Residents of Regina’s Glen Elm Mobile Home Community will find out this week if they can remain in their homes prior to a June 30 deadline to move. “We’ve put in a formal offer to purchase this property here in Glen Elm and we are waiting with great interest as to the response from the owner,” Randall Edge, president of the Glen Elm Retirement Residents’ Association, explained. Approximately 100 homeowners are facing eviction notices due to “deteriorating infrastructure” in the park. The residents’ association has made an offer to purchase the property through a commercial realtor – vowing to assume the responsibility for its upkeep so residents can remain in their homes. “I think it’s the right solution for our circumstance here. It’s the right solution,” Edge added. Earlier this month, the mobile homeowners turned to the city and province for help. However, no solution was offered that would let the residents stay. Now, they are proposing the form a condo association and borrow the needed funds to take over the park. “I think it’s a great idea because we want to be able to still provide low-income housing in the area, for people that need a home, a first home, whatever,” resident Tom Stanhope said. “We don’t have very much of that around.” The residents haven’t disclosed terms of their purchase offer but say that their bid represents fair market value. The park’s owner has until tomorrow night (April 22) to respond. The plight of those in Glen Elm has prompted discussions at city hall about whether manufactured homes should be allowed on vacant lots. Mobile homeowners in Glen Elm say its an affordable housing option that should be included in future city planning. Residents first began receiving notices that they would have to move out of the park in February. Some of the community’s residents have take the settlement offers by the landowners. Others are now in the process of moving their homes to other places such as Weyburn – while demolition has taken place in several cases.
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