Residents left homeless after evicted from trailer park in NW Harris County
HOUSTON, TX - Residents of one Houston-area mobile home park who were given an unexpected eviction notice have been given a few more days to figure out their next steps. Originally residents of the Ponderosa Mobile Home Park were supposed to be out today, and a lot of them had no where to go or didn't know how they'd afford a new place.
Deputies arrived early Wednesday telling all of the residents they have to go. It isn’t the way residents in the Ponderosa Mobile Home Park expected to spend Halloween. They say they thought they would be giving out candy to trick or treaters, not finding out they are now homeless. It wasn't just rain that ruined the holiday for folks here in this trailer home park who say they were just notified they're being evicted.
"My next step is what to get a hotel room and pray to God they’re going to take all my animals? I mean come on now."
Harris County Precinct 1 Constable’s Office says deputies left this eviction notice on all 27 doors here in the Ponderosa Mobile Home Park on October 19, 2018 According to this lawsuit this started in July when the landfill company that owns the property told the man, Loyal Lybarger who was leasing the land their agreement was being terminated.
" Can you tell me what happened here? I don’t have time. Can you just give me a summary of what’s going on?"
According to this lawsuit Loyal Lybarger entered into a 5 year agreement in 2016 to lease nearly an acre of land but as part of the deal he had to keep up the property. The company sued Lybarger saying he wasn’t maintaining the land and the judge ordered him evicted from the property. One of the mobile park resident's Tiffany Tiller said, "He made this place in order to help so many people that did not have a lot of money."
"It killed my soul to move back into this trailer park," said resident Sara Willis. Residents here say they are living in filth and squalor, but they say it’s all they can afford. In the middle of the eviction Harris County Precinct 5 deputies arrived to investigate claims that Lybarger has been allowing businesses to dump trash here and he would burn it.
Willis added, "He’ll have a fire blazing back there 30m feet wide and 30 feet tall then he pushes it off into the water those two I don’t know what you call them--ponds." After investigating Lt. Mike Jochim with Precinct 5 says the DA’s office accepted charges against Lybarger.
"Class A charges of illegal dumping illegal burning," said Lieutenant Mike Jochim of Harris County Precinct 5.
Harris County Pollution Control is also coming out to assess the extent of the dumping so charges against Lybarger could be upgraded. An attorney is working with these residents to try to get them to be able to stay in their homes but I’m told it isn’t likely.
Precinct 1 deputies say they were not going to put residents out in the rain today, but they say by law they have to follow the judges orders so they plan to come back in the morning with an outreach team to try to help residents here find housing.
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