P.E.I. mobile home park tells residents to buy their lot or move out

More than a hundred people living in a mobile home park in Summerside, P.E.I., have been told to pay up or move out.

Fifty-seven households in the Evergreen Village received a letter in the mail from the landlord stating, due to rising costs, the park will need to be sold.

The letter says residents have the choice to buy their current lot for $40,000 and keep their homes where they are.

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"Since the roadways, water and sewer in Evergreen Village are privately-owned, to sell the lots individually and have Evergreen Village continue, the residents would need to form their own condo co-operative," reads the letter.

The letter says at least 50 per cent of residents would need to purchase their own lots, while those who don't want to or are unable to would be given one-year notice to relocate their home.

Residents have until Oct. 31 to inform the landlord if they are able to form a condo co-operative involving at least half of the current residents who are able to pay $40,000.

If not, the letter says all residents will be given one-year notice to relocate their home.

Homes at the Evergreen Village in Summerside, P.E.I., are pictured. (CTV Atlantic/Josh Smith)

'Where do we go?'

Shelley Bond and her partner moved from Ontario three years ago and found their new home at the mobile home park. She says buying her lot isn't an option.

"Well, we can’t afford $40,000. There’s no way," said Bond.

"If we have to relocate, this trailer is not going to be moved. It’s too old, it will crumble… There’s 100 people in this park… We’re semi-retired, our neighbours just moved in a month ago, they’re semi-retired. Where do we go?”

Stephanie Harris says the news has created a lot of uncertainty for her and her family.

"It's scary not knowing what we need to do. If we need to move our trailer, if we need to move our children from everything they know," she said.

Stephanie Harris, who lives in Evergreen Village in Summerside, P.E.I., is pictured. (CTV Atlantic/Josh Smith)

Landlord looks for options for residents

The park's landlord Clifford McQuaid – who is the president of Camco Incorporated which owns Evergreen Village – said in the letter that he's met with the city and the province to see if there are any existing programs where low-interest loans could be offered to residents. However, the letter says there are currently no such programs available at this time.

On Monday, city officials met with more than 100 members of the Evergreen community. Summerside Mayor Dan Kutcher says they’re working on a solution.

"I think Oct. 31 is a completely unreasonable period of time for the residents. You can't drop something like that on someone and give them so little time to be able to respond," said Kutcher.

"To even consider a co-op, we have to get everybody to the table, us working with the residents to understand where things are, where they want to go and take step-by-step and do everything we can to support the residents."

'Work with us'

For now, residents are left weighing their options and hoping the park's ownership changes their mind.

"Our first course of action is maybe seeing if it's a money thing, if raising the lot rent would be enough, so then we can just keep it as a trailer park and have everybody be able to keep their homes, because not everybody's going to be able to purchase," said Harris.

“I would just ask them to please work with us, to be reasonable," said Bond.

"Give us some time, a lot more time than he’s offering, and sit down with us maybe and talk with all of us and with the city.”

CTV News reached out to McQuaid, who declined an interview.

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