Tag Archives: growth and development

The Salt Lake Tribune has a piece today regarding the eviction of residents in a Midvale Mobile Home Park, resembling the simlar continuing saga of the Cottonwood Heights Mobile Home Residents being evicted. A developer has bought the land (sound familiar?) and plans to build townhomes on it. Residents have until January 31 to leave. Many are on fixed incomes and cannot afford to move their mobile homes. And they don’t know where they will be able to find housing.

What a travesty. I think that if developers are going to be permitted to purchase such land, there should be a clause that requires the developer to provide aid to the residents to move into affordable housing instead of leaving residents “out in the cold”, so to speak.

I’ve been following the saga of Cottonwood Heights Mobile Home Residents facing eviction from their homes due to development of the land on which their homes sit.

KUER Radio’s site has this piece from September that I imagine is still relevant (for donations)to help displaced residents with the costs of having to move:
Mobile Home Owners Move to Make Way for Development

COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS, UT (2006-09-18) Children, the elderly, and the working poor – all residents of the 50-year-old Meadows Mobile Home Estates in Cottonwood Heights are faced with moving out of their mobile homes to make way for a new upscale development. But most of the families don’t have the money to move.
Tax deductible donations to the Meadows Relocation Fund can be made to the Community Action Program in Salt Lake City or deposits can be made at any JP Morgan Chase Bank in the Meadows Relocation Fund account.

Salt Lake Community Action Program
764 S 200 West Salt Lake City, Ut 84101 (801)359-2444 (801)355-1798 (f)

I have been following the case of the Cottonwood Heights Mobile Home Residents who are facing losing their homes due to development of the property on which they reside. Residents and supporters pleaded their case before the Cottonwood Heights Council last night in an effort to at least get the deadline extended for their eviction from their homes.

Today’s Salt Lake Tribune has an update on this situation.

Meadows[Mobile Home Park] resident Brian Godfrey said that 274 people are affected by the sale of the 50-year-old park to Gust. Most of the residents believed the area was protected by a family trust and would remain a mobile-home community in perpetuity.
“There are many in the park who have no means to move their homes. Those homes will be fodder for the bulldozer,” Godfrey said. Some of the mobile homes were built before 1976 and federal law says they cannot be moved to other parks.
Susan Johnston, president of the Meadows residents association, asked for more time and resources – and requested that any promises be put in writing.
“It costs up to $10,000 to move these homes. This is an extreme hardship,” she said. “Many of these residents will be bankrupt and some of the senior citizens will lose their independence.”

A decision is planned to be made about extending the deadline in October.

Last month I published two posts about senior citizens being evicted due to the development of luxury homes in place of thier mobile homes. So while many of us are planning ways to protest the current regime’s visit to SLC, are holding weekly sidewalk vigils and doing outreach to expose the government’s corruption, the effects of that corruption are right at our doorstep: Corporations’ interesets over human needs.

Today’s Desert News has published a follow-up article about Cottonwood Heights officials seeking donations to help relocate those residents. Some of the residents could move their homes for anywhere between $7,000 – $12,000. But if their homes were built prior to 1976, as many of them were, they cannot be moved. Many of the residents are not only elderly, but on fixed incomes.

The Salt Lake Community Action Program is providing services for the residents. Please consider giving a donation. The SLCAP contact info is:

764 S 200 West Salt Lake City, Ut 84101 (801)359-2444 (801)355-1798 (f)
Cathy Hoskins Executive Director, CCAP

Earlier last month I posted about Senior Citizens being evicted from their long established homes.

Today’s Salt Lake Tribune has a follow up story on this issue.

This appears to be a growing trend in the real estate world. With Utah’s land values increasing, developers eye up mobile home parks for the building of luxury homes for the rich.

It’s the seventh mobile-home-park displacement Virginia Marrufo Martinez, community organizer for Salt Lake Community Action Partnership, has assisted with since September 2001.

I am wondering if people who purchase homes in these new developments are ever made aware of the cost of human needs to provide them the “home of their dreams”.

Senior Citizens are being evicted from their homes of more than 50 years, according to a Deseret News article today.

Residents of a well established mobile home park in Cottonwood Heights, most of whom are elderly and low/fixed income and who had planned on living out their lives in the park, are being forced to move as a result of the sale of land upon which their homes sit. Many of the residents will be unable to move their mobile homes because of the aged style of the structures.

The developers who purchased the land plan to build more luxury homes (Cottonwood Heights is an area for million dollar homes)and 150 trailers will have to be moved or destroyed.

For those with newer mobile homes who can move to another park, the cost to relocate is anywhere from $7,000 to $12,000. The incoming developer has offered to offset some of those costs, but “it’s not going to be painless,” Cullimore[Cottonwood Heights Mayor Kelvyn Cullimore Jr.] said. “And there’s going to be some human costs as this unfolds.”

There is talk of hiring lawyers to fight this.
Some residents want to hire attorneys to fight the landowners and developers. Shearrer[one of the long time residents] said she feels helpless: “How can you fight people with money? You just can’t.”

The Salt Lake Community Action Program is stepping in the help the displaced residents, but this scenario is very disruptive to these peoples’ lives.

“These people that are truly, truly in need, and how do they survive?” Martinez[Salt Lake Community Action Program’s Virginia Marrufo Martinez ] said. “I always say I believe in miracles. So, we’ll see what happens.”

The mayor is portrayed in the article as having empathy and compassion for these folks and is quoted as stating that the land owners “had the right” to sell their property. That may be but where has the mayor and its council been? Can’t they re-zone the land? It’s not too late.

This is yet another case where money and greed is superceding human needs. With our aging population increasing significantly, we just cannot allow these things to happen. Goliath must be confronted by the Daveys here and fight for what is right. Kicking seniors out of their homes just isn’t right.