Residents of a manufactured-home park in Langford set to be sold this week are demanding more than financial compensation for their displacement. They want a guarantee that residents will have somewhere to live if evicted.
More than 100 people live in Tri-Way Mobile Home Park, on 12 acres on Spencer Road between a middle school and the Trans-Canada Highway. Some residents, who own their homes and lease the land month-to-month, have lived for decades in the park, which caters to those over 55.
The land, part of a larger 50-acre parcel, is set to be sold next week, with plans to reduce the park to 41 homes.
Peter Kedge, president of the Tri-Way Park Residents Association, said residents understand landowners have the right to sell, and provincial and federal legislation provides residents with financial compensation, but that money won’t be enough to keep some adequately housed.
“The level of anxiety is very hard to overestimate. There are some folks here who may have some financial cushion. There are others who have literally month-to-month and the equity in their homes. So the possibility that the park will be closed is daunting for many,” Kedge said.
Homeowners are entitled to compensation equal to the assessed value of their home and 12 months of rent, which averages around $600 per month.
The assessed value of homes in the park ranges from $25,000 for older homes to $300,000 for new ones.
Residents with more expensive homes have a “halfway chance” of securing housing in the region, but they likely won’t be able to own a home again, Kedge said, and for those on the lower end of the spectrum, the chances of finding housing in the area that they can afford are slim.
“Market rent for a suite around here is well over $1,000. What’s somebody with $25,000 assessed value going to do?” Kedge said.
Residents received a letter notifying them of the sale in March 2019.
They were relieved a few months later when Langford Mayor Stew Young signed a letter promising that an “overwhelming majority” of residents would have to approve a comprehensive compensation plan before council rezoned the land.
“Recognizing that a manufactured home park in the City of Langford can, under current zoning only be used as a manufactured home park and with Council’s current policy, the City of Langford will not rezone any manufactured home park for any other use unless and until a comprehensive plan of compensation has been provided,” the letter says.
This plan must be approved by Council, but more importantly approved by the overwhelming majority of the residents of Tri-Way park. As I stated, for something like this a simple majority of 50% +1 will not suffice,” it says.
Due to the pandemic, Langford cancelled a public hearing in the spring on a rezoning application for the entire parcel of land for sale. At a council meeting on Aug. 17, five residents addressed councillors with their concerns before a vote on the rezoning passed, allowing residential and commercial developments.
Young did not respond to an interview request.
Coun. Denise Blackwell, who chairs the planning, zoning and affordable housing committee, said the letter signed by Young “probably shouldn’t have been written that way,” because the purchase of the land was conditional on rezoning being approved, and the developer wasn’t going to discuss compensation before the buyer owns the land.
Blackwell said despite the rezoning approval, the manufactured home park will remain a park for now, and compensation policies will kick in when the developer, Triway Developments Ltd., decides to start moving homes.
That uncertainty leaves Rob Jolly and Laurina Norris in limbo. The couple had purchased a home in the Interior and were planning to sell their manufactured home in early 2019 before they received the notice that the park would be sold.
“As soon as the park went up for sale, I realized nobody’s going to buy in a park that’s up for sale,” Jolly said.
They’ve moved into their home in the Interior, but, unable to sell the manufactured home, they’ve been stuck paying $1,300 to $1,500 per month in rent and utilities for the past 14 months.
They talked to two real estate agents about listing the home. One declined to take them on as clients, while the other suggested they might find a buyer if they listed at 25 per cent below the home’s market value.
“We are literally financing this sale, because we can’t get out. We can’t sublet. There’s nothing we can do,” Jolly said, calling the year-long sale process “inhumane.”
Kedge said a comprehensive compensation plan must include three things to meet residents’ needs: a commitment that no one will be put out without somewhere to live, a guarantee that the park won’t be reduced further, and a buyout for anyone who wants to sell, something they said they were promised in a January meeting with developer Jim Hartshorne.
“Everybody who is losing a roof over their head that they own has to have an appropriate place to move into. You know, they’ve got to have appropriate accommodation; they cannot be on the street,” Kedge said.
A spokesperson for the land buyer said the sale is expected to be completed on Tuesday, and the buyer plans to hold a meeting with residents to address their questions the following day.
“We’re looking forward to delivering a comprehensive plan to all residents for moving forward,” said Trisha Lees, who represents the buyer.
