EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — Advocates and residents from the Chamizal neighborhood in South-Central El Paso say they are “actively” being displaced with hiking rent rates by landowners, and that they are being harassed and pressured by new investors to sell their homes.
“They’re making us lucrative and tempting offers so that we sell our homes,” said Maria Luisa Amaya, a 30-year Chamizal resident.
“We have shortcomings and they start pressuring us by saying ‘We’ll offer you cash. We will give it (cash) to you right away.’ At first, they merely made you an offer, now they take pictures of your home and paint a beautiful picture of what they’re going to do with it. And after residents take up their offer, they leave and don’t do anything for the residence,” Amaya said.
Amaya said she receives a new offer for her home just about every week.
Familias Unidas del Chamizal and residents are calling on the City of El Paso to halt the Onward Alameda plan until they adopt an anti-displacement plan that will protect residents in the Chamizal neighborhoods from being priced out of their homes.
Familias Unidas del Chamizal call on the City of El Paso to halt Onward Alameda Project
“(I feel) anger and rage. There’s an urgency to protect the families because it’s happening now. When we say ‘stop Onward Alameda,’ it’s because it is happening now,” said Ilda Villegas, member of Familias Unidas del Chamizal.
The Onward Alameda plan adopted by the El Paso City Council, aims to improve the 13-mile stretch between Downtown El Paso and Socorro by making zoning changes that will allow new investment to come into the area.
According to its website, the plan “establishes priorities for public-sector action, while at the same time providing direction for complementary private-sector decisions.”
The group describes an ongoing “housing affordability crisis” in the affected areas that has and will continue to displace families.
According to the group, over 90 percent of households in the Chamizal neighborhoods are “renter occupied,” with the majority of rates sitting at under $500.
They described instances in which residents have had their rent rates increase by $100 monthly.
The group contends that with the zoning changes to be considered in the future, these families will be unable to afford living in these areas as the private-sectors who invest in the areas will inevitably price them out of living there.
City Council was scheduled to discuss proposed zoning changes on Tuesday, September 10, regarding the Alameda corridor but city officials said that has been postponed.
Alex Hoffman, assistant director of Capital Improvement Planning for the City of El Paso, said the zone changes that are set to be discussed by the City Council won’t pertain to the Chamizal portion of the Alameda corridor.
He added that they won’t make any zoning changes to that area until they have gathered enough input from affected residents.
“We want to make sure that we have policies in place that reduce or hopefully prevent any displacement from taking place. And so our goal is to have those strategies be presented to the City Council for consideration and direction before we end up making any zoning changes that apply specifically to the Chamizal neighborhood,” Hoffman said.
But Villegas and residents contend that as the plan continues to move forward, it encourages landowners and investors to continue pushing out families from the neighborhoods.
“We’re talking about poor immigrant families. Women with a minimum-wage of $7.25/hour and three children,” Villegas said. “How is it possible that they can implement a project that will increase rents all the way up to over $1,000? We have nowhere to go under these conditions,” she added.
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