The reality is low-income residents in Thousand Oaks are losing their homes, but on paper it may look like the city is moving closer to meeting a state mandate to provide more land for low-income residents.

The state of California requires cities to create a certain amount of zoning for low-income housing, but it doesn’t include mobile home parks in the low-income housing count.

Even though low-income residents living in a closing mobile home park are saying they’ll be homeless when their park closes, their loss could help Thousand Oaks comply with California requirements meant to help those in need.

Technically, the city can now come out ahead by changing the closing park’s land-use designation to high-density residential.

That change would open the door to the city counting the applicable land as new low-income housing.

On May 25, the City Council voted 4-1 to approve an application from 1200 Newbury LLC to consider changing the General Plan land use element of Conejo Mobile Home Park land, 1200 Newbury Road, from commercial and mobile home park exclusive to high-density residential.

Councilmember Claudia Bill-de la Peña dissented.

“These are difficult decisions. It does affect people’s lives. That is not lost on the City Council,” Councilmember Andrew Fox said.

The city wasn’t required by law to publicize that the mobile home park land use was going to be decided at the Tuesday night meeting, so city staff didn’t let the public know in advance.

The advance notice could have assured that everyone interested in the matter was aware of the meeting.

“This was a surprise to us. We weren’t given very much notice to come tonight,” mobile home park resident Penny Mayou said.

“You have a moral requirement to notify people about what you are contemplating,” said former planning commissioner Janet Wall.

Mayou asked the council to wait to move forward until the courts make a decision on pending litigation concerning the future of the park. She also said none of those currently living in the mobile home park would be able to afford to live in the proposed high-density housing.

“You’re going to make us all homeless. We have no place to go,” Mayou said.

Mobile home park resident Dan Douglas said another resident who’s 85 years old was in his living room crying recently because he doesn’t know what he’s going to do or where he’s going to go.

“We’re self-sustaining now. It doesn’t cost taxpayers for us to be there,” Douglas said.

The 428 acres up for a new designation is on the south side of Newbury Road, east of Ventu Park Road and includes a tavern. The property was designated commercial in the General Plan in 1970.

In 2005 the current owner purchased the mobile home park and announced plans to close it. In early 2008 the City Council, despite the protests of park residents, tried to change the land use to high-density residential, which allows 15 to 30 dwellings per acre.

In July 2009 the council adopted a popular initiative measure before it was voted on at the ballot, changing 340 acres of the property to mobile home exclusive.

Then, in February, the City Council approved closing the mobile home park.

City staff, determining it would be in the public’s interest, recommended the council approve the current land use change application.

Now that the council has approved it, the application must go before the planning commission and eventually back to the City Council before an official change can be made. The park owner must provide required relocation assistance to qualifying tenants before the land use designation is changed.

“This isn’t over. You can’t treat people this way,” Wall said.