Eviction coming for low-income park residents

HAYDEN — Gordon Dutcher bought his single-wide manufactured home two years ago for $3,000. He rented a spot in Circle Drive Mobile Park on Hayden Avenue. Not only could he afford the rent on his limited income, but the park became home.

On Nov. 1, along with seven other units on the property, Dutcher received an eviction notice from Resort Property Management Company. He has until April 30 to clear all of his belongings, including his trailer, from the premises.

“I’m having a hard time finding a place,” Dutcher said. “I get a check once a month. I’m disabled. My daughter in Sandpoint has no room for me.”

Dutcher and his neighbors are in a predicament. Housing options for low-income people are few, when they can be found at all.

According to the Idaho Housing and Finance Authority in Coeur d’Alene, the wait for a Section 8 housing voucher is 30 months or longer. Once a family has a voucher there are additional wait times to get into approved apartments. That doesn’t do Dutcher any good now.

He pays $325 a month rent for the land his two-bedroom home sits on. It’s the oldest home in the park, too old to move, he said.

“He’s had a stroke and five to eight heart attacks,” said Susanna Eloe, Dutcher’s caregiver. “He knows this house by heart. He’s not at risk of falling here. He can find his way in the dark.”

Dutcher suffers from COPD and diabetes. He has a huge gray beard, sparkly blue eyes, and just the hint of a southern accent.

“I feel angry,” Dutcher said. “It’s hard for me to sleep. I don’t have the appetite I used to.”

Resort Property Management has managed the mobile home park and four apartment units for two years since Bill Robinette of Select Properties Company purchased it from Guy Mullen. Mullen’s father, Jim, owned the property for a very long time, according to Robinette.

“I think the previous owner did a huge injustice for keeping their rent so low for so many years,” said Stephanie Booth, Resort Property Management manager. “He chose not to do maintenance.”

“[Jim] was ill for some time and the property was mismanaged,” said Robinette. “It was a mess when I bought it.”

Robinette cites major water leaks as the reason for the evictions.

“There’s 24 hook ups and they’re all underground,” Robinette said, referencing the complex water infrastructure feeding the park. “It’s impossible to isolate the source of the leak. You could tear up the entire site trying to find the leak.”

The letter mailed to tenants on Nov. 1 from Resort Property Management reads: “we have come to the conclusion that there is a significant leak or leaks occurring underground and the only practical way to repair the system is to replace the entire water system.”

Bob Chandler, district manager at Avondale Irrigation District, met with Robinette. He told Robinette it was likely a leak and offered to monitor the meter by turning the water off in all the units. Robinette declined the offer, Chandler said.

“If the owner made the decision that he needs to replace the water, that’s his decision,” Chandler said. “We are a public utility company. We would never want people to be evicted. This doesn’t mean you need to evict everyone.”

One resident claimed her stove didn’t work for three months when she moved into an apartment last year. She also claimed her toilet and shower frequently overflowed with sewage.

“It’s a very, very old property, with old buildings and old infrastructure,” Robinette said. “Unfortunately it’s occupied by people who don’t have a lot of options.”

“I’ve lived here more than 20 years,” said an 87-year-old resident who asked to not have her name published. “I don’t have money enough to move my trailer or demolish it.”

She started crying. She gestured at her bookshelves and apologized for the mess. But even the baseboards in her home appeared clean, the windowsills free of dust. She cares for her home and her ill daughter, who also lives in the single-wide.

“If we can’t move the trailer or demolish it the company will continue to charge us rent,” she said. “[They’re] taking away our home. The least [they] could do is pay us for it.”

Robinette gave the property owners six months notice and has kept their rent low, well below market average.

“I’m a fair guy,” he said. “I don’t want to inflict any undue hardship on these people. Ever since I bought that property, the planning department at the city of Hayden and the urban renewal agency have been after me to clean it up.”

Robinette removed four abandoned manufactured homes from the park when he purchased the property.

“It was really a process to remove them,” he said. “You have to have an engineer come in and do an asbestos abatement, you have to go to the city to get a demolition permit, and then you have to pay someone to physically remove it.”

“You’re looking at $5,000 to $6,000 to have a single-wide moved and set five miles away,” said Jude Doty, owner of Doty House Moving in Rathdrum. “But I won’t touch one for the four months of winter. No one’s going to be doing it then.”

Boothe, the property manager, said most of the manufactured homes are probably too old to be safely moved. That leaves residents without the ability to sell their homes or the ability to move them to a better location.

Catrina Hancock, her husband and her 13-year-old son live in a one-bedroom apartment at Circle Park. They have lived there for six years. Prior to moving in, the family was homeless. The family pays $440 per month, but the apartment has no carpet, no heat, and seven of the eight electrical outlets do not work, Hancock said. She runs an electric heater and fan from the working outlet.

“I’m glad we have to move,” said Hancock. “But I’m scared.”

Two years ago her son’s bedroom ceiling caved in under the snow. Maintenance came and cut a hole in the ceiling, but never came back, according to Hancock. Her husband put a board up to prevent cold air from coming in and the family made do.

“We’re all eight families in the same boat,” Hancock said, looking out across the snow-specked lawn. “The family in the blue trailer is a single father with a baby and a 2-year-old.”

The windows in the blue trailer were dark. The lots near it, vacant.

“We were homeless for a year until we found this place,” said Hancock. “I refuse to let my family be homeless again.”