City officials reported progress Tuesday in helping soon-to-be-evicted RV park residents at Green Oak Ranch in Vista find new places to live, but several affected families said Wednesday that, so far, many are still waiting for solutions similar to the quiet spot that many have called home for years.
About 30 families received 60-day eviction notices, telling them that they must vacate their spaces at the park by Dec. 1 because the 110-acre property’s lease will transfer to Solutions for Change, a Vista-based nonprofit that serves homeless families, on Jan. 1.
By early November, some families had already left, but about 25 remained and have reported extreme difficulties finding comparable accommodations with rents anywhere close to the $1,000 per month that they currently pay to keep their RVs parked on month-to-month leases which have, in many cases, continued for years.
Councilmember Corrina Contreras asked city staff for an update on the situation during Tuesday’s regular meeting, commending civic efforts to offer all available resources to residents and confirming that the city has no ability to halt the eviction process. But she and her colleagues were clear that they believe that these evictions, while not illegal, do not have their support.
“I think that it is absolutely heartbreaking; I think that it’s wrong,” Contreras said, after returning from a visit to the park. “You know, if they just had a little bit more time and a little bit more grace, there might be a better situation for them.”
Vista Mayor John Franklin said that city staff has followed up on plans to knock on every door at the park and ask residents to work with outreach workers to gain access to government resources extended to those who face becoming homeless.
“I’m very proud of the work that our outreach folks are doing, and our housing and homeless services department is doing,” Franklin said. “We really are trying to not just say we’re here to help you, but we’re really trying to bring the services fully to the residents of Green Oak Ranch and make sure that they can avail themselves, including the assistance of attorneys … so that everyone’s legal tenant rights are fully upheld.”
Asked to provide a status update for the families that have been approached by aid workers from several different organizations, a city official said that “four to five” families “don’t have a solid plan yet” for how they will vacate the premises on Dec. 1, and an additional three households have not yet made contact with outreach workers to discuss their options.
However, residents said Wednesday that they believe a much larger number still have not found an option that they find workable.
Colleta Chidowe, who lives in the park with her husband, Gerald, and three children, said that Green Oak Ministries, a separate nonprofit that runs a recovery program on an adjacent parcel, said Wednesday that the organization has offered space in a nine-bedroom “shared housing building” at a cost of about $1,500 per month. But the facility, she said, has shared bathrooms and a shared kitchen that would also be used by adults.
“With three little girls, we don’t feel safe having them there,” Chidowe said.
Other programs, she said, do not fit the family’s income profile or are able to provide rental assistance for a short time but do not offer the same sort of stability that the RV park has provided.
“They’re offering something, but that something is not enough to do much,” Chidowe said.
Several residents, several people familiar with the situation added, have ongoing health problems that make it extra difficult to find new accommodations.
Karin Allison, who has lived at the park with her family since 2016, surveyed her neighbors Wednesday and came up with a space-by-space accounting of who is going where. Several have or are in the process of moving their RVs to new spots in other states and several more have found accommodations in state, including two who have been able to move their RVs to church properties and one who plans to relocate their trailer onto a military base.
All told, 12 were said to have secured another place to live with another said to be near finding a place to live.
It is unclear exactly how many remain to be housed, as Allison said that five of the 32 total spaces are said to be on another parcel that is not required to relocate. Franklin said he is working with city staff to firm up the number who remain with unresolved housing situations.
Allison said that she and her family have found an apartment they can rent, though doing so will significantly deplete savings. They will move to Arkansas in June, she said.
“It’s barely sustainable, but we can swing it,” she said.
Dorinda de Jong, who asked Green Oak Ministries to clear the property to make way for Solutions for Change, did not respond to previous requests for comment on the timing of the eviction process.
City staff said that the park has not been up to code, but that city inspectors have not conducted a thorough inspection to determine what would be needed to bring the park into compliance with regulations.
Councilmember Dan O’Donnell asked that such an assessment be conducted.
“It is absolutely unacceptable to contribute in any way to further our unsheltered population in a negative way and putting people on the streets that have had shelter, especially if we don’t know what the actual issues are with the property,” O’Donnell said.
