After a day of debate, current and former residents of Calgary’s Midfield Mobile Home Park were met with another disappointment: city council rejected a last-ditch proposal to bring the evicted homeowners some added compensation.
Councillor Jeromy Farkas presented council with a plan on Monday to up the amount of compensation each resident forced from their homes will get. He said on Friday he believed the new council deserved a chance to consider its options.
LISTEN: Jeromy Farkas talks to Rob Breakenridge about his efforts to increase the amount of compensation for Midfield Park residents
Earlier this month, a judge ruled in favour of eviction of the remaining residents who hadn’t left the park yet. They all must be out by Feb. 19.
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The original eviction date was Sept. 20, however, a court injunction filed in September delayed the park’s impending closure.
Each resident is being awarded $10,000 plus moving expenses — which residents along with Farkas believe isn’t enough to offset the costs of having to find new homes.
WATCH: Residents of Midfield mobile home park in Calgary tried to fight city hall, but lost their battle against eviction on Friday. The homeowners were hoping they could stay and be compensated for their ordeal. Jill Croteau reports.
The details of the deal Farkas brought before his colleagues have not been disclosed, but after the behind-closed-doors conversation, no one on council was willing to debate the motion.
“I’m crushed,” Farkas said Monday evening. “I thought they would have been at least willing to have public debate given the hundreds of emails, the phone calls.”
Many residents have already moved from the mobile home park and several of the homes have already been demolished.
The city originally planned to relocate the residents to a parcel of land on Calgary’s east end, but that idea was scrapped in 2014.
WATCH: Over the last several months, families have been moving out of Midfield Mobile Home Park. Only a handful remain after the City of Calgary announced the park was being closed and everyone had to go. Those who have left say it’s destroyed their lives. Jill Croteau reports.
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