Glen Elm residents hope to buy trailer park as evictions loom

Residents at the Glen Elm Mobile Home Community in Regina say they'll find out on Tuesday if their offer to buy the trailer park — and avoid eviction — has been accepted by the property owner.

In January, 14 residents of the park were given eviction notices to leave the community by April 30. The property owner said it was due to sewer and infrastructure damage, and that their water would be cut off May 1.

A larger wave of evictions was distributed on March 13, telling dozens of other residents to leave by June 30.

The eviction notices have led to a months-long saga of appeals to the property owner and city council, as many tenants felt the evictions were unfair and not provided with enough notice. Moreover, they say, they have nowhere else to go.

Residents formed the Glen Elm Retirement Community Residents Association to fight the evictions, offering to pool their money and buy the property from the owner, Glen Elm Properties Ltd. They sent a official letter of offer in early April.

They say they'll get a response to on April 22. 

"All we want is to be left alone," said Randall Edge, who lives in the community and is president of the residents association. Edge has himself been given an eviction notice, and says that if the effort to buy the property is unsuccessful, he'll be forced to sell his trailer and leave.

Since Regina has few other areas zoned for mobile homes, the majority of residents would be forced to leave the city if they wanted to keep their homes. 

But according to Edge, a large number of mobile homes in the community have settled into the ground and are no longer mobile. Their only realistic removal option is demolition. Residents who chose that option will have $6,000 taken off their removal fee, but one resident said that amount would simply cover the cost of demolition.

"We're being moved into the ranks of the homeless, because we have nowhere that we can legally go," said Edge.

Mobile homes don't have mortgages, and the tenants don't own the land they live on. If they leave without the trailer, they'll be left with nothing.

The property owner offered $10,000 to each resident for relocation, but that amount is far less than the value of many now-immobile trailers. Edge believes his mobile home is worth several times that amount.

"I'm not sure why I find myself in this circumstance because I cannot move my home anywhere else in the city of Regina. We are where we are supposed to be." 

After Glen Elm residents made a plea to the Regina City Council in March, council unanimously passed a motion to allow mobile homes to be moved to vacant residential lots. 

SaskPower and the City of Regina have also volunteered to waive relocation fees and help residents apply for social housing.

Tom Stanhope has lived in the community since 2015. He hasn't been served an eviction notice himself, but helped organize the resident response because he says he doesn't want the community to be destroyed.

"We just feel that Mr. Williams has forgotten the human side of these equations," said Stanhope, referring to the property owner, John Williams. He's "looking at getting rid of a whole bunch of people that don't have anywhere to go."

Stanhope says he's had several conversations with Williams, who has rejected all of their past solutions.

"Yes, you have infrastructure problems. Well, let's find a solution to these problems. Let's fix it, not evict people," said Stanhope.

Stanhope also said that many of his neighbours are on fixed incomes, and don't have the means to live anywhere else. 

"Everybody needs to see what big business does to little people," he said. "I understand business. I understand the way of making money, but I never forgot the people that came before me."

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