NLV: An Oasis for poor was a mirage

J. Craig Anderson

Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2006 | 7:11 a.m.

A crackdown on unsafe trailer homes and recreational vehicles in North Las Vegas is at odds with efforts to reduce the area's homeless population.

But city officials say there is nothing charitable about letting poor and elderly residents remain in homes that are likely to collapse or catch fire.

About two dozen residents of Oasis Trailer Park, 2905 Las Vegas Blvd. North, received eviction notices from park manager Kathy Hill in early February. The notices, citing city building safety codes, ordered recipients to move out within 30 days.

The city has charged Hill with allowing tenants to occupy homes that were not relocated by a licensed contractor or inspected by building safety officials. Her pretrial hearing is set for March 24.

Most of the residents who received eviction notices moved to Oasis from Shady Acres, 1001 N. Main St., which closed down in February 2005 following unsuccessful efforts by that park's owner to address several health and safety code violations.

Hill, also a former resident of Shady Acres, said she took over management of Oasis in July and inherited the park's building safety problem from a previous manager.

"I didn't know about these laws or anything when I took over managing this place," she said.

Hill said she is heartsick about the prospect of having to evict neighbors she has known for years.

Most of the residents are elderly or disabled and subsist on a very low income, she said, which means they will have difficulty finding an affordable place to live.

"I just wish there was somewhere these people could go without forking out an arm and a leg," Hill said.

Park resident Billy McAdams, 61, said Hill is a nice person who lacks management experience and simply got in over her head.

McAdams received an eviction notice, but he said he might be able to bring his home into compliance with safety codes for a relatively low cost because it is a recreational vehicle, not a trailer home.

However, McAdams and Hill said a city inspector sent to the property Friday estimated that fixing problems could take $5,000 to $7,000 each for the majority of residents facing eviction - far more than any could afford.

"I don't know what's going to happen to these people," McAdams said.

North Las Vegas Chief Deputy City Attorney Mike Davidson said the prosecution of Hill was initiated by city building inspectors because she should have known better than to let improperly installed homes remain in the park.

City officials are not forcing her to evict the tenants, Davidson said, but bringing the park into compliance could help Hill avoid more serious penalties. If convicted, she faces a fine of $1,000 or less and a possible jail term of up to six months.

Davidson said while he understands that some residents may not have been able to hire licensed contractors to move and set up their homes, the city cannot simply look the other way.

In some cases, improperly installed homes collapse because of structural problems or they catch fire because of faulty electrical wiring, he said.

"As much as I recognize the needs of the folks lying on the socioeconomic margins, the greater catastrophe is when people get killed," Davidson said.

Hill agreed that some of the mobile homes are not wired properly and pose a serious fire hazard to the people who live in and around them.

"If these places go up, the whole park will go up," she said.

Some residents who relocated from Shady Acres had rented their trailer homes from the park, Hill said, and when it closed down, they accepted an offer from the owner to buy them for $1 apiece.

"When you pay a dollar for a trailer, there's something fishy in Denmark," Hill said.

J. Craig Anderson can be reached at 259-2320 or at craig@lasvegassun.com.