Phoenix City Hall’s cowardice in the face of greedy, out-of-state corporations buying up old Mobile Home Parks and displacing their residents reminds me of the lyrics to a song by the norteño band Los Tigres del Norte. In ‘La Mancha del Pobre,’ (The Stain of the Poor) they sing, “Poverty’s stain is an unerasable debt . . . If you have a coin, you can count a friend, if you have silver coins you can buy them by the kilo,”.
The expansion of the light rail into Tempe and Mesa resulted in a rash of Mobile Home Park sales. Speculators from other states purchased the parks and displaced hundreds of families. State law allows a new owner to file a change-of-use notice and give 180 days’ notice to mobile homeowners, uprooting decades-old communities. In some cases, up to 500 residents have been thrown out within a 6-month period.
Arizona’s housing crisis has exacerbated the situation, filling the streets with newly homeless men, women, and children from mobile home parks in the light rail’s path.
Residents from three mobile home parks, after marching from the Capitol to City Hall, spoke at city council during public comment and submitted a citizen’s request for their concerns to be put on a formal agenda – so far to no avail. The silence from Democrat Mayor Gallego about the request has been deafening.
Apparently, the developers, Grand Canyon University, and speculators outweigh the well-being of the low-income residents who voted for her.
Grand Canyon University has bought hundreds of acres to build student housing and displaced thousands of people around 27th Ave and Camelback Rd. Among the victims of GCU’s expansion is Periwinkle Mobile Home Park, a plot of land that has been a Mobile Home Park for decades. Some of the residents, many elderly, have been living there 20 to 30 years.
While Periwinkle residents were having their last Thanksgiving dinner, paramedics were called for Gerald Sutter an over 80-year-old veteran who was told he was at risk for a heart attack. I rushed him to the VA emergency, and he was released the next day with instructions to avoid stressful situations.
In Las Casitas trailer park, renamed ‘Beacon’ by the new owners based in Colorado, residents signed 4-year and a 1-year contracts as the Arizona Statues require. Two weeks later, the new owners filed for legal status as a corporation in Arizona. They submitted a change of use for the property and gave the residents 180-day notice to vacate.
Since then, families have been on an emotional roller coaster ride. Parents have been forced to seek counseling for their children from school psychologists. Hard-working mothers and fathers juggle feeding their families and looking for “unaffordable” places to rent. Most own their homes but rent the spaces for their dwellings.
Under Federal Law any home older than 1975 cannot be moved and must be scrapped. Most trailer homes parks are not accepting older homes even if they can be moved or if there is space available.
The City of Phoenix asked for a staff report about the situation, claiming its hands are tied by legal opinions. Other cities have created special mobile home zoning to safeguard the sites from speculators. The 9th Circuit has a precedent allowing the cities to create such zoning, but the City claims that state law requires them to compensate the property owners for the loss of value. Meanwhile 150 families from three mobile home parks including one owned by a “Christian” university are about to join the rolls of homeless under freeway passes, canals, and city parks.
Mayor Gallego’s inaction may stem from the gut wrenching stories the residents have narrated, and the sympathy earned from the general public. Perhaps Gallego fears that the votes to protect her developer friends and defeat newly-proposed special zoning for mobile home parks may not be there.
Will pocketing political “silver coins” trump protecting low-income communities during Phoenix worst housing crisis? Only the mayor and city council have the answer.
Salvador Reza
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