San Diego flood victims kicked out of hotels before voucher expiration date

A family of ten, flooded out of their Mountain View home last January, was checked out of their hotel with no place to go on Friday afternoon.

Advocates said there was a miscommunication between the county’s voucher program provider Equus and the Ramada Inn in National City. It lead to a scramble to find the Meza family a place to stay.

“There is a lot of confusion going on. The hotel is insisting that today is the day," said flood victim Juan Meza on Friday.

Confused and frustrated flood victims Juan Meza, his sister Ivonne.

"I’m mad because our due date here, our check out day is not till the 11^th. Give us a little bit more time," said Juan's sister, Ivonne Meza.

Eight other family members were informed on Friday afternoon that it was check-out time. 

"We already tried staying, they said there's no way you are going to stay here," Juan said.

So they packed up their belongings from the three rooms they had been staying in on the fifth floor of the Ramada Inn in National City.

"This is going to change everything for us because we got the kids in school, we have to go check-in at the house. This is a good location because it is close to home," Juan said.

San Diego County hired Equus to handle the hotel vouchers for their flood victims. NBC 7 reached out to Equus on Friday afternoon but did not get a return call before publication.

Ivonne showed NBC 7's Dave Summers a voucher for the Ramada Inn with an expiration date of March 11.

County spokesperson Mike Workman told NBC 7 the Mezas failed to show up on time to check into their original designated rooms. The Ramada Inn and Equus got them into three other rooms that were reserved for other guests starting March 8. The county says despite the March 11 voucher expiration, the hotel notified the Mezas of the early check out date, but acknowledges that communication could have been better. 

There are some 200 more flood victims at the Ramada Inn all with vouchers set to expire on March 11. A flyer on the hotel front desk says those vouchers will be extended to March 25. The county is verifying that, although the people staying at this hotel grew concerned after this happened to the Mezas.

“It's upsetting. It is sad. It's depressing knowing this could happen to any of us at any time," said flood victim Michael Rios.

Rios also has a voucher for the Ramada Inn set to expire on March 11.

"I haven’t received an extension. I have talked to Equus. I haven’t gotten no confirmation. Everybody keeps calling but getting no return calls," Rios said.

Flood victim advocate Andrew Banez says getting voucher extensions has been a common problem.

“We had to step in after they already made transition to county and pivot to Equus," Banez said.

He said he’s worked with 40 families with similar problems to keep a roof over their heads.   

“A lot of these families are homeowners, renters but they are treated like homeless," Banez said.

In part of an email to NBC 7, the county spokesperson wrote:

"This has not happened before, to my knowledge. This case is exceptional, a one-off. And the problem has been solved."

With Banez's help, Equus provided the Mezas with vouchers for three rooms at the Baymont Hotel on Cortez Hill.

They can stay here or move back to the Ramada next week.

“Our house is not even half done. We don’t even have a room stable to move into over there," Yvonne said.

The family is still facing an uncertain future and after this experience, they are losing confidence.