Dozens of families in Vista spent this Thanksgiving with a deadline on their mind. They have to pick up and move by Sunday and some don't know where they'll go next.
“I have to move my arbors and my plants and stuff that’s going to be a couple, truckloads full,” said Green Oaks RV Park tenant Carrie Gibbs, who also works for NBC 7.
For the last year she has lived in the RV with a view that touches her heart.
“It’s, how do you say? Very spiritual and very beautiful here. You can just get lost in that,“ Gibbs said.
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There's a pond, swans, ducks and donkeys on the property.
“I spent 20 minutes hugging a donkey last night. Just rubbing on her and hugging on her and she just sat there,“ Gibbs said.
Gibbs and some 32 plus low-income families pay rent to Green Oaks Ranch which helps support the cost of its alcohol and drug abuse recovery program across the pond.
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Gibbs says Green Oaks Ranch's mission will remain but the rest of the property was leased to Solutions for Change. It’s a nonprofit organization which helps the homeless find permanent housing.
Gibbs finds that Ironic.
“They are helping people go from homelessness to independent living, but they are in turn making some people here homeless,“ Gibbs said.
In part of a statement, Solutions for Change indicated tenants may be able to return.
Vista’s mayor says a new RV park though would cost millions in upgrades and permits.
They are just 72 hours from eviction day. Six families have left . Another 40 people remain here , a lot of them kids, and about 20 trailers. What will they do come Sunday, not everybody knows.
Around the community Thanksgiving table, at Gibbs’ RV the inevitable wasn’t the top of conversation. Although, it can’t be ignored.
“There are some, they don’t have a place to go. I know there are five or seven families that don’t have a place to go. I am freaking out. That is probably why I am sick,” Gibbs said.
Gibbs is counting her blessings. She widowed but has a job, proper support and a place to move.
Her experiences at the RV park can’t be replaced.
“I will miss the community because it’s the community and it’s a community that really cares for each other,” Gibbs said
Vista’s mayor says he is committed to finding a place to stay for those who have nowhere else to go but the street.
The group that is taking over the site, called "Solutions for Change," has a long history of providing homeless services in the North County. The organization focuses on sobriety and addiction recovery and has previously turned down millions of dollars in government grants because they do not embrace California’s "housing first" model.
