State regulators extend their watch over Aldersgate

Aldersgate is losing less money and owes less to vendors and former residents, N.C. Department of Insurance says

The following article appeared in the Jan. 19, 2024, edition of The Charlotte Ledger, an e-newsletter with smart and original local news for Charlotte. We offer free and paid subscription plans. More info here.

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East Charlotte retirement community has ‘made progress’ in regaining financial health — but state regulators will continue their oversight of its finances for another 150 days

Aldersgate has a long history in Charlotte, dating back to the 1940s when it was founded as a retirement community for Methodist ministers. (Ledger file photo)

by Cristina Bolling 

Last August, state regulators announced that the Aldersgate retirement community in east Charlotte was “insolvent or in imminent danger of becoming insolvent” and stepped in to oversee the community’s financial operations for 150 days as it worked to get back on track. 

Now, the N.C. Department of Insurance, which regulates continuing care retirement communities like Aldersgate, is extending its supervision of Aldersgate for another 150 days, saying more time under government oversight is needed.

In the extended order of administrative supervision, signed Jan. 12 and released to The Ledger on Wednesday, N.C. Commissioner of Insurance Mike Causey said Aldersgate “has made progress toward rectifying the problems and deficiencies” identified in a corrective action plan last summer. The document seems to say Aldersgate is losing less money than it did a year ago, that it is getting better at paying vendors and that it owes less to former residents than it did previously.

But the order’s findings show that problems persist. They include: