Property owners in Lake Mead evicted until government shutdown ends

image credit: Gordon Ednie/Flickr

Madison Ruppert
Activist Post

People are being forced out of their own homes on Lake Mead and prevented from returning until the government shutdown ends because they sit on federal land, even though the homes are privately owned.

Much has happened since the shutdown began. On Thursday, an unarmed mother was killed by Capitol Police and it was revealed that the Pentagon spent $5.5 billion hours before the shutdown began. On Friday, a man set himself on fire on the National Mall.

Two senior citizens recently told local Las Vegas station KTNV that they were told by a park ranger that they had to leave their home within 24 hours and could not stay there again until a budget is passed.

Joyce Spencer, 77, and her husband Ralph, 80, told KNTV that they’re now forced to spend most of their time in the family ice cream store and with family nearby, since they’ve been prevented from going home.

Park officials told KNTV that Lake Mead property owners are only allowed to return to their home to retrieve belongings.

“Unfortunately overnight stays are not permitted until a budget is passed and the park can reopen,” officials said in a statement.

Spencer said that they have had to buy clothes that they left behind at their home and that the unexpected move from their home they’ve owned since the ’70s was a lot to handle.

While KNTV notes that the properties on Lake Mead are “considered vacation homes; one of the lease requirements to own a plot is people must have an alternative residence,” the Spencers contend that it is still their property and they should be allowed in regardless of a shutdown.

On Saturday, the House passed a bill that will retroactively pay the some 800,000 furloughed federal workers when the government reopens.

However, as the shutdown enters its fifth day, the Chicago Tribune notes that there is “no end in sight.”

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This article first appeared at End the Lie.