Calgary mobile home park residents push for stronger protections amid fee increases

A group of mobile home park residents in Calgary is pushing for stronger protections under provincial laws, as they face increasing fees they say could drive people out of the community and make it harder to sell their homes.

Greenwood Village, a 500-unit mobile home park, is just north of Calgary Farmers' Market West, off the Trans-Canada Highway.

Like most mobile home communities, Greenwood Village residents own their homes but not the land. Instead, they pay monthly fees to rent the pads their homes sit on. The fees pay for water and sewer utilities, waste, recycling, green bin collection, park maintenance and road repairs.

Resident and real estate agent Claudette Boniface said lot fees for new residents recently jumped to $1,275 a month from a previous increase to $1,150 in January.

"A lot of people just cannot afford that," said Boniface, noting they also have mortgages.

Additionally, she said, lot fees for existing residents are also climbing. This year, many residents' monthly fees went up by $60, which she said is a big financial hit for the park's many senior citizens on fixed incomes.

"They're taking from their food budget and they're putting it toward [fees] and then they're not eating properly," said Boniface.

As a real estate agent, she said the increased fees for new residents are making it difficult to sell homes in the community. She currently has seven listings in the community.

It's leaving residents at an impasse, she said — some can't afford to stay, but they also can't afford to leave without selling their home.

It's why she and other community members are asking the province to review its Mobile Home Sites Tenancies Act to better protect mobile home residents at Greenwood Village and beyond.

Trouble selling homes

Randi Mayan, a real estate agent with CIR Realty, agrees it's been tough to sell homes in the park.

She listed a Greenwood Village property in the spring, which she expected to be sold by the fall — just in time for her clients' new home to be built and ready to be moved into.

But after several months, no one purchased the home.

So last week, Mayan and her clients decided to terminate the listing. They aim to relist in the spring, but in the meantime Mayan's clients can't move into their new home as planned.

"The No. 1 feedback that we get from people that come to view the properties is that the lease fee is just too high when you don't even own the property and you're paying … basically a mortgage payment, and then you also have to pay your mortgage payment," said Mayan.

She said the location of the park — near the busy farmers' market and the new community of Greenwich — is also a barrier in getting properties sold.

"They're thinking the park is probably going to get sold. So they're like, there's no security in us even leasing and purchasing in here."

Pushing for legislation changes

Willi Sperlich, a senior who has lived in the community for four years, is worried the park will get sold to developers.

He also fears the lot lease fee for existing residents will continue climbing to a rate he can no longer afford. He now pays $940 a month, but he said he'd be in financial trouble if it increased to $1,275 like the fee for new residents.

"Then I'm stuck. I can't afford it. I can't sell it because the new people aren't going to pay that either. So what do I do?" said Sperlich.

"It's a no-win situation. It's helpless."

Sperlich was among a dozen Greenwood Village residents who gathered last Thursday to share their concerns for the first time and create a path forward to fight for better protections.

"Mobile home legislation needs to change entirely," said Sperlich.

He said he wants to see a limit on rent increases to keep mobile homes affordable.

More broadly, he also wants mobile home owners to qualify for certain government subsidies, including rebates for retrofitting homes with solar panels and energy efficient windows.

Mobile Home Sites Tenancies Act

Boniface is urging the Alberta government to consider guidelines set out in British Columbia, which has rent increases for mobile home tenancies capped at 3.5 per cent this year.

Anna Lund, a law professor at the University of Alberta, wrote a research paper on mass evictions of mobile homes — focused on Calgary's Midfield Mobile Home Park — which was published in 2021.

She said residential tenancies and mobile home park protections in Alberta tend to be weaker than in other Canadian provinces.

However, she said implementing stronger rent controls is a tough feat in Alberta.

"There has yet to be much appetite because there is sort of that political opposition to it," said Lund.

The office of Minister of Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction Dale Nally said landlords of mobile homes in Alberta can increase rents once a year, with no limit on the amount, as long as they give six months' notice.

"The Mobile Homes Sites Tenancies Act offers a balanced approach to landlord-tenant issues to foster a healthy rental market and ensure adequate mobile home site availability," said Brandon Aboultaif, Minister Nally's press secretary, in a statement.

He said tenants who believe their landlord isn't following the rules can apply to the Residential Tenancy Dispute Resolution Service to resolve disputes.

Despite multiple requests by CBC News, Greenwood Village management declined to comment.