MODESTO, Calif. — More than a hundred people in Modesto are searching for a new place to live after they say owners of the motel they were staying at filed for bankruptcy and told everyone to leave.
"Right now, it's home. It's the only home we have," Teresa Bye, a resident at the Budgetel Inn and Suites said.
Bye, 67, is disabled. She's been living at the Budgetel since April after falling on some hard times.
"I feel that's what's happened here, society has tossed us away and now they're tossing us even further and we didn't even do anything," Bye said.
On Saturday, she, along with more than a hundred others were told to pack up and leave. That includes the more than two dozen kids who live there.
"I feel like our home is being destroyed, it's being taken away," Alaina Quinn said. "My son grew up here. This is all he knows."
A spokesman for the City of Modesto says the motel owes "several hundred thousand dollars in unpaid taxes and fees to the city."
On Monday, ABC10 found signs all over the front doors saying the business was closed.
"I need a place to live. I don't need another motel room. I don't need to be in no tent outside. I need a place to live," Bertha Kelley, a 69-year-old resident said.
ABC10 tried calling management but have so far not received a response. We're told many of the people that were living at the Budgetel were paying about $350 a week in rent. The county says that was one of the cheapest rates in town.
"I feel like I was in a position where I wasn't given a choice," Kelley said.
Stanislaus County says this motel is no stranger to problems.
"There have been a lot of calls for service to this motel over the years," Amy Vickery, a spokesperson for Stanislaus County said. "It's not a place where a lot of people would want to live if they had other choices. But the reality is, we have a shelter crisis in our community and we need other emergency shelters."
The county's outreach team hit the ground running over the weekend to try to connect people to the emergency housing they had available, but some people decided to stay behind.
Vickery says out of the 100 people that have been forced out, about half have been placed into temporary housing.
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In an update Wednesday, The California Office of Emergency Services confirmed that the Jan. 31 deadline at a the Silver Dollar Fairgrounds shelter, originally set because of a lease issue, has been extended through March 15. Still, Camp Fire survivors are searching for their forever homes.