Desperate P.E.I. couple being evicted from 3rd motel in space of a year

Carol and John Larkin are facing the prospect of being evicted from their third home in less than a year.

"It happened over there at Summerside Motel; we had to go to Causeway [Bay Hotel]. Then back in the fall last year, Causeway did it," Carol Larkin said. "Now we're here and it is happening again."

John Larkin said the housing situation is weighing on his mental health.

"We have no place to go," he said. "Where are you supposed to go? On the street?"

The Larkins are being told they need to leave their unit at Baker's Lighthouse Motel by the end of June.

They have been looking for non-motel apartments in the Summerside area, but nothing fits their budget.

"We know there are other people in our situation living in the woods," John Larkin said.

The Larkins and other tenants of five units at Baker's Lighthouse Motel were all given eviction notices on April 15 saying they have to be out by June 30 to let the landlord convert their units to tourist accommodations.

"I want possession of the room for myself for commercial use under the Tourism Act," the landlord wrote on the Larkins' eviction notice.

CBC News spoke briefly with the landlord but he declined to comment on the evictions.

The Larkins have been living at Baker's Lighthouse Motel for seven months. Another tenant facing eviction whom CBC spoke with has occupied a unit for over three years.

Carol and John Larkin have filed paperwork seeking a hearing with the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission, though no hearing date has been set yet, and they encourage others to follow suit.

Fight it. Go to IRAC. Go to whoever you can go to.— Carol Larkin

"Fight it. Go to IRAC. Go to whoever you can go to," Carol Larkin said.

After receiving three eviction notices in a year, it all comes down to one thing for her, she said.

"Greed. People have dollar signs in their eyes instead of corneas. They need to go get transplants to get the dollar signs taken out and corneas back in.

"I wish people would stop thinking with their wallets and think with their hearts."

The Larkins have thought about moving to Charlottetown, but haven't been able to find rentals within their budget there either.

Motel rents often cheaper: advocate

These situations are becoming common, according to the P.E.I. Fight for Affordable Housing. The advocacy group is seeing more people living in motels because rent can be cheaper than for apartments, said Cory Pater, who volunteers with the group.

"People are turning to housing wherever they can find it. Sometimes people have to get creative with that. It is a pretty tight market right now," he said.

The recently passed Residential Tenancy Act may not help tenants in this specific situation, Pater said.

"From what it looks like, these tourism operations — motels, hotels — are considered businesses in such a way where it isn't going to be too difficult to remove people who are long-term tenants to establish them as tourism operations," he said.

"We're going to see how the act plays out in reality, but from the looks of things, it doesn't advantage people over the old act in any way."

Guide for tenants being created

It's not only tenants at Baker's Lighthouse Motel who are facing eviction in Summerside. Some tenants at the Shine Motel just down the road are also being told to be out of their units by May 10.

"I know it's happening to other people out there right across the country," John Larkin said.

P.E.I. has a reputation of people helping each other out, but Larkin said he thinks those days are over.

Meanwhile, the Cooper Institute is working on hiring a co-ordinator to develop a guide for tenants who plan to appeal evictions or rent increases.

"It's about creating new resources for tenants, that they can use themselves as they prepare for hearings," officials with the organization said in an email.

The guide should be available by the end of the year, the email said.