Let’s Do the Right Thing: Recognizing Fundamental Rights for Residents as Citizens in Senior Living Communities

I have had another recent opportunity to discuss details of a older adult’s’ traumatic interaction in his senior living community. As far as I can tell, the grounds for an aggressive attempt to evict him were his efforts to discuss “problems” with fellow residents about the fiscal or other management concerns in his community. He was warned that he could not hold such meetings on site. He was warned his on-site efforts gave the community “cause” to evict him, because he was disturbing the peace for other residents.

By attempting to prohibit on-site meetings, the “management” probably thought they could limit or even shut down consensus building among residents. Residents — of course — often have age-related physical limitations and would find it much harder to meet “off-site.” Sadly, this is one of a number of such attempts to silence residents that I’ve heard about from coast to coast in the last two years.

Sometimes residents who contact me express their concerns about core “constitutional rights” of free speech or freedom to assemble.

The senior advocate-part of my brain says, “residents should have the fundamental right to respected and protected” in their senior living communities. But, the lawyer-part of my brain reminds me to advise them that the First Amendment as the source of certain rights functions as a barrier to “government” actions, not the actions of ordinary commercial enterprises. Senior living communities often function a lot like an actual “town,” but they are not usually governmental entities.

Therefore, we have to look beyond the U.S. Constitution if communities are resisting doing the right thing when engaging with residents. The next question I usually ask is whether the community/resident uses contracts or similar documents that clearly specify resident communication rights. The contracts may make some mention of resident rights. For example, a CCRC in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, includes the residents’ right to “self-organization” in the Miscellaneous section of their “residence and care agreement” for all residents.

Next, if the contracting documents are silent or weak on resident rights, do federal or state statutes otherwise provide residents with protections?

For residents of most nursing homes (skilled nursing facilities or SNFs) detailed rights were recognized by the federal Nursing Home Reform Act of 1987. This law applies to facilities that are certified for payment under Medicare or Medicaid. For example, the law requires nursing homes to protect and promote the dignity and respect of residents. The federal regulations emphasize rights to choose a daily schedule, meals, activities and have access to appropriate care; but, the law also recognizes that nursing home residents “have a right to form or participate in resident groups to discuss issues and concerns about policies and operations of their community,” plus a right to communicate grievances and make recommendations as a group.

In many states, other types of “senior living” enterprises are the subject of laws governing resident rights. In Pennsylvania, for example, in “assisted living,” each resident must be treated with “dignity and respect,” and has the express “right to freely associate, organize and communicate” privately with friends, an attorney, and “other persons.” See 56 PA CSA Section 2800.42 (Specific Rights).

In many states, “continuing care facilities” are expressly regulated, often with a focus on costs and transfers between different levels of care that usually begins with supports provided to residents of “independent living” cottages or apartments. In Texas, all residents of CCRCs are uniformly entitled to all statutory rights provided to a resident of a nursing home or an assisted living facility, plus Texas law provides that “a continuing care contract or reservation agreement may not prohibit residents from assembling.” See Texas Health & Safety Code, Section 246.004 (Rights of Residents). North Carolina’s recent rewrite of its CCRC laws, effective in 2025, recognizes not only the residents’ rights of self-organization, but the right to “engage in concerted activities to keep informed on the operation of the provider.” See North Carolina CCRC Law at Section 58-64A-355. North Carolina residents are not limited to a residents’ “council” as the form of their self-organization.

What seems to be driving attempts to quash residents from engaging in what I like to think of as “participatory” democracy in their communities? I have heard responses from some CEOs who point to residents as “uninformed” on the realities of running such businesses, or as rude, or as “mere rabble-rousers.”

But, I also know enlightened CEOs who understand the fears that may be driving older adults’ concerns, whether they are living in or outside of a senior community. An opinion article on June 2, 2026 in the New York Times details concerns expressed by older adults in a recent focus group: “[T[he biggest worry . . . was about long-term financial security.” Some community leaders understand that an open dialogue between providers and residents can lead to better understanding that supports financial security in a growing community.

In some instances, individual state laws will need to be clarified in order to recognize key resident rights. A May 31, 2026 letter to the editor of the Tulsa World newspaper in Oklahoma pointed to a peculiar gap in Oklahoma law. Residents of nursing homes and assisted living communities have been expressly mentioned as having legal rights to organize and communicate their concerns — but that state’s laws are oddly silent about the rights of seniors located in so-called independent living units at Continuing Care communities. Says the Tulsa writer, Bernard Henze, the effect on one group of senior living residents who pay substantial entrance fees and monthly service fees, is that they feel “vulnerable to interference, suppression of communication or retaliation” if they ask for accountability from management of CCRCs. Mr. Henze urges lawmakers to fix Oklahoma laws, concluding “Oklahoma seniors deserve the same voice and protections regardless of their level of care. It is time for the Legislature to act.”