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Alleged Safety Code Violations Have Residents Of A Spencer Trailer Court Looking For Different Housing

July 06, 2022 Steve Schwaller

(Spencer)– The city of Spencer has deemed a trailer court on West 18th Street as being uninhabitable and says the residents there need to find somewhere else to live. City officials site what they say is a dangerous electrical line and issues with sewage backing up into two piles on the site, along with other alleged safety code violations. A resident of the trailer court was at Tuesday’s City Council pleading for additional time for the owner to get things fixed…

“With elderly there, I’m a heart patient, and we just need more time to find the right housing. You guys do not have that here. The lowest rent that we found was 750. It’s out of my budget. I can’t afford that for my family. And I know that most of the other families there, they can’t afford that, either.”

Residents of the trailer court received a letter June 21st giving them until July 5th to get out. The city’s planning office extended that a week. In the meantime, Mayor Steve Bomgaars said the city is doing what it possibly can to assist the residents. He says some air conditioned trailers have been brought in with representatives of various human resource agencies to assist the affected residents…

“Folks from CHI, Upper Des Moines, Elderbridge, Seasons. Those folks that can help people, will be there for those three days. You can go and talk to them. You can find out where you can get help, where you can get housing. They will do everything that they can to get people alternate housing until the safety violations are corrected.”

The council took no action to extend the deadline any further.

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