Gardens and Courtyard at Willow Creek, a gated community for people 55 or older and located near Prescott, said Collin Clabaugh, 15 is too young to live there.
“I want to be here,” he told CBS affiliate KPHO. “Because I know I have two people who love me.”
Clabaugh moved to his grandparents’ home from California after his mother, Bonnie, died in the hospital in late 2018 and his father, Clay, took his own life just two weeks later.
“I cry every day,” said Clabaugh’s grandmother, Melodie Passmore. “I try not to cry in front of him because I want him to be happy.”
TEEN FORCED OUT: A Prescott senior living community HOA is forcing this teenager out of his grandparents home (which they own) after his mom died in the hospital and his father committed suicide in Cali. HOA lawyer told me he’s not old enough to live in community. #azfamily pic.twitter.com/SEKU8aifBL
— David Caltabiano (@DavidCaltabiano) January 14, 2020
An attorney representing the homeowner association said Clabaugh doesn’t meet the minimum age requirement of 19.
“The board appreciates the difficulty of these circumstances but must balance the interests of all parties involved,” the association said in a statement. “The Passmores, and all other owners who purchased property in an age-restricted community expecting the age restrictions to be followed.”
The statement went on to say, “Community associations that fail to enforce their residency age restrictions leave themselves open to legal claims from other residents and could even endanger the ability of the association to remain an age-restricted community.”
But the family said Clabaugh has nowhere else to go.
“My big message is get a heart! You may be a grandparent and all of the sudden you have to take someone in because there’s nowhere else to go,” Passmore said.
Clabaugh’s been told me must be leave by June. But his grandparents vow to sell their house before he is forced out.
“It breaks my heart because this rule is more important than a human life,” Clabaugh said. “There’s no compassion.”