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A couple living in the Glen Elm Mobile Home Community in Regina said their water could be shut off at any moment – but they aren’t planning on leaving just yet.
Rod Robbins and Michelle Protz are holding onto the hope that the Glen Elm Retirement Community Residents Association will be able to purchase the land from the property owner so they can stay in the park.
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“I want to stay here, so I’m waiting out the storm to see if our association is going to be able to buy the park,” Robbins said.
The couple lives in one of the 14 homes in the Regina trailer court that received notices from Glen Elm Properties saying they needed to by off the land by April 30. The notice sent in January said the court’s water and sewer infrastructure had reached a state of catastrophic failure, and said services would be shut off on May 1.
The trailer next to Protz and Robbins’ home was loaded up and shipped off the property on Thursday. (Gillian Massie/ 980 CJME)
“I just sit numbly and try to wrap my head around what is going on, but I can’t,” Protz said. “I can’t sleep. I can’t eat. It’s just mind boggling.”
In March, a second round of eviction notices was issued, with the company citing similar water infrastructure problems, and requiring residents to be off the property by the end of June.
“Honestly, it’s just nasty what they’re doing,” Protz said.
Robbins said he has backup arrangements in place to move his home somewhere else, but it’s money he’d rather keep in his retirement savings.
Glen Elm Properties has offered $10,000 to help people move their trailers, but Robbins said that wouldn’t come close to covering the full cost to move.
“It’s going to deplete my retirement fund and I’ll probably have to go back to work,” he said.
Randall Edge, president of the Glen Elm Retirement Community Residents Association, said he is hoping to get an answer on the group’s offer to buy the property by Friday afternoon.
Randall Edge is also facing an eviction notice requiring him to be out of the park at the end of June. (Gillian Massie/ 980 CJME)
“It is for us very challenging,” he said. “We’re perplexed. We’re not we remain completely uncertain as to why this is happening.”
Regina’s city administration is set to bring forward a report on allowing manufactured and mobile homes to be moved into residential lots by the end of this year.
Glen Elm Properties offered residents $6,000 for their homes, but Robbins said that would not come close to covering the cost of what most of the homes in the trailer court are worth. He said the majority of people who were evicted on Tuesday were forced to abandon their homes, with some filing for bankruptcy and others living out of their cars.
He added that the situation has left him exhausted.
“Very stressed, many sleepless nights,” Robbins said.
980 CJME has reached out to Glen Elm Properties for comment, but did not hear back by the time of publication.
