Closure of mobile home park in West Kelowna amid housing crisis puts residents in difficult spot

Some residents at a West Kelowna, B.C., mobile home park are speaking out, after learning they’re being evicted amidst a housing shortage in the Central Okanagan to make way for a commercial development.

Sasha O’Grady moved to the Shady Acres Trailer Park just over two years ago. She currently rents her unit and is on disability, but she and everyone else at the park are being forced to leave.

“I’m very frustrated — it’s just not right,” said O’Grady.

“Most rentals for a one bedroom — two bedrooms if you need it, you’re looking at $2,000, which is insane. So, for the city to even allow somebody to come in and remove homes to build something commercial, I think is insane when we have such a shortage.”

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The average cost of rent in the Central Okanagan has increased by almost 30 per cent from five years ago. O’Grady is desperately trying to find low-income housing, but it may not be an option.

“Low-income housing is like a two to five-year wait,” said O’Grady.

“I was reading an article — someone has been on the waitlist for over seven years now, so what do you do in the meantime, you know?”

O’Grady says the cost of rent in the Central Okanagan has gotten so high that she fears she may become homeless after she’s evicted.

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“Any back road you go down, it’s full of RVs with people, and they’re working-class people, but they can’t afford to live here,” said O’Grady.

“I’m concerned that we might end up in the same boat or have to move to who knows where.”

Other residents of the park are also expressing their displeasure with the proposed development. One man, who has owned his unit since 1993, says he was offered $38,000 as a buy-out, and says that won’t be anywhere close to enough to purchase another home.

“Nothing, not from what I’ve seen — $300,000 is what they want for places like this, $200,000 even if it’s in massive state of disrepair,” said resident Gary Sorensen.

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“I might have to move to Alberta.”

The land was purchased by Kerr Properties, a group based out of the Lower Mainland that builds both residential and commercial developments. The proposed plan for Shady Acres is to transform the park into storage units.

The BC Non-Profit Housing Association says the Central Okanagan currently has the highest proportion of renter households in the province at 18 per cent, and they’re spending more than 50 per cent of their income on rent and utilities.