Tenants at Kristana Mobile Homes entered court hearings Thursday uncertain about their future as they continue to face severe water issues.
- Residents have been without regular water service for 85 days, according to tenants.
- The mobile home park owner recently began providing 250-gallon water tanks to remaining residents.
- A court agreement prevents home demolition while three lawsuits against Kristana Estates are pending.
The legal battle stems from three lawsuits that tenants filed against Kristana Estates after they were asked to leave within a week back in March to make way for what the owner calls a multimillion-dollar redevelopment project.
WATCH: Kristana Mobile Homes residents fight for water access and housing rights in court
"Every body is on edge in there," said tenant Jason Eldridge about the atmosphere in the courtroom.
The situation deteriorated when water service at the mobile home park was cut off.
"As of today, its been 85 days without and it was 77 days without any kind of running water," said Attorney Alissa Hull, who is representing Kristana tenants.
During court proceedings, Kristana's owner's attorney Andrew Abood explained that the shut-off was due to a broken water system.
"Not only will it cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to turn the water back on, but it would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to maintain it," Abood said.
Abood reported that Kristana recently started providing temporary water to tenants.
"250 gallon water tanks were delivered to their homes. And they should have drinking water today," Abood said.
The three lawsuits asked the judge to grant a temporary restraining order against demolition and for tenants to be paid $200 a day since the situation started. While the cases are still pending, the parties reached an agreement in court.
"The stipulation that was agreed to by the parties that the defendants, Kristana estates, will provide a drinking water and water to the remaining tenants," said Hull.
The agreement also states that Kristana will not demolish homes while the cases are pending. Both sides acknowledge this is far from the end of the legal battle.
"We are also looking for Monterey damages for these clients and a permanent order from this court," Hull said.
"The next step is to move toward a possible eviction proceedings," Abood said.
When asked if he would eventually move, Eldridgeresponded, "Eventually, I know we will probably have to move."
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
