Latest news with #evictions
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Elderly Aussies face eviction as caravan park crisis sparks urgent calls for reform
An advocacy group is calling on the government to urgently overhaul the rules protecting long-term residents in caravan parks and lifestyle villages, as elderly tenants — some in their 80s — face the devastating prospect of losing their homes with little notice and no compensation. The calls come amid community backlash over recent evictions at two regional tourist parks near Albany and Geraldton in Western Australia. Long-term residents say they were left vulnerable after the land was sold for redevelopment, with some given just 120 days to leave, despite living on the site for years or even decades. In WA, park home communities can include both short-term tourist accommodation and permanent residences, but not all operators provide long-term leases to their permanent tenants. That means some residents are effectively living month to month, even when their park home is their only home. Without stronger enforcement of existing laws, the Park Home Owners Association of WA said more vulnerable residents could be left exposed, especially as tourism operators look to maximise profits in high-demand locations. "It doesn't bear thinking about," chairperson Terry Hintchcliffe told Yahoo News. "Particularly when the average age of people in that situation would probably be around 80. They're not in a position where you can suddenly say, 'Alright, here's a new part of my life coming on. I've got the financial wherewithal.' "They just don't have that. So, it's a tragic situation for a lot of people." The association is now calling for fixed-term leases to be made standard, and for more active compliance by the government to ensure park operators meet their legal obligations. "What we'd like to see is the end of periodic leases, for a start," Hintchcliffe said. "Fixed-term leases need to be the way to go, so that people get the protections they need, and that operators are regularly inspected to ensure they are meeting the requirements of the legislation." Who lives in park communities? Park home residents are a diverse group — from retirees seeking a quieter lifestyle to those on lower incomes with few other housing options. "You've got a whole gamut of people, from those where it's what they can afford, through to people who have made retirement lifestyle choices," Hintchcliffe said. For nearly a decade, Kevin Logan, 83, called Drummond Cove Holiday Park home. Tucked along the coastline near Geraldton, about 400 kilometres north of Perth, the seaside cabin cost him $230,000 — an investment he believed would secure his future. The park's former owner assured him he could stay for life, so he settled in without a second thought. But that sense of certainty was shattered in February, when Logan and a dozen other long-term residents were handed eviction notices, just a year after Wajarri Enterprises took over the site. They're expected to leave by August. The recent controversy centres on parks with higher proportions of short-stay accommodation, where long-term residents may be fewer and more vulnerable. The Park Home Owners Association believes these recent cases may only be scratching the surface, estimating up to 200 residents across WA could be living without secure tenancy protections. "In this particular case, I think there are about 20 at the Albany location and five or six at the Geraldton location," Hintchcliffe said. "But what our organisation has identified is probably between 100 and 200 people, because some parks don't do the right thing and provide secure leases." Despite living in the same location for years, many residents are still on short-term or periodic leases, often due to a lack of awareness or legal support. "There are a couple of reasons, usually down to ignorance, not only on the part of the person living in the caravan park, but they haven't done due diligence and determined what their situation is," Hintchcliffe said. "They've just accepted it for years and years, and they don't want to look into it. "But in some cases, too, it's on the part of the park operator. Simply ignorance of the rules." WA's tenancy laws are strong on paper, but enforcement is a different story "What we have here in WA is very robust laws ... but we don't have a system that enforces those laws and backs things up," Hintchcliffe said. "The laws give protection to residents if they care to take things to the courts or the State Administrative Tribunal. But most of the people involved are not in that sort of position. They're often vulnerable people. They haven't got the financial backing behind them to do that, even though they would almost certainly win." While residents can seek advice, few are equipped to fight legal battles on their own, especially those in their later years, and when a park is sold for redevelopment, long-term residents can be displaced with very little recourse, especially if they don't hold a fixed-term lease. "If they're on a periodic lease, they only have to get — in theory — 120 days' notice," Hintchcliffe said. 'Which is not a lot of time to find somewhere new to live. Those with fixed-term leases are entitled to relocation support — but those without can lose everything. "If they're not on a fixed-term lease, where they're just on a periodic lease, then the 120-day rule applies," Hintchcliffe said. "And so potentially, if somebody is unable to do that, or the building is such that it really can't be moved, then yeah, that means they lose their home." Hintchcliffe says public pressure does make a difference. In Albany, community action initially delayed the council's approval of the park's sale. "There was a groundswell move to have the council's decision to allow the sale overturned," he said. "And for a month or so, that was quite successful, and it looked like the sale might fall through. But I don't know the politics of it — at some point, the council did eventually approve it as well." For the Park Home Owners Association, the core issue is not a lack of legislation — it's that the most vulnerable tenants can't access the protection they already have. "We are pushing hard on the point that the general residents in the caravan park are not capable and don't have the wherewithal to use the law on their side," Hintchcliffe said. "They need government assistance, and they need government backing to enforce laws." Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@ You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube.
CTV News
7 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
Lawyer says tenants ‘crushed' by court ruling they must leave B.C. mobile home park
A lawyer for tenants of a mobile home park on Songhees First Nation reserve land on Vancouver Island says his clients are 'absolutely crushed' after losing a lawsuit challenging their evictions. A ruling posted Tuesday says the residents of E. George Estates Manufactured Home Park have lived there for decades, and believed they'd have a 'long-term or perpetual interest' in the lands even though they didn't own the properties. The park was established in the 1970s and the Songhees First Nation took control of it in 2019, then moved two years later to end tenancies of the plaintiffs who are not members of the nation. The ruling says the reserve is overcrowded and the First Nation wants to develop the lands for 'much-needed housing for its members,' telling plaintiffs in June 2021 that they'd have to move out in three years. Justice Veronica Jackson's ruling says the court has 'a great deal of sympathy' for the plaintiffs, many of them elderly with health problems, but mobile home park tenants anywhere face the prospect of lease terminations, and three years' notice was 'more than reasonable.' Lawyer Michael Drouillard, representing the 30 plaintiffs, says his clients are 'overwhelmed' at the prospect of having to leave, and have been given until Aug. 15 to vacate under threat of having their utilities turned off. Drouillard said he has filed an appeal of the ruling, which he said the court delayed releasing publicly for a month 'to respect the privacy of the plaintiffs during a period of transition.' He said the decision was 'absolutely crushing' to the plaintiffs. 'Most of them, their finances are now wiped out because they paid a lot of money for these homes that they now have to move and which are actually not really capable of being moved as a practical matter because of the costs and logistics involved,' he said. He said one of the plaintiffs had a stroke and is no longer able to take care of himself, and others lack a support network to help them figure out what to do now that they've lost the case. 'It's very overwhelming for these folks,' he said. The ruling says many of the tenant plaintiffs were under the mistaken impression the mobile home park lands were covered by a 99-year lease, but instead were month-to-month tenants. It says some thought that if they paid their rent and taxes and followed park rules 'they could stay forever.' The judge said the situation facing the tenants has been a source of 'tremendous personal hardship and financial distress.' 'However, the situation is not of the Songhees Nation's making,' Jackson ruled. 'None of the plaintiffs were ever entitled to a long-term interest in their sites.' Drouillard said he has filed an appeal, and worries that some tenants are at 'immediate risk of homelessness' if they're forced to leave by the deadline set out in a letter sent by the Songhees First Nation on July 15. 'The reason why I'm saying they're at heightened risk for homelessness is because this eviction has both required them to leave, but it's also annihilated their life savings,' he said. Lawyer Kaelan Unrau for the Songhees First Nation said his client wasn't immediately available for comment on the court's ruling. The ruling says the park was established in the 1970s and operated by a company owned by a First Nation member who later died, before the First Nation took it over. This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 23, 2025. Darryl Greer, The Canadian Press
Yahoo
22-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Owners of Fort Lauderdale assisted living home rack up $40,000 in fines, board says
The owners of an assisted living home accused of removing all of its residents to convert to luxury apartments have now racked up $40,000 in fines over the renovations, Fort Lauderdale code enforcement officials said at a meeting Tuesday. Management for Oasis Living Quarters announced the controversial evictions at a meeting in March, according to residents, employees and a state inspection report. As residents moved out, workers began tearing down partitions, demolishing kitchenettes and installing air conditioning units. But the facility never received a permit for the renovations or changed the building's use from an assisted and independent living home to apartment buildings, according to city officials. The removals, which included residents who were bedridden or had dementia, also led to a lawsuit and citations from the state over the lack of written notice. Attorneys for Oasis have claimed that it did provide notice. At a May 27 code enforcement hearing, an angry code enforcement board decided to give the owner of the property, Lauderdale Commercial Blvd Partners LLC, two weeks to comply with code and then begin fining them $1,000 a day if they did not comply. The LLC is connected to Lee and Jay Podolsky, members of a family of notorious landlords in New York City, the Sun Sentinel previously reported. On June 11, the fines began. By Tuesday, the fines totaled $40,000 and are continuing to increase each day, officials said. Andrew Gebbia, the building inspector, said he visited the property last week and the owners still were not in compliance with code. At that point, the contractor had not submitted applications for plumbing and electrical permits, Gebbia said. As of Tuesday, he had submitted the two applications but both still required additional documents and information. Asked if the building was occupied, Gebbia said yes, but not the units that were under construction. Half of the property that was once Oasis' assisted living side is already operating as Waterview luxury apartments. The assisted living residents had first been moved into the other half, then told to leave in March. Ariel Grosfeld, an attorney for the Abrams Law Firm in Fort Lauderdale, appeared at the Tuesday meeting on behalf of the owners, asking the board to postpone the case until the next meeting because the attorneys for the owners are at trial. She also cited 'the convoluted nature of the case, the procedural history, and the irregularities from city staff.' 'If they get the continuances, the fine still accrues, it's still a thousand in a day?' asked Jacquie Shaw, a member of the board. Assistant City Attorney Rhonda Montoya Hasan said yes, unless the board decides otherwise. The board voted to postpone the hearing until August and to continue fining the owners $1,000 a day in the meantime. A lawsuit in Broward County Court over the removals remains active. It was originally filed on behalf of a bedridden tenant still living at the facility. She later died shortly after moving out. Grosfeld, the attorney for the property, did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
Yahoo
10-07-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Nearly 2,000 households in need of new home as Quebec's moving day nears
With Quebec's moving day fast approaching, more than 2,000 households across the province are still searching for housing — 320 more than at the same time last year, according to the province's housing corporation. Advocacy groups say they are bracing for more emergency calls. "There's been a lot more evictions, cases of repossessions," said Lyn O'Donnell, with the Citizen Action Committee of Verdun. "People are not only dealing with eviction. They're also dealing with the fact that they've received rent increases that, you know, like your average person just can't afford." In Montreal alone, some 270 have asked for help, the Société d'habitation du Québec (SHQ) says. Advocates warn the number is misleading. "That's just what's reported, right? So there's so much invisible homelessness involved in that. That even includes families with children," O'Donnell said. The city says help is available by calling 311. "We have enough resources, enough budget to help you find a new dwelling," said Philippe Sabourin, City of Montreal spokesperson. "We can also offer temporary resources or a temporary dwelling. We also have some resources for the storage if it's required." Help is out there — but not enough Help is also available through the SHQ and some people may be eligible for a rent supplement. But housing advocates say these resources are far from enough. "Housing is scarce, first of all. And also the program is mostly for low-income households," O'Donnell said. "And you have to have lived on the island of Montreal for the past 12 months and you have to have used up all of your own resources." O'Donnell said all of these measures are only temporary. The real solution is making more social housing available through a dedicated social housing program and putting in place real rent control, she says. At the moment, Quebec's rental board does not cap rents, rather it issues recommended rent increases and intervenes only if the tenant refuses the increase and cannot negotiate the new rent with the landlord. Housing advocacy group Le Front d'action populaire en réaménagement urbain (FRAPRU) says the increasing number of households in search of a home is due to the scarcity of affordable housing in the province. The SHQ says that of the 1,989 households at risk of homelessness, 473 are already in temporary accommodations, such as with family, friends or in a hotel. WATCH | How to get help: The regions with the highest number of cases include Lanaudière (294), Montreal (269) and Montérégie (235). Véronique Laflamme, spokesperson for FRAPRU, said people are often hoping for a solution up until July 1, and then come forward looking for help soon after. She said some end up in their cars or camping. Assistance varies across province Although rehousing assistance is available throughout the province, the measures offered to tenants vary greatly from one region to another, said Laflamme. Not all municipalities offer the Quebec-backed rehousing assistance program like the one in Montreal, which provides temporary accommodations, moving and storage. The housing shortage is easing slightly across the province, with the housing vacancy rate at 1.8 per cent in 2024, up from 1.3 per cent in 2023, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). But this improvement does not translate into greater affordability, Laflamme said. In Montreal last year, the vacancy rate for units under $1,150 was less than one per cent. This compares to more than five per cent for units priced at a minimum of $1,675, which likely includes many recently built rental apartments, according to CMHC data. New data from Statistics Canada, released Wednesday, also shows soaring prices for available housing. The asking rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Montreal was $1,930 in the first quarter of 2025 — a 70.8 per cent increase from 2019. In Montreal, the average rent increase was 18.7 per cent in 2024 for apartments that changed tenants, compared to 4.7 per cent for dwellings where a lease was renewed, according to the CMHC. Since 2018, rents have jumped 47 per cent for all apartments in the province, according to a compilation by FRAPRU based on data from the CMHC. To address this unaffordability, FRAPRU urges Quebec to double the number of social housing units in the rental stock within 15 years, which would involve the construction of at least 10,000 new social housing units per year. The government has adopted a national housing strategy and set a target of 56,000 rental units per year — but no target for social housing, laments Laflamme. Even for tenants who are not moving this year, the situation is far from ideal, as many are facing steep rent increases, said Laflamme. The average rent increase suggested by Quebec's housing tribunal was 5.9 per cent for 2025. "This year's lease renewal period has been extremely difficult," said Laflamme, citing a large number of callers looking for ways to mitigate rent increases.
CBC
24-06-2025
- Business
- CBC
Dal Legal Aid raises concerns about access to eviction data following info request
Social Sharing Officials with Dalhousie Legal Aid Service say the results of recent freedom of information requests heighten long-standing concerns they've had that the provincial government affords them less access than it does the group that represents Nova Scotia's landlords. The organization released documents last week showing that for years, Rental Housing Providers Nova Scotia has received data related to why evictions were sought in disputes between tenants and landlords. Sydnee Blum, a community legal worker with Dal Legal Aid, said that data is something her organization has been trying to get since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. She said some of it was accessible through the freedom of information system, but that should not have been a requirement. "We only ever went through that process because we were told that's what we had to do," Blum said in an interview. "We didn't realize that simply sending an email asking for stats would have resulted in the same results." Since Dal Legal Aid publicized the findings last week, Blum said Service Nova Scotia forwarded the same information that was going to Rental Housing Providers Nova Scotia. Melissa Mosher, the director of residential tenancies for the province, said in an interview that there was no attempt to withhold information or disadvantage one organization over another. Mosher said statistics on evictions are produced each week and, during a meeting with stakeholders in 2017 that included representatives for landlords and Dal Legal Aid, it was explained that that information was available. Although the executive director of Rental Housing Providers Nova Scotia has been routinely requesting the information via email, Mosher said Dal Legal Aid has not. "It's not something that I reach out to them to provide them with," she said. "It's more so at request." Mosher said the department is contending with an antiquated information system that makes it difficult to produce data without extracting it manually. Although a new system is being developed, it's still not ready. Meeting requests honoured by Service Nova Scotia She said there have been discussions with Dal Legal Aid officials in the past about what kind of information is and isn't available, what requires a freedom of information request and what can be released in keeping with privacy legislation. A meeting for further discussion between the two sides is scheduled for later this week. "I want the tenant and landlord groups equally to feel that they can approach us with questions." But Blum said previous attempts by people at Dal Legal Aid to understand what information and data is collected by Service Nova Scotia and what can be requested have not been successful. "We've never been given a clear answer, let alone the data itself." Blum said she remains concerned that the government is more interested in listening to the interests of landlords and homeowners than they are those of tenants. Difficulty accessing decision makers Dal Legal Aid also highlighted an email in its disclosure package where Mosher notes that representatives for landlords "have the ability to meet with senior leadership within government that the tenant groups do not typically have." Mosher, who was responding to a request from the landlords group to bring more representatives to a stakeholders meeting than the department would permit, said her comments referred to the fact that there is only one group that speaks for landlords while there are multiple groups that advocate for tenants. She said her team typically meets with groups on behalf of tenants and landlords when requested. Blum said her organization has no problem meeting with administrators with residential tenancies, but it's proved more difficult getting an audience with cabinet ministers and other decision makers within government. "Frankly, over the years we've stopped even trying just because it's been inaccessible to us."
