Rep. Allison Tant wants to make an example of a Tallahassee apartment complex for low-income seniors that had no power or on-site staff after tornadoes left much of the state capital without electricity over the weekend.

“This exposed a gap in service” for seniors, Tant, D-Tallahassee, said Tuesday. “We’ve got to figure out how to address this. We can’t have seniors who are insulin resistant and lack mobility without food or water.”

The power went out Friday after two massive tornadoes touched down in Tallahassee, heavily damaging much of the city’s power grid. By Sunday, residents of the Brookestone Senior Residences walked along Apalachee Parkway, a four-lane highway near the apartment complex, asking for food, the Tallahassee Democrat newspaper reported.

Resident David Hand, 76, told the Democrat many of his neighbors needed electricity for their medical devices.

“We’re kind of isolated back here, and it’s like I think they kind of forgot about us because we’re off the main drag,” Hand said Monday after the complex had been in the dark for four days.

When Tant heard that the complex’s residents were in trouble, she and her staff immediately went shopping and delivered food, water and flashlights to the more than 100 residents.

Tant said she has talked with state Emergency management director Kevin Guthrie, who showed up at the apartment complex, Bill Aldinger of the Florida Housing Finance Corp., and others to take immediate action to protect seniors living in similar affordable housing complexes across the state.

Businesses contribute to the Florida Housing Finance Corp. in lieu of taxes. The agency provides developers with low-interest loans to build quality affordable rental properties for a community’s workforce, seniors and others.

Because Brookestone, run by Cambridge Management Inc., and others like it are not licensed care facilities, they aren’t required by law to have backup generators. Cambridge manages 21 similar properties in Florida and in seven other states.

The company could not be reached for comment.

The state needs to require backup generators, which the housing agency has the authority and money to provide, Tant said.

After 12 residents of a Hollywood Hills nursing home died when the air conditioning went out in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma in 2017, then-Gov. Rick Scott signed a law requiring all nursing homes and assisted living facilities to have backup generators and fuel.

The Tallahassee apartment complex also didn’t have an emergency plan on file with the Department of Health or Elder Affairs, Tant said. That needs to change, too, she said.

Tant said she was outraged that the property manager left the day before the tornadoes struck and was gone all weekend.

She also said she wants to ensure someone is onsite at subsidized senior housing to contact during emergencies.

If necessary, she said, she will file legislation to bring those changes about.

“This is not a good look for the state or property managers,” Tant said. “We’ve got to do better. We’ve got to correct it. I am not going to stop until it is.”