As part of our organizing work, Voces Unidas de las Montañas and Voces Unidas Action Fund on July 23 hosted the first of several community meetings throughout the central-mountain region to report back on the 2022 legislative session and start identifying new priorities for next year.
During breakout sessions, leaders discussed water-quality issues and the high lot rent increases in area mobile home parks. We heard from residents that they do not trust their water and don't even use it to shower in some cases. Residents are also concerned that they may be priced out from mobile home parks if lot rents continue to increase 40% to 80%.
In the course of enacting new protections for mobile home park residents earlier this year, state lawmakers removed a provision from HB22-1287 that addressed rent-stabilization. In the face of continued, skyrocketing rent increases for mobile home park owners in the central mountains, we know it’s an important issue to continue advocating for and and will continue to do so in the future.
The water-quality issues confronting more than 1,000 residents of the Apple Tree Mobile Home Park near New Castle are particularly concerning. The state of the water there led one Garfield County Commissioner to muse on whether what comes out of their faucets more closely resembles coffee, or mud. The fact of the matter is that the water quality there is unacceptable.
Voces Unidas is working with residents from several mobile home communities up and down the valleys on a multitude of issues, including water quality.
More than 25 leaders from Parachute, Rifle, Glenwood Springs, and Carbondale attended the July 23 community meeting.
For more information or to learn more about our organizing work, contact Alan Muñoz at alan@vocesunidas.org.