DELANO, Calif. (KERO) — If you’ve ever driven down High Street, you've probably come across the Palm Motel. Currently, over a dozen senior citizens live on the property.
However, a recent red tag placed by the city is putting them at risk of becoming homeless.
“I was living in number 9 and I was facing plumbing problems and they moved me here and now I have problems with cockroaches," said tenant Angela Ruiz.
For tenant Ruiz, the problems haven’t stopped.
She says the Palm Motel is dealing with a pest infestation and no working electricity after power was shut off following an inspection.
Without power, residents can’t cook or rely on electric appliances to stay warm.
“If you follow further down into here there’s multiple areas in the roof that are falling in, a lot of the individuals room their ceilings have fallen through, there’s exposed wiring, exposed plumbing, and there’s a lot of mold being found,” said city council member Mario Nunez.
Black mold throughout the property is another serious concern, especially for tenants with asthma who say they can’t even plug in their nebulizers.
The City of Delano says conditions like these led it to red-tag and condemn the property October 27, giving residents until November 7 to leave.
But there’s a problem.
The tenants are seniors living on fixed incomes. They have to move, but say they can’t afford to.
“We definitely don’t have anywhere to move to and we don’t have enough income for another place since they’re all expensive," said tenant Rafael Boras.
Rather than forcing people into potential homelessness, the city says they’re stepping in.
“We’ve opened up our senior center for them late at night specifically for the residents from this area only, so they can go down there, charge their phones, watch TV," said Nunez. "We have snacks and coffee, different businesses around town have been donating either dinners or lunches so they can have a hot warm meal.”
The city has found housing for roughly 11 seniors and says it may use general fund money to help with relocation costs.
City officials say attempts to meet with the owner have been unsuccessful. Tierra Del Sol LLC disputes that, saying it has documentation showing communication with the city.
With the November 7 deadline looming, some residents still don’t know where they’ll go.
The city says relocation isn’t their only goal, they’ve also started the process into taking legal action against the current landlord.
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