Each household living in Forest View Trailer Court from September 2019 to the present is eligible to receive $15,750 in relocation assistance, the Iowa City Council approved during an April 19 meeting.
Households who live at Forest View today will receive 50% of the money upfront to help secure future housing. Checks are expected to start being issued by the end of May. Residents must vacate the park by Dec. 9.
ARPA funds will be used for residents who lived at Forest View as of March 2020, whereas the small number of households who moved out before that date will be compensated through taxed local city funds.
“The city was on the resident’s side since the beginning of this project,” said Mazahir Salih, executive director of the Center for Workforce Justice and former city council member. “The city stepped up voluntarily to help people relocate. This is really amazing, and special thanks to all of you. On behalf of the residents, everyone is really happy you are thinking of them.”
“I was elected in October 2018 and this was one of the first topics that was on the agenda, and I remember this room was filled to the brim,” said Mayor Bruce Teague. “Today, the hope is different, but there is still hope.”
The passed resolution is meant to offer some much-needed aid for households leaving the run-down mobile home park.
Residents were under the assumption in 2019, they would be given first consideration for replacement manufactured housing after a $200 million project by Blackbird Investments and North Dubuque LLC approved a rezoning for 73 acres, but the plan was delayed and abandoned by the developers, leaving residents stuck and with few options.
