Fire at High-Occupancy Home Highlights Housing Shortage

An RV fire that grew into a raging house Friday in Oak Park is exposing problems associated with the lack of affordable housing in the county.The fire started at around 8:35 a.m. inside of an RV parked in the driveway of a home on Kalmia Street that 11 people were occupying at the same time. Raging Fire Rips Through RV, Home in Oak Park The flames soon spread from the RV to nearby brush and then to the home, sending a thick plume of heavy smoke into the air above the neighborhood.Firefighters said it was fueled by belongings stacked floor to ceiling all over the property. Man Allegedly Kills Girlfriend and Aunt, Then Himself Tenants said this was a four-bedroom, two-bathroom home with a fifth makeshift bedroom that was really just a tarp enclosed patio. They were renting by the room and paying by the week because their only other option was living on the street.”This particular situation has just blown up in the last few years,” neighbor Shannon Kelsey said. Things to Do This Weekend: Feb. 1-4 Kelsey is a lifetime resident of the home across the street. She is sympathetic but the house impacted the whole neighborhood for a long time.”We couldn’t have guest over because there would be no place for anyone to park,” Kelsey said.High occupancy housing is a constant complaint at the city’s Development Services Department. There are no real hard and fast state or city rules when it comes to these kinds of residences.NBC 7 found several high occupancy homes in this same Oak Park community.Nearby on 54th Street, a neighbor complained of mold all over the outside of a home. Inside 10 to 13 beds were reported — some in the kitchen and bathroom.Code enforcement found a makeshift storage unit with a bathroom, kitchen and bedroom used as a home on Streamview Drive.Bradley VanSlyke, who lived in the house on Kalmia Street, said he was laid off and the only alternative to the crowded house was the street.”Total devastation,” VanSlyke said. “I lost everything I had.””This is the cost of living. Affordable housing, basically.” Van Slyke added.The house is destroyed. Its occupants are back in search of another affordable roof to shelter under.Generally, the accepted occupancy is two people per bedroom plus one in each living space, but there are other factors like parking spaces and the home’s square footage. Enforcement is complaint-driven, so many of these high occupancy homes go unnoticed outside their own neighborhood.
Source: NBC San Diego