Property Owners Offer Free Rent For West Valley Mobile Home Residents
Mar 19, 2020, 7:05 PM | Updated: Jun 23, 2022, 11:54 pm
WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah — The property owners of a mobile home park in Salt Lake County that was severely damaged by a 5.7-magnitude earthquake said they will be offering residents free rent for the month of April.
The Western Estates mobile home park is located at about 7200 West and 2600 South in West Valley City.
“The safety and wellbeing of our residents is our top priority. We are grateful there were no serious injuries as a result of the earthquake, and our management team remains on-site to provide assistance and support to our residents,” said Joel Brown, president of RHP Properties. “As a way to assist the residents of Western Estates and Kopper View during this difficult time, we will be offering free rent for the month of April.”
48 of the trailers were knocked off their footings, making them unsafe to live in.
Day2 …earthquake victims now trying to figure out how they are going to rebuilt. #utahearthquake @KSL5TV pic.twitter.com/ffca8MLyDC
— Dan Rascon (@TVDanRascon) March 19, 2020
Residents said they do not have earthquake insurance, so they are left to pay for repairs on their own. That means thousands of dollars in repairs for Noel Johnson and her husband, Joe Molina.
“It’s overwhelming, it’s stressful, it’s scary,” said Johnson. “Not knowing when or how it will be put back together and we can get back to our normal lives.”
Johnson and Molina just moved into their mobile home in December.
“We’ve been doing so much work to get this place into a home since we just moved in, and then to see all of that just kind of fall away literally,” said Molina.
The Red Cross set up at Taylorsville High School to help assist families with food, clothing, and temporary shelter. At least 28 families came asking for help.
“We are here, we will be here to take care of people as needs arise,” said Rich Woodruff, director of communications with the Red Cross. “We mobilized pretty quickly. We made sure we had adequate resources and back up.”
Woodruff said they plan to close up operations at 8 p.m. Thursday because people stopped showing up.
For those wanting to donate or help, they can go to www.redcross.com to make financial donations, but there is no specific fund helping mobile home residents with repairs. That’s why residents like Molina and Johnson have set up their own GoFundMe account.*
“We are really lucky the community has come out to help us,” said Molina.
*KSL-TV does not assure that the money deposited to the account will be applied for the benefit of the persons named as beneficiaries. If you are considering a deposit to the account, you should consult your own advisors and otherwise proceed at your own risk.
