For Evicted Motel Tenants, Future Is Uncertain

One day after their eviction, the former tenants of Melody Manor Motel in Buena Park had somewhere to stay, but the question was: For how long?

“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” said Ann Maxwell, 41. She and 13 other families were staying at the Commonwealth Manor apartments, with their rents being paid by local charities.

But those who are unemployed said they don’t know what to expect when their assistance runs out.

Still, the tenants said Friday that they were glad to be living in a place with hot water and electricity. The Melody Manor, which had neither for several days, was shut down by the city Thursday for safety violations.

Most tenants found shelter with relatives and friends, while others found rooms at motels and apartments. Charities have paid their rents in advance, some until Monday and some until Aug. 1.

Soccorro Munoz, who is staying at the Commonwealth Manor with three relatives, said that she had no money and can’t work because of an ankle injury. Her son must undergo surgery to repair a dislocated shoulder and also cannot work.

Marquitta Elderson, 52, received rent assistance from the Dayle McIntosh Center to stay at the Commonwealth until the end of the month, when she will get a disability check, said Peg Hall, community relations director at the Dayle McIntosh Center. Elderson could not stay in the center’s emergency shelter because she needs hospital equipment, including an oxygen tank. She suffers from several disabilities, among them partial blindness and diabetes.

‘Nobody to Stay With’

Tenants said that they lost a week’s advance rent of $75 when the motel was shut down and could not get a refund, leaving many without cash to pay for a place to stay.

“I really have nobody to stay with,” said Cherie Ramirez, 29, who supports herself and a 2-month-old baby, Timothy, on welfare benefits. The Lutheran Social Services, a Garden Grove-based charity, paid $322 for two weeks’ lodging for them at the Commonwealth Manor.

However, she and others fear that they will run out of food before welfare checks arrive.

“Right now I don’t have a lot of food,” Ramirez said, adding that some of it spoiled when the Melody Manor’s power was shut off July 7 after the owner, Gordon Daskowski of Placentia, apparently failed to pay utilities.

However, Denise Berg, director of emergency assistance and advocacy for the Lutheran Social Services, said that the agency will assist families who need food.

Berg said that she “didn’t see any food being carried” when Melody Manor residents packed their goods Thursday after being notified of the motel’s closure that morning.

The agency paid more than $1,200 to house seven families until Monday or as late as Aug. 1, when families on welfare will receive government checks. Two other families were relocated at the Sky Haven Fly-Inn Motel in Fullerton.

Maya Dunne, executive director of the Fair Housing Council of Orange County, said that she spent the day speaking to other community agencies trying to gather motel vouchers for the evicted tenants.

“The biggest problem is everything happened so fast, there were probably a lot of people lost in the woodwork,” Dunne said. She added that she cannot estimate how many people the Fair Housing Council has helped after their eviction from the motel. The council usually helps people who complain of discrimination in housing or have conflicts with their landlords.

Assistance Offered

Berg, who offered assistance to tenants while they cleared out before a city-imposed 6 p.m. deadline, said she saw about 60 people still living at the Melody Manor.

Meanwhile, residents complained that descriptions of the Melody Manor being a haven for crime were exaggerated. One person, a resident for 1 1/2 years who identified herself only as “Mary,” said that many tenants lived honestly.

Buena Park Police Department spokesman Terry Branum said officers responded to 146 calls last year, ranging from prostitution to narcotics and child abandonment.

“That was the east side that was always in the papers,” Mary said, referring to one of the motel’s wings. But the other tenants, she added, even cooperated with each other when electricity was shut off, sharing flashlights and cooking outdoors.

“It was like a camping excursion,” she said.

To her and other tenants, the eviction notice came as no surprise. “Everybody knew Wednesday night,” she said, when an inspection by a fire prevention officer and police revealed evidence of one tenant using candles and thus violating a safety regulation.

Tenants had been warned earlier that one more safety violation would result in the city’s closing the motel.

Buena Park City Manager Kevin O’Rourke said that the city had been working with residents and the motel’s owner to upgrade conditions. Fire officials had declared more than 20 of the Melody Manor’s 60 rooms unfit for habitation.

“They’ve known this has been coming,” O’Rourke said. He added that two months ago about 150 people lived in the motel. By Thursday’s eviction, according to police estimates, fewer than 50 residents remained.

Rick Byers, a Newport Beach real estate broker, said that he will buy the motel for $1.1 million and renovate it before selling it. The city has fenced off the motel.

Police stood by Thursday at the motel, where hallways are covered with graffiti and several walls have holes in them, in case any tenants offered resistance. Paramedics responded to an assistance call when one woman apparently went into labor while packing.