When a state inspector asked the administrator of Oasis Living Quarters last month why the 100 residents who used to live there had dwindled to fewer than 40, he said that there had been “a lot of deaths,” a rude nurse, renovations and challenges paying rent, according to a newly released report.
He did not say that the Fort Lauderdale senior living home had evicted all of its residents with no written notice to convert into luxury apartments.
Oasis now faces citations from the Florida Agency for Healthcare Administration and a Broward County court injunction over its failure to give residents 45 days or any written notice to move out, records show. An AHCA report released in late March details the interactions between the inspector and the facility’s administrator, Steven Gottlieb, who repeatedly changed his answers to questions and denied knowledge of the evictions, as well as with residents and employees. One person told AHCA that Oasis tried to strike a deal with his own senior living company, offering to funnel the evicted residents there in exchange for money.
The state agency has also cited Oasis for not helping residents to find a new home “in a manner that did not violate their freedom of choice.”
Yet for the dozens of senior residents and their families, some of whom were forced to move up to four times since May as Oasis slowly converted its facility into apartments, justice has come too late, if at all. They still have not received refunds of thousands in deposits and rent money that they paid at the beginning of March, just before Gottlieb informed them they would all be moved out for “renovations.” They also think Oasis should reimburse them for the thousands spent on moving and relocation fees.
“We want to hold them accountable,” said Lillian Alfano, whose mother-in-law had a stroke after her forced move from the independent living building into assisted living under the guise of renovations in May. “… To just be accountable and not have these luxury apartments they’re trying to have. It’s ridiculous. I want it to be hard for them.”
The AHCA inspection
When an AHCA inspector arrived at Oasis the morning of March 10, they observed a marquee at the main entrance announcing luxury rentals, according to the report, as well as “Grand Opening, Welcome and Available Now banners.”
Throughout the course of the day, Gottlieb, the administrator, would offer the inspector various explanations for why dozens of residents had moved out of Oasis since AHCA’s last visit, including deaths, inability to pay, relocation to be closer to friends and family, and a rude nurse. The report said he also claimed that the facility was not evicting any residents and that he never attended the meeting where residents said he told them they were being evicted.
The report does not name the administrator, but Oasis’ page on AHCA’s website identifies him as Steven Gottlieb. Gottlieb did not return voicemails left at his office Thursday afternoon.
That morning, the inspector, who had visited Oasis before, observed that the opening that once led to the main dining room had been walled in with a mural painted over it. A rental agent told the inspector that the entrance to Oasis was now behind a single, white, unlocked door.
Both independent living and memory care residents used to have their own buildings but were forced to move out of their homes and into assisted living beginning in May 2024 due to “renovations,” according to residents and family members. Those homes later became apartments.
But when the inspector spoke to Gottlieb just before 10 a.m., he said that the company had moved the assisted living and memory care residents out of their homes and into the east side of one building “so that they could provide a better continuum of care for the Residents on one side,” according to the report. He did say the west section and the other buildings were now 55-plus rental apartments.
When asked where the independent living residents were, Gottlieb said that they were all now in the assisted living section as well. Asked if they had separate floors, he said “they are all mixed together.”
Gottlieb proceeded to say that the building was not being sold or ending its assisted living or memory care, despite the many reports and complaints from residents to the contrary.
Property records show that the site was last purchased in October 2022 by an LLC called Lauderdale Commercial Boulevard Partners. The LLC is owned by Mark Tress, a real estate mogul based in New Jersey who was named one of the New York City’s worst landlords in 2024. Tress did not return a voicemail or email Thursday.
When the inspector asked Gottlieb for a census of residents, he provided an old document that listed 40, compared to the previous 100. The number of residents at the building that day appeared even lower than 40, but when the inspector asked for an updated census, Gottlieb said the existing list was current. That number continued to dwindle over the following weeks as more residents moved out.
When the inspector asked about the “drastic decrease” in residents, Gottlieb “stated it was because the facility experienced a lot of deaths, which he repeated several times during the interview,” the report states.
Asked if residents left for other reasons, Gottlieb “stated there were Residents who moved out, but he did not know where they went because they don’t tell them where, they just leave.”
After the inspector repeatedly pressed Gottlieb about the reason so many residents had moved out, he said it was because of a nurse “who was rude and that was why they lost a lot of people.” He went on to say that residents “were moving out because they either couldn’t afford to pay, their friends had, (redacted), their families wanted them closer to where they were, and a host of other reasons,” the report states.
Gottlieb continued to maintain that the building would remain an assisted living facility and that the recent moves only had to do with renovations.
The inspector then spoke to several residents who said that Oasis held a mandatory meeting on March 5 during which Gottlieb told them they had to move out for the “renovations” and that they were given no advance warning or written notice, according to the report. One resident said Gottlieb told them there would no longer be food, buses, assisted living or memory care. The son of another said that, when Gottlieb was asked if they could come back after the renovations, he said no. Another resident said that they already didn’t have transportation because the company had fired the bus driver.
Both an aide and a resident told the inspector that, at the same meeting, Oasis management gave residents a choice of three other facilities to move to, but that they believed they were all under the same ownership or management company. Several residents also told the South Florida Sun Sentinel about the three other facilities being present at the meeting.
A man employed at another senior living facility told AHCA in a phone interview that Oasis had told them they were closing down and asked them to send someone to meet with their residents. When they sent an employee to Oasis, he was “pulled into the Administrator’s office” and told that their facility must sign an agreement with “the new LLC their company owned” to pay 85% of the first month’s rent “for every patient they got from their facility.”
The employee told them that “such practice damages their industry, and he wanted nothing to do with it,” according to the report. He then said he was told that Oasis “would only refer patients to facilities that sign the agreement.”
The inspector later asked Gottlieb about whether representatives from other facilities came to the meeting and he said “he was not aware of any,” according to the report.
Gottlieb then proceeded to say he was not at the meeting at all. He added that he was in another state “attending to an ill family member” but that all of the residents had in fact received a letter stating they had to move. He then left and came back with a copy of the letter.
The letter informed residents about “improvements to their facilities, including the dining room, kitchen and corridors, to enhance their overall experience,” according to the report. The letter did not tell residents that Oasis was closing, that they would have to move, or give 45 days’ notice.
“Rather, it stated they would be enjoying a renovated facility,” the report states.
When the inspector told Gottlieb this, he argued that it did provide 45 days’ notice. The inspector asked him to review the letter and show where it said that. He did, then said nothing. When the inspector reminded him that, earlier in the day, he had said the facility was not closing at all, Gottlieb also did not respond.
It remains unclear whether AHCA will take legal action against Oasis or what kind of penalties the company can receive now that it is converting into apartments. An agency spokesperson did not return an email Thursday.
Injunction issued
On Wednesday, a few days after the AHCA report was published, a Broward County judge held a hearing over a complaint against Oasis filed by David Comras, a lawyer and nephew of one of Oasis’ residents. Oasis’ attorneys did not attend the hearing.
The judge did hear from Joan Morelli, a resident who was still living at Oasis. Because management fired the bus driver, she relied on Comras to drive her to court, he said. After hearing her testimony, the judge issued the injunction against Oasis, requiring that all residents be given 45 days to move out.
The injunction won’t help the many residents who have moved out already, but Comras said it’s a win for those remaining, including his 88-year-old aunt, Rema, who is bedridden.
“I think it’s a huge benefit to those that were probably most in need,” he said.
Still, Comras added, even with the injunction, Oasis is likely to “end up choking them out of the facility before the 45 days anyway. They’re gonna say ‘I’m sorry, we’re no longer making meals, no longer doing this, no longer doing that.’”
Comras and other family members contacted by the Sun Sentinel Thursday said they have not yet received any response from Oasis and are waiting to receive refunds of thousands in rent and deposits, as well as what they believe they are owed in moving fees.
For now, however, they are happy their loved ones are in a safe place. Daniel Feliciano and Alfano said they managed to get his mother and her mother-in-law into the Preserve at Palm Aire, where they live across the hall from one another. The two were friends at Oasis.
The facility, which has a hot tub, happy hours and takes residents out to restaurants once a week, reminds Feliciano of what Oasis was like 15 years ago.
“It’s like being in black and white,” he said, “and all of a sudden you’re exposed to color.”
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