Supervisors direct staff to step up efforts to relocate Oasis Mobile Home Park residents
The Board of Supervisors today directed the Riverside County Executive Office and other agencies to accelerate efforts to coordinate the relocation of residents of a dilapidated mobile home park near Thermal, as well as continue coordinating relief operations at the 60-acre site, which has been a fixture of controversy for years.
More than 200 families, which is nearly 1,100 individuals, live at the Oasis Mobile Home Park which is located on tribe land near Thermal. Residents have faced a lack of clean water for years now as high arsenic levels were found in the park’s public water system.
On Tuesday, the board approved a motion to "direct the executive office to work with department heads, state and federal governments, water boards, other public entities, and non-profit organizations to take immediate steps to protect the health and well-being of the residents of the Oasis Mobile Home Park.
"This is all very real," said Supervisor Manuel Perez, whose Fourth District encompasses the Oasis Mobile Home Park. "I felt the frustration of residents. People want results now."
Perez originally told News Channel 3 that he planned to declare a state of emergency during Tuesday's Board of Supervisors meeting. However, the final motion did not have a state of emergency declaration.
"At the same time, we need to declare a state of emergency. I think I'm going to, we're going to try to accomplish that on Tuesday, the state of emergency this Tuesday," said Supervisor Manuel Perez. "I'm going to attempt to do that at the Board of Supervisors meeting."
In the past, Perez said this is a process that would take years to solve.
Last week, county officials held a community meeting to hear from the park's residents. During the meeting, residents showed Perez a notice, dated July 1, that the water in the community should not be used for any purpose, including drinking, bathing, cooking, or brushing one's teeth.
Following the community meeting, the county teamed up with the FIND Food Bank to distribute thousands of gallons of bottled water to the park's residents.
The FIND Food Bank is hosting another water distribution drive at the mobile home park at 1 pm on August 2. It will be on the community's sidewalk.
The Coachella Valley Unified School District has also offered a helping hand to the residents by offering them a place to shower.
Desert Mirage High School's showers are available to those who wish to use them until school starts on August 11.
In June, the Board of Supervisors approved the allocation of $7 million for phase 1 of the Oasis Villas Apartments. The project will create new affordable and safe housing opportunities for families living at Oasis Mobile Home Park and other dilapidated housing in the east valley.
The $7 million for the project comes from a $30 million state grant Riverside County received to provide relocation assistance for the park's residents.
The Oasis MHP isn't the only area affected by the issue. As I-Team investigator Peter Daut learned last month, more than 115 communities in the eastern Coachella Valley affected.
In May, I-Team investigator Peter Daut took an in-depth look at the water issues in the east valley.
