100 RivCo Families Relocated Away From 'Dangerous Living Conditions'

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — Over 100 Riverside County families have new, safer housing, according to Supervisor V. Manuel Perez.

This month, the county has successfully relocated another dozen families to the Maria y Jose Mobile Home Park in Oasis. This newly permitted mobile home park offers fresh water, electricity, and sewer utilities, and it is a far cry from where they used to call home at Oasis Mobile Home Park.

Over five years ago, residents pleaded for assistance with the slum living conditions of the Oasis Mobile Home community. They lived with arsenic-tainted well water and contended with trash overflows and flooded sewers, among other health and safety concerns. But as fast county officials could move families out, other workers would move in, according to Perez's office.

After years of work, that practice has halted, and now true progress can be made.

The mobile home park was built with county help and investment by the developer, Jesus Montanez. Such housing developments, now known as Polanco Parks, were first authorized in 1992 after California State Rep. Richard Polanco proposed legislation to accommodate farmworkers with affordable housing.

With limited affordable housing in the area, the newly built park is an example of how the county works with mobile home park owners to improve housing quality and move families into homes with proper infrastructure sooner, according to Supervisor V. Manuel Perez's office. There are more mobile home parks that the county, with the state’s financial assistance, is working to permit and improve to provide more housing.

“I’m happy to say that we’ve been able to make it happen, to transition families out of areas that are really struggling,” Perez said in a recent news release. “This is a humanitarian concern. I appreciate the good work of the county and all of our partners. This is an ongoing process, and there are many more families, and we are going to work hard so we can continuously move forward and ensure families have a safe place to live.”

In addition to the 12 families at Maria y Jose Mobile Home Park, 72 families have found new homes at Mountain View Estates, and another 18 have become homeowners, purchasing homes in places such as Thermal, North Shore, Thousand Palms, Desert Hot Springs and Victorville.

Riverside County is funding these relocation assistance efforts utilizing a $30 million grant of state funding secured by former State Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia.

Alongside the housing relocation efforts, Riverside County has partnered with the state and with TODEC Legal Center, which delivers bottled water to Oasis Mobile Home Park and distributes it to the community every week.

Without the bottled water deliveries, there would be no safe or clean water for the residents.

The emergency bottled water program is funded by the State Water Resources Control Board, and has been continuously provided to the community since July 2022. At that time, Perez stated the county needed to both focus on immediate need and "continue to build out the infrastructure that's needed in the eastern Coachella Valley so that, ultimately, all our residents can have clean water to use in their homes and have an opportunity to improve their quality of life."

Riverside County will need more funding, resources and policy action from the federal government to continue relocating families out of Oasis Mobile Home Park.

In 2020, the state allocated $30 million to cover relocation expenses of occupants. Another $6.25 million in federal grants and almost $8 million in state Project Homekey funding were made available. According to the county Housing Authority, Oasis occupants, mainly migrant agricultural workers, have been relocated to other mobile home parks over the last few years.

At that time, Perez noted that "even when we work hard to relocate folks, a week or two weeks later, somebody else moves into the park." According to County Housing & Workforce Solutions spokesman Greg Rodriguez, the current compact strengthens the county's hand by preventing "people from moving in," in what he called "a historic agreement."

“We are grateful for the funding from the state,” adds Supervisor Perez. “But the county cannot do this alone. The federal government needs to play a stronger role.”

Read also:

Arsenic Taints Thermal Trailer Park Water, Supes Aim To Help Residents

Health Hazards Leading To Mobile Home Park's Closure In Desert

Feds Sue Eastern RivCo Mobile Home Park Operators Over Water Safety

Bottled Water For Oasis Mobile Home Park: Nearly $900K Awarded