Midfield Mobile Home Park residents brace for latest city plan
Northeast Calgary trailer park residents have faced uncertainty for years
Residents of a northeast Calgary mobile home park will soon find out if they have to move due to the crumbling city infrastructure beneath their trailers.
The fate of the city-owned Midfield Mobile Home Park on 16th Avenue has been up in the air for years. City council recently met behind closed doors to discuss the latest plan for the site, but haven't revealed any details.
The area's councillor, Gian-Carlo Carra, says officials are putting together a communication package for residents.
Cook Gordon, who has lived at Midfield for 30 years, says residents are in the dark about the city's latest plans.
“I just just love living here. Everything I own and everything I have is right there. Washer and dryer, everything. It's just heartbreaking to be living in limbo," he said.
The crumbling pipes and other infrastructure means it's cheaper to move the trailers and redevelop the land than try to fix the problems. However, city council has been reluctant to force the residents to leave for another city-owned site on Calgary's eastern outskirts.
Rudy Prediger, who has lived for 40 years at the park, leads a community co-op of 185 trailers and says most of the residents are seniors.
“If it's such a good deal that they're giving us, then why weren't we involved in the decision making?” he said.
"We're in limbo. We don't get the proper value in our homes when they sell because the city's got this hanging over our head, that they're going to move us."
Council wants to move slowly and not displace residents because affordable housing space has become much tighter since last year's flood, Carra said.