Displaced Residents of Iona Ranch RV Park Must Vacate
Wednesday is the last day people staying in the trailers provided under the Unite Florida Emergency Housing Program at the Iona Ranch RV park can stay in their temporary homes.
Now, WINK News is working to find out if anyone will do anything to help the people displaced by Hurricane Ian.
WINK News reporter Tiffany Rizzo spoke with some people who told her they had nowhere else to go.
Many say they will be sleeping in their cars, kicked out with nowhere to go. That’s the reality for those staying in Iona Ranch RV park.
“I’m gonna try to move what I can into a friend’s storage unit, and then I’ll be in my car with my two cats,” said Michael Watkins, a resident who lives in the park.
“They know she has nowhere to go because otherwise she would be gone. They know they have nowhere to go. They know we have nowhere to go,” said Michele Kane, another resident being impacted by this decision.
Kane is talking about Unite Florida’s sheltering program, which was established to give those whose homes were destroyed by Hurricane Ian time to find permanent housing and resources.
It’s been in place for 22 months, but the program is now coming to an end, which means bye-bye trailers.
“It just seems a little unfair that some people get to keep their trailers, others don’t. We got the bad straw as far as getting into a park that won’t even let us stay,” said Watkins.
The Florida Division of Emergency Management said they’ve donated about 80 units to survivors in Lee County so far and will continue to give donations where local zoning and jurisdictions allow.
Unfortunately, Iona Ranch wants them out.
“The park won’t let us stay because they’re going to renovate everything. We’re not allowed to keep our trailers. We don’t even have a chance to buy them,” says Watkins.
And Kane described how she felt, “Pissed, depressed, I feel like we are looked down upon.”
FDEM gave all households 90, 60, and 30-day notice until they had to be out.
“We are supposed to be off the property, whether we have a home or not. If we don’t leave, whatever is in the trailer, it gets taken,” Watkins says.
Wednesday is the deadline for those staying here to move out.
A neighbor told WINK on Thursday they are going to start towing the trailers out.
