Two years ago, as Linda Bush’s mobility deteriorated and her husband began struggling with memory loss, the couple decided it was time to downsize from the single-family home in Meadville, Pennsylvania, where they’d lived for more than forty-six years.

They moved into a new, nearby apartment building advertising to residents aged fifty-five and over. “We thought we’d have less stress,” says Bush, seventy-one. “Now all I can do is laugh at that idea.”

Bush is now one of dozens of seniors in Meadville who could be forced out of their homes in the coming months, as their Wall Street–backed landlord hikes rents by as much as 39 percent. Their apartments were among the thousands of senior housing units purchased last year by Welltower, a real estate investment company that also profits from buying up health care facilities for seniors — relying, in part, on Americans’ retirement dollars to fund the acquisitions. As its nursing-home investments faltered during the pandemic, Welltower doubled down on acquiring lower-cost senior apartments and squeezing residents on fixed incomes, according to our review of the company’s regulatory filings and investor communications.