Dozens of families have been forced from their homes and have nowhere to go for holidays due to a change in ownership of an RV park.
Residents of nearly three dozen homes have been ordered to move out of the Green Oak Ranch RV Park in Vista, California, by December 1.
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An eviction deadline has left residents scrambling to find new places to live before Christmas.
Resident Laraine Reed said she was “saddened” to leave the RV park after nine years in the close-knit community, according to Fox affiliate KUSI.
“We're still looking, we're looking every day,” she told the outlet.
“We have a small house we bought here and needed a place with full hookups that could accommodate 40 feet and be somewhere safe for our kids.”
The area is managed by Green Oak Ministries, which also offers drug and alcohol recovery programs on the property.
However, the nonprofit Solutions for Change will take over the lease in January.
Green Oak Ministries was required to file eviction notices prior to the handover, in part because the land was not legally permitted by the city to be a mobile home park.
“I still can't wrap my head around how a homeless organization can pride itself on helping homeless families, yet make 70 people homeless right before Christmas,” Reed chided.
Solutions for Change is an organization dedicated to helping homeless people find permanent housing.
The group shared a public statement on Facebook defending itself.
“We have reached out to all affected families and provided them with 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 declined our offer.”
Solutions for Change previously said it would consider operating another RV park at the site in the future, but declined to “operate services outside the scope of the law or at the expense of our core programs.”
Reed said it was difficult to find space to fit her tiny house, despite offers of help from the San Diego Mission.
How can your house be sold without your consent?
Your home could be sold without you for various reasons – here are three main things to pay attention to:
Tax sale
- A tax sale is the sale of property by a government entity to recover unpaid taxes by an owner who has reached a certain point of delinquency on payments owed.
- Before a tax sale takes place, there is a redemption period where the owner can pay off their debts and get their home back.
- Each state has different laws regarding tax sales, but in most areas, the basic requirement is that proper notice is given to the owner to pay the money owed, and any sale must be open to the public.
Mortgage
- Foreclosures can occur when lenders take control of a property after borrowers fail to make their payments.
- Borrowers will receive a notice of default, which begins the foreclosure process.
- Homeowners in HOA communities can also see their homes foreclosed by the HOA for defaulting on fees.
- This means that even if you keep making your mortgage payments, you could still lose your home if your HOA has a lien on your property.
- When such a foreclosure occurs, the sales price only has to be enough to cover the HOA's debt, meaning properties can be sold for much less than they're worth.
Property fraud
- Criminals can use a fake or stolen ID to impersonate a homeowner in order to sell or mortgage homes.
- Typical targets of real estate fraud include absentee owners such as landlords, landlords living abroad, and sole owners of unmortgaged homes.
- The US Sun previously reported on a man whose $300,000 vacation home was sold by criminals for just $9,000 — and they even took the title.
“Every place we found locally was either not suitable due to cost of living, unavailable connections or size,” Reid told NBC affiliate KNSD.
The city also stepped in to help evacuated tenants find new homes.
“We have helped some families move their cars,” Vista Mayor John Franklin told KUSI.
“We have purchased tires for some families. We are providing assistance with dollars and resources.”
All but two of the 25 families have found a solution, Franklin said.
He said the devastating situation was out of the city's control because of Green Oak's property violations.
“The new tenant of the property knew there were some code deficiencies that needed to be addressed while new building permits were being drawn,” Franklin said.
The executive director of Green Oak Ranch Ministry told KNSD that their group opened a shared house for evacuated tenants.
The mayor did not respond to The US Sun's request for comment.
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