VISTA — When residents of the Green Oak Ranch RV Park in Vista describe the park, they have called it a “blessing” — a safe and affordable place to live on a beautiful piece of property.
In October, tenants received a notice from Green Oak Ranch Ministries, the nonprofit running the park, that they would all be evicted in 60 days and needed to find another place to live. The news left 32 households — many with young children and seniors on fixed incomes — suddenly facing a desperate situation.
The park will be cleared by Dec. 31 to make way for homelessness nonprofit Solutions for Change, which will commence a 10-year lease of a 110-acre portion of the ranch at the start of 2025.
One 72-year-old resident of the RV park, who has lived there for 11 years and asked not to be named, said there is no reason to force all the tenants out on such a short timeline. Some of them have lived there for nearly 20 years and are now being forced out right before the holidays.
“We figured if something is going to be going on, it’s going to be years and years. What’s the rush?” the resident said.
The 110-acre parcel of the historic 140-acre ranch, located in Vista’s Shadowridge neighborhood, currently houses the RV park in addition to a popular summer camp and retreat center and a residential men’s recovery program operated by Green Oak Ranch Ministries.
Solutions for Change plans to use the land to expand its Solutions Academy, a program for families experiencing homelessness, specifically to provide additional housing and workforce development training.
City leaders expressed their dismay at the situation at a Nov. 12 council meeting and discussed how city staff and outreach providers are working to connect the RV park tenants with resources and housing.
“At the end of the day, just because someone has the legal right to do something doesn’t mean it’s morally right to do. This is me expressing my opinion, that I do think this eviction is wrong and I think the tenants deserve more time, but that is not something that we have control over,” said Councilmember Katie Melendez.
As of Tuesday, city staff said, all but four or five households in the RV park had identified housing to move into, in addition to three households they had not been able to connect with yet.
The Green Oak Ranch board put the parcel up for sale around a year after the passing of the land’s former owner, Arie de Jong, last April. After a competitive bidding process for the land, which included offers from Solutions for Change and the County of San Diego, the nonprofit was awarded a 10-year lease in July, with exclusive rights to purchase the land for $10.5 million.
According to an August letter from the ranch board to Green Oak Ranch Ministries obtained by The Coast News, the board ordered the nonprofit to vacate the property and remove all subtenants — including the RV park tenants — by Dec. 31.
Green Oak Ranch Ministries will also have to move its recovery program to another part of the ranch and will lose much of its funding due to the closure of the summer camp.
According to Solutions for Change spokesperson Aaron Byzak, the city of Vista indicated to Solutions that the park would need to be brought up to code and receive a permit to continue. Byzak said Solutions has not received sufficient information about the park’s economics and would potentially need to invest significant funds to bring it up to code.
“You can’t really take over an RV park that’s unpermitted and expect somebody to just run it,” Byzak said. “Our understanding from the city is that bringing it up to code may be significant.”
Byzak added that an RV park may be opened in the future, and Solutions for Change also surveyed park residents to ask if they would be interested in living in a new park.
At the council’s recent meeting, City Manager John Conley acknowledged that the Green Oak Ranch RV park has been unpermitted for several years but that it does not appear to have major issues that need to be abated.
“We’ve been aware of them having an RV park there for a long, long time. We’re not aware of when it was initially established, but has been operating without the land use approvals normally included with an RV park,” said City Manager John Conley. “As long as they were happy doing their thing on their own, we didn’t go down to mess with them.”
Byzak said Solutions for Change has also been offering residents resources, including referrals to other agencies and the option of entering their own programming.
“Nobody wants to see anybody without a place to stay,” he said.
Hannah Gailey, director of Green Oak Ranch Ministries, said the organization is working with the city, San Diego Rescue Mission, and other organizations to find affordable housing options for RV park residents.
“The evictions were incredibly difficult and we are sad to say goodbye to the community that has been built. The families in the RV Park homeschooled together, shared meals, received weekly drop offs from the local food bank, and were incredibly supportive of each other. They were truly doing life together. While most residents have found new homes, a few are struggling to find affordable solutions,” Gailey said.
Coletta, a park resident who asked to use only her first name, moved into the park in April with her husband and three young daughters. She did not know at the time that the park was unpermitted or that she would be evicted so soon.
“When we moved in in April, we didn’t know it was gonna come to this,” Coletta said.
She has faced several challenges in finding a new place to live, as many affordable RV parks do not accept RVs older than 10 or 12 years — hers is around 20 years old. If she parks on the street or in someone’s backyard, she worries that they will be forced to leave again if neighbors complain. (Vista’s new camping ban also prohibits sleeping in vehicles and RVs on city streets.)
Coletta said Green Oak Ranch Ministries has offered shared housing opportunities but worries about the safety of living with strangers.
She is sad to lose the RV park’s community, where she said it feels safe for her kids to play outdoors and everyone looks out for one another.
“We’re really just praying. We know something is gonna work out somehow,” she said.
