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 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.
A tiny home was purchased for the property, and now a need has arisen for a location with full hookups large enough to accommodate a 40-foot vehicle, while also being safe for children.
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 had to issue eviction notices before the transfer because the city had not granted legal permission for the land to operate as a mobile home park.
Expressing disbelief, Reed criticized, “It is difficult to understand how an organization dedicated to aiding homeless families can justify rendering 70 individuals homeless right before Christmas.”
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.
How can your home be sold without your consent?
Your home can be sold from under you for various reasons – here are three key things to look out for:
Tax Sale
- A tax sale is the sale of property by a governmental entity to recover unpaid taxes by the owner who has reached a certain point of delinquency in their owed payments.
- Before a tax sale takes place, there is a right-of-redemption period where the owner can pay off their debt and reclaim their home.
- Each state has different laws surrounding tax sales but in most areas, the basic requirement is that adequate notice is given to the owner to pay the outstanding money, and any sale must be open to the public.
Foreclosure
- Foreclosures can take place when lenders take control of a property after borrowers have failed to make their repayments.
- Borrowers will receive a Notice of Default, triggering the foreclosure process.
- Homeowners in HOA communities can also see their homes foreclosed by their HOA for falling behind on fees.
- This means that even if you keep up with mortgage repayments, you could still lose your home if your HOA has a lien on your property.
- When such a foreclosure takes place, the sale price only needs to be enough to cover the HOA debt meaning that properties can be sold for much less than they are worth.
Property Fraud
- Criminals can use a fake or stolen ID to impersonate a homeowner in order to sell or mortgage homes.
- Typical targets for property fraud include absent owners like landlords, owners who live abroad, and sole owners of unmortgaged homes.
- The U.S. Sun previously reported on a man whose vacation home worth $300,000 was sold by criminals for just $9,000 – they even had the deed to the property.
“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.
