Jan. 20, 2002. The Garden Springs situation is critical. The residents are facing a March 1 eviction deadline, and despite the best efforts of the Coalition of churches and community organizations working with them, temporary housing has not yet been found to accommodate all the families:

The nearly 100 families that make up the Garden Springs Mobile Home Park are being displaced to make way for a new luxury student apartment complex. Most of the families have decided to work together to buy and develop a piece of land into a new trailer park that they will own and manage themselves. They are negotiating right now to purchase a piece of land; they've raised money through grants and donations; and they're pursuing financing for this project. They have incorporated as People of Hope Cooperative, Inc., and have formed a leadership structure, and are receiving training on the management of their new park.

However, the families have to move out of Garden Springs by March 1. Their new park is only in the early planning stages, and won't be ready for them to move to for at least a year. AND THEY HAVE NOWHERE TO GO IN THE MEANTIME. We have been desperately trying to find temporary places for these families, but there just isn't enough affordable housing in Athens-Clarke County to accommodate them. There are places for roughly 30 trailers - but most of those have restrictions, such as "no trailers more than 5 years old" or "no pets." None of the Garden Springs trailers is less than 5 years old. And many of them are too old and unstable to be moved in any case. There are no available public housing units; in fact, there's a waiting list for them. Apartment rents are much higher than these families can afford.

Nov. 2001. The residents of Garden Springs Mobile Home Park are being faced with the destruction of their community and their homes. Most of the residents own their homes - but not the land on which they sit. Since he bought the park in 1998, the former owner encouraged the residents to buy the trailers they were renting from him, while also collecting monthly land lease payments.When the County recently inspected the park, the residents, who now owned the trailers, were responsible for bringing them up to code, an expense of sometimes thousands of dollars.

What the residents didn't know was that the park's owner was looking for a buyer. In June, a group of three investors bought the property, with a plan to build a student apartment complex ''more upscale than anything in Athens,'' according to the Florida-based developer of the project. The residents were given notice that they are expected to be out by October 1.

As if this weren't bad enough, a recently passed ACC ordinance prohibits moving any mobile home built before 1976; roughly one quarter of the homes in Garden Springs fall into this category. The owners of those trailers are faced with the complete loss of their homes and their investments in them.

Garden Springs is a tight-knit, stable neighborhood of about 100 families. Latino, African-American and white residents share a strong sense of community. Garden Springs is not a place where a group of strangers live side by side; it is a real neighborhood. Neighbors look out for one another's children and for the elderly and disabled residents.

photograph by Rebecca Breyer
(c) Athens Banner Herald

A coalition of churches, advocacy groups and non-profits is working with the residents to help them save their community, including

• Athens Area Habitat for Humanity
• Athens First United Methodist Church
• Athens Grow Green Coalition
• Athens Land Trust
• Catholic Social Services of Athens
• Covenant Presbyterian Church
• First Presbyterian Church of Athens
• Georgia Legal Services
• Greater Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church
• Northeast Georgia Homeless Coalition
• Northeast Georgia Presbytery Witness & Service Committee
• People of Hope Cooperative, Inc.
• Redeemer Presbyterian Church
• St. Gregory the Great Episcopal Church
• St. James United Methodist Church
• St. Joseph's Catholic Church/St. Joseph's Catholic Charities
• T.R.U.S.T. Initiative
• UGA Garden Springs Student Alliance
• Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Athens
• VineLife Church

Contributions have so far come from individuals, congregations, and schools. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has donated $10,000 from its disaster relief fund - usually reserved for victims of natural disasters and international refugees - because it sees the mass eviction of nearly 500 people as a disaster of national significance.

What You Can Do

No matter what happens, the financial cost of this disaster will be substantial. Tax-deductible donations may be sent to:

The Athens Land Trust
195 Park Ave.
Athens, GA 30601.

For more information, or to get involved with the Garden Springs Coalition, call Maureen O'Brien at:
706-543-0594.