A handful of tenants who were at risk of losing their homes when a Porter Creek trailer park shut down got some good news last week.
Management of the Casa Loma trailer park decided that while tenants still had to be out by the end of July, they could continue storing their homes on the property until the end of September.
“It’s just the right thing to do,” said Ross King, the park’s general manager, late Thursday.
A dozen homeowners were served with eviction papers this time last year. The landlord met all the legal requirements under territorial legislation but there were no available spaces to move the trailers anywhere in the city.
Some tenants were able to find space outside of Whitehorse and others chose to tear their homes down. But a few had nowhere to go and worried they would be forced to walk away from the homes they own.
The new timeline means those people may now be able to move their homes to spaces that are being built at the Lobird trailer park.
In June, after working through all the paperwork, the City of Whitehorse approved an application by the owner of Lobird to build new rental spaces.
They would not have been ready in time for the original July 31 deadline. Residents at Casa Loma say they’ve been told it will take a month or two to get new pads in order.
“It’s a huge relief, because that was the big thing. The big thing was the trailer,” said homeowner Colette Devigne.
“I could find some (short term) place for me, I could find some place for the dogs and my son but the trailer I couldn’t.”
King estimates three homes out of the original dozen are waiting to go to Lobird. Those are the three that have been offered the extension.
“I think everyone else has found somewhere to go or has tore theirs out,” King said.
The Casa Loma trailer park has been standing in Porter Creek for decades. No one involved with the park has said why the tenants were evicted or what is going to happen to the land.
“There’s no plans in place right now,” King said.
Contact Ashley Joannou at ashleyj@yukon-news.com