'I just think it's rotten': Evictions begin at Regina's Glen Elm Trailer Park

Fourteen residents of the Glen Elm Trailer Park in Regina were evicted on Wednesday, the latest development in an ongoing saga between numerous residents of the park and its owner, Glen Elm Properties.

In January, 14 residents along a single strip of the park were served eviction notices telling them to leave the community by April 30. They were told the sewer and waterlines serving their plots had become unviable and would be turned off on May 1.

Several weeks later, dozens more residents received similar eviction notices, telling them to leave the park by June 30. 

According to Randall Edge, the president of the Glen Elm Retirement Community Residents Association, as of Thursday afternoon, at least two of the 14 residents had moved out and another has signed an agreement to abandon their home.

Edge believes a number of the remaining 11 have abandoned their homes. Several stripped-down trailers sat unoccupied on their lots on Thursday.

"We do have one report of one resident who's preparing to move out of their home and into their car to live," he said. "We have a report that one of our residents that's there, they're going to petition themselves into bankruptcy."

Marleen Obrigewitsch is one of the 14 residents who has chosen to remain. She says she's lived in the community for 26 years, and has nowhere else to go.  

"I just think it's rotten," she said. "I haven't been able to find a place because I'm on a tight budget, and what I make every month through my pensions, I can't afford to rent a regular apartment."

"I couldn't move this," she said of her trailer. "I don't drive. Everything I need is right here. My doctors, my dentists, my eye doctors, groceries, everything that I need is right here in this area."

Rachel Torrie, a resident who was served a June 30 eviction notice, says she too is being forced to give up important local amenities. She says a local speech therapist has been helping her youngest son, along with her older son, who has been diagnosed with ADHD.

"It's extremely disheartening and it's upsetting," she said. "Why do we have to leave because of the neglect of some fancy-pants property owner who couldn't be bothered to look after his property?"

Torrie is part of a group of residents led by Edge who are trying to buy out the trailer park from Glen Elm Properties. Their first offer, sent in mid-April was rejected, but Edge has co-ordinated a second offer, which he says will expire on Friday.

"We're determined, and we're going to put in a third offer," he said.

According to Edge, while the homes are being cleared of trailers, the land has not been rezoned for anything other than manufactured homes.  

"We continue to be puzzled and perplexed and confused by … what the objectives are of the property owner," he said. 

CBC reached out to Glen Elm Properties for comment, but did not receive a reply prior to publication.