Attorney General Bonta Conditionally Approves Sale of Windsor Residential Care Facility to Ararat Home of Los Angeles

OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta today conditionally approved the sale of the residential care facility for the elderly known as “Windsor” to Ararat Home of Los Angeles, Inc. (Ararat), a California nonprofit public benefit corporation. Windsor is located in Glendale, California, and consists of 141 apartments, including 74 residential living apartments, 39 assisted living apartments, and a 28-bed health center licensed as a skilled nursing facility. Under California law, any transaction involving the sale or transfer of control of a nonprofit healthcare facility must secure the approval of the Attorney General. The conditions of Attorney General Bonta's approval of the sale of Windsor will ensure Ararat continues providing high-quality housing and care for its senior residents, many of whom are part of the Armenian American community that makes up a considerable percentage of the population in Glendale.

“When reviewing nonprofit healthcare transactions, our primary goal is to ensure access to quality care for our communities,” said Attorney General Bonta. “Ensuring that our elderly population receives the best care possible is a top priority, and we are confident that this transfer of ownership to Ararat will ensure the level of care that Windsor residents have come to expect. The conditions imposed on the sale protect the well-being of Windsor residents and ensure that the Glendale community maintains uninterrupted access to care." 

With a strong performance record and a four-to-five-star rating published by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services across Ararat’s current facilities, the sale of Windsor is expected to be beneficial to the community, as Ararat commits to maintaining existing services, protecting residents through Ararat’s assumption of their contracts, and providing additional Armenian cultural resources for the area’s large Armenian American population. Currently, about 20 Windsor residents identify as Armenian, with estimates of the Armenian American population in the Glendale area varying between 20 and 40 percent of the total population. 

As part of his conditional approval, Attorney General Bonta has imposed specific conditions for the sale which would require Ararat to, among other things:

• Maintain skilled nursing beds;
• Maintain Medicare and Medi-Cal participation;
• Maintain charity care; and
• Report annually for five years on compliance with the conditions.

The California Department of Justice’s Healthcare Rights and Access Section (HRA) works proactively to increase and protect the affordability, accessibility, and quality of healthcare in California. HRA’s attorneys monitor and contribute to various areas of the Attorney General’s healthcare work, including nonprofit healthcare transactions; consumer rights; anticompetitive consolidation in the healthcare market; anticompetitive drug pricing; privacy issues; civil rights, such as reproductive rights and LGBTQ healthcare-related rights; and public health work on tobacco, e-cigarettes, and other products.

A copy of the conditional approval letter is available here.