A group of Canadian manufactured homeowners is asking the city of Surry, British Columbia for more protection from developers who are closing manufactured home communities (MHC) to repurpose the land. The Surry Manufactured Home Owners Association (SMHOA) is protesting the proposed shuttering of Park Mobile by WestStone Group that will affect over 100 residents, some of whom have lived there almost 50 years.

WestStone is planning to build a $250 million senior facility that will have 422 units at varying levels of care, as well as a research center and offices. The proposal has to go before first and second reading at city council, as the thenownewspaper informs MHProNews.

While SMHOA CEO Kandas Hufsmith says, “they are being forced out with nowhere to go and without adequate compensation – this is wrong,” WestStone VP Bob Dominick says the company has no intention of making anyone homeless and they will “work way outside of the tenant relocation program to ensure that everyone is relocated. We’re not demons, we’re not developers trying to build luxury condominiums. We’re trying to put something into the health care system in Surrey that caters to the needs of the community.”

Noting there are 1,529 manufactured homes in the city with site rents ranging from $350 to $950, SMHOA says rents increase an average of four to five percent annually, and another community closing is squeezing out some renters. The group is asking the city of Surry to increase compensation for residents when communities close and create a standards of maintenance for MHC owners. ##

(Photo credit: castanet-Sunrise Village MHC, British Columbia, Canada)

Article submitted by Matthew J. Silver to Daily Business News-MHProNews.