It’s hitting the fan for trailer owners

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/09/2010 (5677 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

ST. FRANCOIS XAVIER — The few families still living in the White Horse Village trailer park are a determined, desperate bunch.

Many of them endured years of water main breaks. They had long spells without potable water. The park was supposed to close this summer when the province refused to continue paying to take raw sewage from the property.

It cost the government hundreds of thousands of dollars to truck out sewage after the park’s system failed in 2009.

There were 62 mobile home owners when Manitoba Health said the owner of the land had to spend nearly $1 million to repair or replace the park’s failed sewage plant and water lines. The only other choice was for her to agree to truck out the sewage.

Linda Baldes didn’t do the repairs. She says she couldn’t afford them and recently defaulted on her mortgage. She’s $73,000 in arrears on her tax bill. The remaining tenants, now down to 20 families, made private arrangements to have the sewage removed. They deposit their monthly rent into a fund that pays for the service.

They’re not sentimental about the place. They just don’t have other options.

“I can’t move into another park,” says Dave Tweed. “(To leave) I’ve got to buy a piece of land. I’ve got to prep it. That’s going to cost $40,000. If I had that kind of money I’d buy a house.”

He and his wife, Holley, both work. Some residents are on a fixed income. Tweed worries about them.

“They’re really experiencing financial hardship. Some of these trailers can’t be moved. I think the government should have fixed the problem and billed the owner.”

Some families abandoned their trailers and moved away.

If the tenants and Baldes can agree on anything it’s that they think the province mistreated them. It was Manitoba Health who said they’d close the park. Baldes says she’s bitter about what she sees as the government’s role in gutting the park.

“They came into my park, wrecked my park. They offered big bucks for people to leave.”

The province offered residents up to $15,000 to help with relocation. The province has been clear that the pay for pumping solution is little more than a band aid. The infrastructure needs immediate, in-depth repairs.

One resident, who didn’t want to be named, said she considers the government to be slum landlord for not forcing the landlord to make the repairs years ago.

Again, the park is privately owned. These people are in dire straits and they’re deeply frustrated.

The problem in White Horse is the same you find in smaller trailer parks around the country. There’s not much available space. If you want to move your trailer it’s expensive. And if you’ve got an older trailer a lot of the new parks don’t want you.

Connie Wachsmann moved to the White Horse after her Winnipeg park was renovated.

“I have nowhere else to go. I can’t move back into the city,” she says. “I’m not selling my trailer at a loss.”

She may not have a choice. When you live in a trailer park you own your home but not the property it sits on. If her park shuts permanently (and that looks like the most likely scenario) she’s out of luck.

“I’ve got no place to move to. I’ve got no money,” says Tweed. “My trailer’s worth what I paid. It’s not going to go up. What we’re doing out here now, it’s called survival.”

If the government agrees to let the park stay open over the winter, those remaining residents are facing a tough and tenuous season. Linda Baldes isn’t going to bail them out. The government has tried but fallen short of what some residents say they need.

In the end, these 20 families stand to lose what little they’ve got left.

lindor.reynolds@freepress.mb.ca