AUSTIN, Texas — Tucked away in South Austin off of South Congress Avenue is the Go Go Mobile Home Park. It’s home to people who have lived there for decades but soon that’ll change, as residents will have to leave by November.
Debbie Romero has lived there over 50 years and calls the park a “historical landmark”
“I have awesome memories there, growing up, my parents being pillars of the community there,” said Romero.
She has come to the city council asking for their help to stay on the property because other options are few and far between.
“They’re not affordable, you’re looking at $2,500. To move a trailer, it’s maybe like $1,500 just to get it assessed,” said Romero.
Austin City Councilwoman for District 2 Vanessa Fuentes said she has been seeing mobile home parks dwellers become more and more displaced.
“Just a few weeks ago, we had another mobile home community in my district, actually a mile from where the Go Go mobile home community is located, that is also going through a similar situation in having to relocate,” said Fuentes.
Fuentes said they’re considering a bunch of options when it comes to handling displacement. When it comes to mobile homes, she said they need to look to preservation.
“It might mean that the City purchases the land, we become the landowners in those cases, or we’re looking at ways to help empower residents to organize and collectively purchase the mobile home community,” she said.
Housing advocate Ryan Nill said these sorts of changes will boot certain people out of Austin.
“So, when residents, homeowners get displaced from their communities, they’re pretty much forced to leave the city,” said Nill.
Minorities could be hit the hardest.
“When I visit with our families, these are families that look like me, they’re working-class, Latino families, communities of color, who are bearing the brunt of the displacement crisis here in Austin,” said Fuentes.
We reached out to the Go Go Mobile Home Park. The manager said they’ve given free rent from May to November for park dwellers, and provided six-month notices to residents that they will have to leave. He did not disclose why they are choosing to have residents leave.
As for Romero, she and her fellow tenants are not giving up.
“We’re asking that the City help us buy the property, or whatever they can do to help us,” she said.
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