14 April 6thth–April 12th, 2023 phoenixnewtimes.com phoenix new Times | music | cafe | film | culTuRe | NighT+Day | feaTuRe | NeWs | OPiNiON | feeDBacK | cONTeNTs | ‘Meet These Families’ Not all speakers during the March 22 meeting supported the residents. Susan Brenton, executive director of Manufactured Housing Communities of Arizona, an organization representing mobile home park owners, argued for the evictions. Others spoke in favor of GCU, touting the university’s presence in west Phoenix. Camden Marasco, the GCU student body president, went up to the podium and argued that the university “works as a force for good.” “How does it make you feel hearing the stories of the folks behind you who are going to be left without a home?” Councilmember Carlos Garcia asked Marasco. “As a human being, it’d be impor- tant for you to meet some of these fami- lies.” The room erupted in applause. But even after hours of emotional testi- mony, the council voted against two proposed measures that could have tempo- rarily kept residents in their homes. Those two proposals were a zoning overlay, which would have forced land- owners to get city approval before changing the land use of any of the three mobile home parks, and an 18-month moratorium on land development at the parks. Instead, in a close 5-4 vote, the council opted to create a $2.5 million fund using federal American Rescue Plan Act dollars. The fund will be divvied up as relocation money for the soon-to-be displaced residents. Some residents will qualify for $1,875 per trailer and $3,125 for multi-section mobile homes — from the Arizona Department of Housing’s fund for mobile home park residents. The fund offers more money — between $7,000 and $12,500 — to help with relocation expenses. Still, for most of the residents, relocation simply is not an option, even with the stipends. ‘We’re in Crisis’ Councilmembers Laura Pastor, Betty Guardado, Carlos Garcia, and Yassamin Ansari tried to push for stronger action to prevent evictions, and the four voted against the watered-down proposal. Mayor Kate Gallego and councilmembers Sal DiCiccio, Ann O’Brien, Jim Waring, and Debra Stark voted in favor. O’Brien suggested that instead of the original proposal, the council approve 12 more minor policy recommendations by city staff to prevent the displacement of mobile home park residents. However, the recommendations — which included a new “communication strategy” to help assist residents as well as housing navigation services — had already been in the works. The proposals were insufficient, Pastor told the rest of the council, scoffing at the idea that a communication strategy was the help the people who had spoken over the last several hours needed. “We’re in crisis right now. So I don’t know what communications plan you’ll do,” Pastor said. “Maybe you’ll be like, ‘Uh, tomorrow you’ll be homeless. Thank the city and thank those that voted for you to be homeless.’” Most councilmembers who opposed the zoning overlay and moratorium said they voted against it over concerns about whether the policy was legal. They said it ran afoul of Proposition 207, a ballot measure protecting property rights that voters passed in 2006. Stephen Montoya, an attorney for some of the Periwinkle residents, told the council he disagreed. Supporters of the proposal said that the crisis made the legal risk worth it. That argument did not sway the mayor. “Those of us who make laws should follow them even when we think they were incorrectly made. It’s just misleading for us to tell people that we can ignore the law,” Gallego said in some of the few comments she made about the proposals. A last-minute effort by DiCiccio — who did not support the moratorium on devel- opment but said that the residents “need a lifeline” — ensured that the $2.5 million fund made it into the final motion on March 22. The original proposal described the fund as being used to subsidize “housing navigation to mobile home residents facing displacement” with the help of a nonprofit. While the councilmembers indicated that the three mobile home parks would be the beneficiaries of the fund, it’s unclear how long the fund will take to get up and running or how exactly the money will be used. “I’m really disappointed,” Garcia said at the end of the meeting. “I don’t think these $2.5 million are going to do anything.” What the residents said they needed was more time. Ruiz Vazquez said after the meeting that she and her neighbors were experiencing mounting anxiety. “We’re all fighters,” she said. They had not given up — even for a moment — over the last year. But after Wednesday, Ruiz Vazquez found herself at a loss. “We can’t leave here May 28,” she said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen. There are no answers.” Katya Schwenk Residents of the mobile home parks urged the Phoenix City Council to help them stop the impending evictions. Evictions from p9
