City of Iowa City steps in

By September 2021, with the park only continuing to deteriorate, City of Iowa City staff recommended that Forest View relocation be taken into consideration as a priority target for use of the city’s $18.3 million in COVID-19 relief funds.

City staff and councilors decided in early 2022 it was best to take action and assist residents of the park with relocation rather than allow them to continue to live in the poor conditions in the park.

“We’ve seen that dual disinvestment,” Fruin told the Iowa City City Council at its March 22, 2022, work session. “Nobody’s investing in those individual units, the owners aren’t investing in the park, and as a result, we’re seeing that accelerated deterioration.”

The council decided in April 2022 to provide financial support totaling $15,750 with COVID-19 relief funding to any resident who occupied the park following the city’s signing of the 2019 zoning agreement.

Explore the Forest View Mobile Home Park, as captured by Google Street View in October 2021.

The support was aimed at helping the low-income residents of Forest View leave the park while covering the large difference in rent costs between the park and other rental areas in the city. Salih said residents also used the money to cover moving costs and deposits for rent at their new residence.

“Without the assistance, people would have been stuck,” Salih said. “But it’s not going to help them in the long term. It will only help them for a short time, and the money will [run] out.”

Residents received half of the money in May 2022, while the remaining half was given to residents once they left the park, no later than Dec. 9, 2022. More than 75 households who used to call the park home received assistance.

The City of Iowa City used $1.1 million of its American Rescue Plan Act grant on relocation costs.

Former Iowa City City Councilor and current state Senator Janice Weiner, D-45, told the DI in December 2022 that the council’s goal in providing the financial assistance was to bring residents some certainty and ability to move on from the park.

Weiner, who was born in Coralville, recalls visiting friends in the park when it was in “great condition” but notes that those memories are from long ago.

She recalls the park being in poor condition in 2016 when she visited as a part of Democrats’ door-knocking campaigns in the state.

“It was clearly not a viable living situation anymore,” Weiner said.

Community assistance came to help residents of Forest View winter-proof their housing in 2020 and 2021, Weiner said, but these Band-Aids were not enough to facilitate a safe living environment.

Weiner praised the Forest View residents for uniting to bring their issues to the council’s attention and said the park’s residents had clearly developed a close-knit community keen on helping and advocating for one another.

“I give huge credit to the residents of Forest View, current and former residents, for organizing and learning how to advocate for themselves,” Weiner said. “People deserve decent housing, and they shouldn’t be forced to live in substandard conditions.”

Weiner said the residents’ unity and community helped them push through a challenging situation once it became clear that the 2019 agreement would not hold up.

“They weathered really serious storms,” Weiner said. “I mean, when you think you’re gonna get brand new housing [and] the bottom falls out, to have to regroup and figure out what you’re going to do from there really shows what a well-organized community they have become.”