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Mobile Home Owners Fight For Their Property

By Jennifer Brice

AURORA, Colo. (CBS4) - Maria Chavez recently paid off her mobile home in Aurora but discovered the land owners are attempting to rezone. The rezoning proposal attempts to change the land from a mobile home district to a transit-oriented development.

If that happens, Chavez says, her family could be homeless.

AURORA MOBILE HOME
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"I invested thinking I could stay here for the rest of my life," says Chavez.

Chavez, like many who live at Denver Meadows in Aurora, say their homes are older. Mobile homes built before 1976 cannot be moved to another location. If the land is rezoned, many will lose their investment and the actual home.

Adams County planning commissioners voted against the proposed rezoning of the land, near Colfax and Interstate 225, is near a light rail line and the Anschutz Medical Campus.

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The rezoning, residents say, could devastate their lives financially and emotionally. Ramon Delgado says a lot of people in the park are low income.

"This is what is accessible to us," Delgado says. "A lot of us can't afford to own homes and this is a type of home that is accessible to us."

The advocate group, 9to5, is rallying behind the mobile home owners. Andrea Chirbogo-Flor says folks here would not have bought these homes if they knew the land would be rezoned.

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"A lot of these folks are basically investing to have their homes destroyed and thrown away like trash," says Chirbogo-Flor.

Of the mobile homes that can be moved, for those built after 1976, those owners are still facing issues of cost and availability. Chirbogo-Flor says there aren't vacancies at nearby mobile home parks. These residents at Denver Meadows says they will fight for the land.

"Housing is a human right," says Chavez. "It's not a luxury, it's not a commodity and were going to fight so we can live here." Delgado agrees. He says the land owners just want money. "They want as much money as they can get. they're kicking us out without anything."

AURORA MOBILE HOME  (3)
(credit: CBS)

CBS4's Jennifer Brice called the listed landowner, Theodore Cline, for a comment. He did not return multiple calls. The Aurora City Council will meet Monday at 7:30 p.m. to address the zoning proposal, among other agenda items.

Jennifer Brice is a reporter with CBS4 focusing on crime and courts. Follow her on Facebook or on Twitter @CBS4Jenn.

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