Palm Beach, Royal Palm Beach draw opposite conclusions on senior housing

Both the Royal Palm Beach Village Council and the Palm Beach County Health Care District had senior housing issues on their plates, but each came to a different conclusion.

The Palm Beach Post reported that Palm Beach Health Care District voted unanimously to break ground in February on a $24 million replacement to the Edward J. Healey Rehabilitation and Nursing Center at Riviera Beach. The facility will have three stories and 120 beds and will ease crowding in existing facilities.

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Meanwhile, in Royal Palm Beach, the village council commissioned consulting firm PMG Associates to determine whether the community needed a new senior living facility near Commons Park. According to the Sun-Sentinel, the firm found the village could use the housing, but peak demand wouldn’t arise for another five years.

PMG recommended building a 120- to 160-unit facility that’s not restricted to village residents, who may not sustain the demand on their own for years to come. Finally it recommended that some of the units in the future center be subsidized, but all be identical. [Sun-Sentinel] and [Palm Beach Post]