2 Rundown Homes Across From Moorpark City Hall to Be Demolished : Housing: Many of the remaining 12 low-income units may also have to be razed, spurring residents’ fears.

MOORPARK —  Two rundown shanties across the street from Moorpark’s City Hall will be torn down and other low-income housing on the site considered for demolition, city officials and landowners agreed Wednesday.

The families who once lived in the two houses have already been evicted, so city building officials met Wednesday afternoon with landlord Lynnette Scaroni to work out details on when to raze the structures, Assistant City Manager Richard Hare said.

More demolitions may be inevitable since many of the remaining 12 residences on the property are in similar dilapidated conditions, Hare said.

Rents in Moorpark are among the highest in the county, and some of the approximately 60 people who live on the property fear that if evicted they will have to move from the community where they have lived and worked for years.

One of the two families evicted earlier this summer was forced to move to the San Fernando Valley. The other family had to move in with friends in Moorpark while they looked for another home, neighbors said.

Inspectors first checked the property in April, noting exposed wiring, leaky roofs, doors that did not properly close, and cracked cinder-block walls that exposed residents to the elements.

City officials considered legal action against Scaroni, but backed away after she said financial difficulties, not negligence, had contributed to the condition of the housing.

Since April the city and the landlord have been discussing how to repair or remove the units deemed unsafe or uninhabitable, Councilman Bernardo Perez said.

While two of the 14 families have already moved, other evictions are expected as the landowner sorts out which buildings she can afford to save and which will have to come down, Perez said.

“At least seven of the homes can be saved for sure,” Perez said. “And perhaps more.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m not crying tears for any land investor not making the kind of returns they had planned,” Perez added. “But keeping in mind the interests of the tenants here, I think it was in our mutual interest to work with the landlord.”

The negotiations possibly staved off costly legal action and delayed evictions long enough so the children of two families had enough time to finish the school year, Perez said.

Still, the delays have angered others who believe the city has waited long enough.

“It’s unfortunate that we didn’t see something done much faster,” Councilman Scott Montgomery said. “I’m not privy to her bad business decisions--we hear landlords pleading poverty all the time. All the city can do is demand that this landlord or any other landlord provide safe rentals.”