In Siler City, a "Jesus-Centered" Multibillion-Dollar Company Took Millions in Government Incentives

In Siler City, a “Jesus-Centered” Multibillion-Dollar Company Took Millions in Government Incentives, Then Evicted More Than One Hundred Residents From a Mobile Home Park

In the six years since Ana Heuzo's mother gave her a mobile home in Siler City—in the hopes that Huezo, her husband, and their four kids would have a place to call home—they have made it their own. The kitchen walls are painted bright turquoise, refreshing even on a rainy Wednesday morning, and covered with family portraits. They've added a bedroom for their two youngest—painted lilac—and a small living room.

"We had initially thought we'd be here a long time," says Huezo.

But they won't be. Huezo and her family are among more than one hundred people being forced to leave Johnson's Mobile Home Park after the park's owner sold the land to Mountaire Farms, which is reviving a shuttered poultry processing plant next door. Residents have known since November that they have to leave, but they've banded together to push back their eviction date and demand compensation for the homes they'll lose. It's the least the multibillion-dollar corporation—which received millions in local tax incentives and calls itself "Jesus-centered"—can do, residents say.

As they've negotiated with Mountaire Farms, they've also asked local officials for help. Last week, the Chatham County Board of Commissioners pledged to assist them, but the form that assistance will take is still in the works.

On Monday, after two months of negotiations, Mountaire Farms agreed not to collect rent from residents and to give each household $8,300, provided they move out by July 31. That's better than what Montaire had originally offered, but it will still leave many of these families in the lurch.

Read more: https://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/in-siler-city-a-jesus-centered-multibillion-dollar-company-took-millions-in-government-incentives-then-evicted-more-than-one-hundred-resid/Content?oid=12765365