Mold forces Kelowna family out of their home

KELOWNA– A Kelowna family is racing to find a new place to live after learning that their mobile home at the Hiawatha Mobile Home Park is infested with mold.

Crystal Short says it’s a stressful situation because the mold has had an impact on her family’s health and finances.

Short says she noticed the mold issue a couple of months ago, after a slow leak behind the toilet went undetected for a while.

Her oldest daughter was recently diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, and has been in and out of hospital. Short believes living in the mold has made her health problems worse.

“She had headaches, nausea, vomiting all day,” says Short.  “It got to the point she had to go to the hospital due to dehydration.”

After getting someone in to test the home, the property management company sent Short a letter, saying entry into the home should be limited to people wearing respiratory protection.

Now she and her daughters either have to stay with friends or at the women’s shelter.

“We only have two weeks to stay there and I’m working on trying to find a rental as fast as possible,“ says Short. She says it’s tough to find affordable housing in Kelowna, but doesn’t want to move back into the trailer.

Westcorp Property Management has asked for access to the home so it can remediate the mold situation.

Short says the company has offered to let her out of her lease and give her back three months rent, but she wants to take the matter to the Residential Tenancy Branch.