Westview Estates
Trinity Essence Lee, 4, looks out over her family’s dried out backyard, which they cannot water or landscape because of water shortages in Lancaster’s Westview Estates. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)
Nine homes on one of the community’s streets are empty and cannot be sold because of the water shortages. Residents, who started occupying the new Lancaster community of Westview Estates in the spring of 2007, are suing the New Jersey-based developer K. Hovnanian Homes. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)
Kurt and Michelle Dahlin bought their home in Westview Estates and are now in limbo, realizing that they cannot put any money into it and that they still are not comfortable in their home. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)
The ghost town that Westview has become has been a victim of theft, including air conditioning units and fire hydrants, such as the one stolen here. The developer, K. Hovnanian Homes, walked away from the project having built only 35 of the promised 425 homes that were to create a plush gated community. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)
Some residents of Westview Estates are eager to forsake their dream homes because of problems with the water system but can’t because no one is buying and the homes for which they paid up to $450,000 are worth only half that amount. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)
