California: Fund the Relocation of Oasis Mobile Home Park Residents

Letter sent via email to California legislature officials on April 28, 2021 by residents of the Oasis Mobile Home Park in the Eastern Coachella Valley.

Dear Governor Gavin Newsom, President Pro Tempore Toni G. Atkins, Speaker Anthonoy Rendon, Senator Nancy Skinner, Assemblymember Phil Ting, Senator Anna Caballero, Assemblymember Wendy Carrillo, and Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia:

We write as Californians and residents of Oasis Mobile Home Park to ask you to include $30 million in the May Revise and in budget negotiations to resolve a crisis impacting our lives and the lives of our children and neighbors, and are thankful for Assemblymember Garcia’s support. 

[Desert Sun Voice: Oasis Mobile Home Park can’t be fixed. It’s time to help residents relocate]

Oasis Mobile Home Park is a majority-Latino and Purépecha community that is home to our families, children, and neighbors in the Eastern Coachella Valley. Many of us are essential workers, and we have been severely harmed by COVID-19. 

We have lived in terrible conditions for too long. The homes are very old and falling apart. The drinking water is poisoned with very high levels of arsenic. Sewage pools near our homes and contaminates the drinking water. We lose water and power often, especially in the summer. 

[Related: 49 organizations, individuals sign letter asking CA Senate, Assembly to fund mobile park relocation]

[Related: A Housing Emergency: A Lawsuit Against the Owners of the Oasis Mobile Home Park Shows Just How Dire Conditions Are in Some East Valley Neighborhoods]

When we raise issues with the owner, we are told that if we don’t like it we can leave. He has also retaliated against us by raising rent and we believe he called immigration authorities in response to complaints. 

Because there is little affordable housing in the area, we feel trapped. Like the “Duroville” mobile home park, Oasis Mobile Home Park must be shut down. 

We ask for funding to help with relocation and construction of affordable housing. We understand that the state has a budget surplus and is receiving more funding from federal stimulus. It seems that the time is right to solve this issue now, and we do not want to miss this chance. We believe that real change and relocation to safe homes for our community is possible and ask for your support. 

Sincerely,

Juntos Por un Mejor Oasis and Oasis Mobile Home Park Residents

Ricardo Cruz 

Mariceli Cruz 

Maria Pantoja 

Juanita Arroyo 

Melania Rivera 

Rita Figueroa 

Hilda Romero 

Ximena Romero 

Nubia Aguilar 

Melania Rivera 

Jeanet Amaya 

Jesus Garcia 

Pedro Zacarias 

Maria de Jesus Diego 

Maria Placencia 

Gerardo Perez

Iveth Nunez 

Agustin Clemente 

Dora Limon 

Pedro Cruz 

Cecilia Hernandez 

Eugenia Quintero 

Viridiana Garcia Jacobo 

Anabel Galvez 

Josefina Pantoja Regalado 

Adriana Reynosa Flores 

Jorge Ramirez Padilla 

Alberto Ayala 

Jose Vicente 

Maria Padilla 

Rosalba Aquino 

Teodocia Francisco Lorenzo 

Teresa Chavez 

Antonio Temoxtle 

Julian Ochoa Lopez 

Silvia Sanchez

Araceli Aquino 

Maria Mulato 

Pedro Zacarias Felipe 

Josefina Mulato 

Sergio Zacarias

Margarita Almanza 

Elena Diaz Perez

Araceli Yepez 

Mariela Godoy 

Irma Esteban 

Felipe Basilio 

Nicolas Moran 

Susana Navena 

Margarita Zamora