Industry Voices

Five key drivers hold the solution to many labor challenges. By Jennifer Sodo Our industry is in an unprecedented time of staff shortages, stress and burnout. A recent OnShift survey of senior living workers indicated that 90 percent of leadership reported high or elevated levels of stress, and 80 percent of caregivers and hourly employees are facing critical levels of burnout.  We know there are a lot of challenges contributing to these numbers, many of which require systemic economic, political and social shifts well beyond the scope of what an …

As he steps into the role held by industry pioneer Jerry Finis, the former REIT executive pushes back against industry headwinds with a new approach to company structure and data. By Jeff Shaw When Jerry Finis, founder and CEO of Chicago-based owner-operator Pathway to Living, began to consider retirement last year, he knew there would need to be a succession plan. Finis founded the company in the 1990s as the assisted living sector began to evolve into a well-defined asset class. Finis was the only chief executive the company ever …

By Gregory F. Hagood, Senior Managing Director, and Mary Missbach Dressler, Managing Director, SOLIC Capital Partners The senior living sector was among the hardest hit industries of the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID resulted in the double whammy of a rapid drop in occupancy followed by labor shortages that have caused rapidly escalating labor costs. As a result, senior living facilities in even the strongest markets have faced financial challenges, with Moody’s estimating that were 675 municipal bond delinquencies related to senior living facilities over the past two years representing approximate 25 …