Heartbreak sets in for longtime trailer park residents as eviction deadline approaches

With only days to go until their lives will be forever changed, the residents at the Delta Mobile Home Park are still having a hard time grasping with the fact the place they’ve called home for years will soon be no more.

All residents were shocked back in April when they were informed the park’s owners - Fred Kruger and members of his family - were giving them six months’ notice and they would be facing eviction effective Oct. 1.

When NowMedia visited the site earlier this week, more than a dozen of the 40 lots had been vacated and numerous mobile storage bins had been brought in as residents prepared to face their inevitable eviction at the end of next week.

For two longtime residents we will call Tyson and Ray - they didn’t want their real names used - the impact of having to leave the park within days is devastating.

“It’s frustrating,” said Tyson, 43, who has called Delta Mobile Home Park his home for the past 17 years. “I’ve been looking for a new place and they’re all out of my price range. There’s nothing around.

“I won’t be able to relocate my trailer because I just can’t afford the pad rents. I’ve been looking and they’re all between $600 to $800 a month and if you have a pet like I do, they want even more money, so pretty well you’re out on the street no matter which way you look.”

Tyson said his only options are to move his belongings into storage and try and find an affordable motel room for the winter.

“If I can’t find a motel room I can afford, I’ll be living out on the street,” said the mild-mannered and friendly longtime Penticton resident.

Tyson confirmed several longtime residents have committed suicide and others have attempted to end their lives as a result of the stress involved in facing eviction.

“We’ve lost four ladies already and we’ve just had another one a couple of nights ago try to join them,” he said. “One I knew well she phoned her daughter, because it was her daughter’s birthday a few weeks ago, and as soon as the mother hung up the phone, she offed herself.

“Apparently, the next door neighbour went to see how she was doing that same day and they found her at her table.”

The vast majority of residents still haven’t found a place to live with only days until the eviction deadline passes, he said.

“It’s pretty desperate … when you get turned down for a place to live and not only that, when you’re on a fixed income, whether it be a full pension or disability, everything has to basically be in reach of the lower standards the people in here live with,” he said. “We can’t afford what the rich want … the rich want all the money. That’s why we’re being evicted and the trailer park is shutting down.”

Tyson said he was paying $375 per month in pad rent, which allowed him to live a modest, but comfortable life for almost two decades at Delta.

During numerous visits to Delta Mobile Home Park since the eviction notices were issued, not a single resident had anything bad to say about Fred Kruger.

They believe he was forced into the decision to close the park by business partners and they don’t hold any animosity towards him.

“I’ve known Fred from long ago as a child growing up and he’s a nice man,” he said. “It’s not his decision … he has family members he has to answer to.”

Both Tyson and Ray said the word on the street is the park is going to be levelled as soon as all the tenants are evicted and the land is going to be sold.

“I got told … Fred has got a bulldozer and come Oct. 1, they’re going to drop the bulldozer off and level this place,” he said.

Rumours the property, which is located adjacent to the Penticton Airport and only a couple hundred metres from Skaha Lake, will be sold to developers looking to build a condominium project remain rumours to him, said Tyson.

“I don’t know about that,” he said. “They’re going to have to do some extensive decontamination to fix this place … they need new water and sewer.”

Tyson said many of the people in Delta didn’t have a lot of material possessions, but they were friendly and everyone got along for the entire 17 years he lived there.

“Everybody knew everybody, even those of us who didn’t frequent the other side of the park very often,” he said. “We would meet at the mail box and chat. It’s just a very friendly place.

“When I first moved in, there were a couple of bad apples, but they got moved out. The park has become a community and that’s what you want. Everybody helps one another. I’m a gardener and I would help my neighbours with any gardening issues or need someone to look after their lawn and any other small jobs I was able to do, I would go and do. Everyone looked out for one another. It’s a real shame.”

Ray, who has lived at Delta for close to 25 years, said the fact he has to move within days remains very upsetting.

“We know we have to move, but it’s getting help to move, that’s what it all boils down to,” he said. “Most of us don’t have a lot of extra money, that’s why we’re here right, and many of us don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Earlier this year, Premier John Horgan introduced legislation to prevent scenarios like the one currently underway at Delta Mobile Home Park, where residents could be easily removed and would ensure those facing eviction would be compensated.

Ray believes the same rules should apply on First Nations land.

“I’m a Canadian citizen and it doesn’t matter where you live in this country and I think whether you’re a landlord on the (First Nations) land or off the reserve, we should all be accountable and treated the same,” he said. “We feel we’re all being chucked off to the side.”

Ray believes minimal compensation should be guaranteed under provincial law to ensure other people don't have to go through what he and his neighbours are dealing with.

Ray said he’s tried to find another trailer park in the area to move, without any success.

“I can’t move mine … it’s too old,” he said.

If we were able to find a nice, affordable piece of land for his trailer, he “would have to deal with the ALR (Agricultural Land Reserve) and you have to have water, sewer and hydro on the lot before you can move.

“I’m going to walk away from mine.”

Ray also thoroughly enjoyed his almost quarter-century living at Delta.

“It was a good community, it really was man,” he said. “It was one of those communities where everybody looked after each other. You just don’t find that anymore.”

Ray said he’s “weighing his options” but as of this week, doesn’t know where he will be living after Oct. 1.

“Having to tear apart the place you took so long to make and loved doing it … it breaks your heart,” he said.

While some argue six months notice was sufficient, Ray isn’t one of them.

“At least they could have given us a year,” he said.

Tyson said he’s spent five months looking for a new place to live without success.

“Sometimes there were as many as 100 people looking at one unit,” he said. “Then, all of a sudden, somebody offers an extra $200, then $400 on the room’s price. I can’t compete with that. Like I said, it’s all about the almighty dollar.”