Residents of a Paramount mobile home park fear they will soon be homeless after receiving eviction notices.
The new owners of Elijah Park, formerly known as The Wheel Trailer Park, in Paramount, have increased the rent for families. Renters say they are now expected to pay double, and some even triple, what they did before.
When tenants told the new owners they couldn’t afford the rent increases, the residents received an eviction notice.
“I can’t sleep at night,” said a worried teen in an interview with Telemundo 52. “My family doesn’t know what we’re going to do.”
Many have been living in the trailer park for years. Some residents say they bought their trailers with their life savings.
Maria Velediaz, an older Elijah Park resident, says she is considering stopping her medication to save money.
“I am going to be homeless,” Velediaz said.
Eviction orders in the Latino community continue to be issued almost daily and, according to organizations that defend the rights of tenants, the majority are arbitrary evictions by landlords who take advantage of many tenants who do not know what to do in these cases.
The families turned to the Paramount City Council for help for what they say is an injustice.
However, a representative for Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn clarified that what the residents received was not an eviction order and was just a notice.
The representative proposed that the Paramount City Council adopt California’s mobile home residence law as an ordinance, which limits rent increases, but only in unincorporated communities in Los Angeles County.
The residents are asking for compensation or relocation. The tenants will meet with city officials in two weeks to get an update.
When asked about the situation, Paramount spokesman Chris Callard said the Elijah Park owners had not yet applied for a business license with the city and that “while a business license is a city requirement, we don’t is it an endorsement by the city of business practices nor is it confirmation that the property complies with all state and local codes?
He also noted that trailer parks were directly regulated by the state of California. Callard reported that Paramount Mayor Isabel Aguayo had contacted Gov. Newsom’s office to determine if the mobile home park had the necessary state permits to operate. In response, the State of California Department of Housing and Community Development said the following:
“The PTO for this trailer park has expired. However, an expired PTO does not become a suspended PTO. The Department only suspends a PTO for health and safety reasons.”
Telemundo 52 tried to contact the new company that Elías Park manages, but received no response.
