DOZENS of families have been forced out of their homes with nowhere to go for the holiday season due to an RV park’s change in ownership.
Residents in nearly three dozen homes were ordered to move out of Green Oak Ranch RV Park in Vista, California, by December 1.
The RV park in Vista, California, where residents are being forced to moveCredit: KUSI
LaRen Reed speaking to KUSI about the eviction deadlineCredit: KUSI
The eviction deadline left residents scrambling to find new places to live before Christmas.
Resident LaRen Reed said she was “heartbroken” to leave the RV park after nine years in the tight-knit community, according to Fox affiliate KUSI.
“We’re still looking, we’re looking everyday,” she told the outlet.
“We have a tiny home that we bought here on property and we need a place where it has full hookups that can accommodate 40-feet and somewhere safe for our kids.”
The lot is managed by Green Oak Ministries, which also offers drug and alcohol recovery programs on the property.
However, nonprofit organization Solutions for Change is taking over the lease in January.
Green Oak Ministries were required to serve the eviction notices ahead of the handoff partly because the land wasn’t legally permitted by the city to be a mobile home park.
“I still can’t wrap my mind around how a homeless organization prides itself on helping homeless families, yet they’re making 70 people homeless right before Christmas,” Reed slammed.
Solutions for Change is an organization dedicated to help find permanent housing for people who are homeless.
The group shared a public statement on Facebook defending themselves.
“We have reached out to all impacted families, offering them the opportunity to join our programs, which include structured support and sobriety requirements,” Solutions for Change said.
“We also offered access to other housing services. Many have declined our offer.”
Solutions for Change previously said they’d consider operating another RV park at the site in the future, but refused to “operate services outside of the law or at the expense of our core programs.”
Reed said it’s been difficult to find a place that will accommodate her tiny home, despite offers to help from the San Diego Mission.
“Every place that we have found locally either has been inadequate due to costs of living or the hookups that aren’t available or the size,” Reed told NBC affiliate KNSD.
The city has also intervened to help evicted tenants find new homes.
“We’ve helped some families move their vehicles,” Vista Mayor John Franklin told KUSI.
“We bought tires for some families. We’re providing moving assistance dollars and resources.”
Franklin said all but two families out of 25 came to a solution.
He said the devastating situation was out of the city’s control because of Green Oak’s property violations.
“The new lessee of the property knew that there were some code deficiencies that would have to be remedied as they pulled new building permits,” Franklin said.
Green Oak Ranch Ministry’s executive director told KNSD that their group opened a shared living house for the evicted tenants.
The mayor hasn’t responded to The U.S. Sun’s request for comment.
RVs at Green Oak Ministries’ lot in VistaCredit: KUSI