Iona Ranch RV park residents evicted

Residents at the Iona Ranch RV park are being evicted following the end of the Unite Florida Emergency Housing Program.

The program gave temporary shelter to residents affected by Hurricane Ian.

Some of the residents were left homeless and some have to live in their car.

The Unite Florida Temporary housing program ended after 22 months.

Trucks towed the trailers off of the property.

The trailer park was meant to be temporary and to give those affected by Hurricane Ian time to find permanent housing and resources. But with it ending, Tracy Hill said she is now homeless and will be living in her car with her dog.

“The reason that they do that is so that you can save money, but I make $940 a month,” said Hill. “I don’t have my own place, and it was through no fault of my own that it got destroyed.”

Michael Watkins has a similar situation to Hill.

“I’m Loading my car up and taking it to the storage unit. I’m unloading for right now, and my last load is going to be my two cats and what I’m going to use to camp in my car,” said Watkins.

Watkins does have a plan moving forward.

“Just going to work. Save money and see what options will help us out there,” he said.

Both Watkins and Hill looked into shelters but couldn’t go because they wouldn’t take in pets.