CITY EXPLORES MANUFACTURED HOME PARK POLICY

A draft tenant protection policy presented at a recent Committee of the Whole meeting won’t help tenants of a Southside mobile home park currently being displaced due to redevelopment. However, the Mobile Home Park Redevelopment Residential Tenant Protection and Strata Conversion Policy could provide better protection in the event of future redevelopment.

By Melissa Jameson

Revelstoke city planner Paul Simon presented a draft version of the policy during the June 15 Committee of the Whole Meeting. Simon said the theme of the policy is “all about protecting existing tenants that are at risk of being displaced with future redevelopment.”

Background

In 2019, tenants of the former Crescent Heights Mobile Home Park in Arrow Heights were evicted after losing a dispute resolution hearing with the park’s owners. In B.C. mobile homeowners are protected under the Manufactured Home Park Tenancy Act. Typically, with mobile or manufactured home parks, individuals own the dwelling but pay a pad rental fee for the land the building sits on. In Revelstoke, which currently has 19 mobile home parks, this is the case with all but Johnson Heights which operates as a strata. (It is important to note that individuals or families who do not own the mobile home and rent from its owner would fall under the BC Residential Tenancy Act, not the Manufactured Home Park Tenancy Act.)

While their fate was already written, residents of the Crescent Heights Park presented to the council of the day, highlighting local-level initiatives other B.C. municipalities had taken to address displacement of mobile home tenants. Specifics of these policies vary, but generally require landowners to provide additional protections including advance notification, a tenant communications plan, additional compensation, and relocation assistance programs. City council asked staff to explore options for Revelstoke, resulting in the draft policy presented to the committee of the whole.

What’s in Revelstoke’s draft policy?

Simon said the draft policy, which is guided by the Official Community Plan and Housing Action Plan, is broken down as follows:

- Redevelopment of existing manufactured/mobile home parks within the city

- Rezoning of existing properties that contain a residential building with five or more dwelling units (to ensure protection for tenants in those buildings)

- Existing buildings that are rental buildings that an owner is applying to stratify so that each unit in the building would have its own title and could then be sold independently rather than having one building on one title with multiple units being rented.

The bulk of the draft policy focuses on manufactured home parks. According to the staff report, if all 19 manufactured home parks were fully built there would be an estimated 494 homes (about 13 per cent of all dwelling units in the city).

“So, this is a really big thing. We do need to place a high importance on it because there is significant risk for tenants being displaced with redevelopment,” said Simon.

Under the provincial Manufactured Home Park Tenancy Act, landowners wanting to serve notice of eviction for landlord use of property (e.g., redevelopment), must obtain all required permits prior to issuing the required one-year eviction notice. Additionally, landowners must pay $20,000 to the mobile homeowner for their home that is being moved offsite. In instances where the home is unable to be replaced or moved, the owner can apply for additional compensation to account for the market value of the home.

Simon said the way the draft policy is crafted is intentional “with an opportunity to see higher density development. We are knowingly saying we want to look at protecting the existing rights and abilities of the tenants that are at risk of being displaced over just blanket redevelopment that would result in higher density development.” The policy is intended to supplement, not replace the provincial act which clearly states it cannot be avoided.

The draft tenant protection policy focuses on early notification to existing tenants. Owners planning on redevelopment need to notify tenants at least two weeks in advance of an application being submitted to the city. There are also additional criteria that need to be addressed along with the early notification including:

- Preparation of a tenant relocation plan for displaced tenants, including what their housing needs are and options on where they can go

- Information about local companies that can support tenants with securing alternative accommodation within the city

- Resources for assisting existing tenants with determining the condition of their Manufactured Home and its ability to be moved

- Any plans for existing tenants to have right-offirst refusal to any new housing units proposed as part of the proposed redevelopment

“So, if they are proposing redevelopment in a way that would displace some of the residents they need to come up with a plan on where those residents are going to go, what their options are, and what their housing needs are,” said Simon.

Where feasible, the draft policy encourages redevelopment of existing parks in a way that will not displace residents. This includes rezoning to allow for stratification of the park; providing rightof-first-refusal for existing mobile homeowners, including through alternative financing options, and; including measures to minimize displacement of tenants who are currently renting units within a manufactured home park.

“This strategy to try and promote stratification is not something that we found in a review of other policies throughout B.C., so there will be some learning curves and some hurdles we will have to work through,” said Simon, noting that approval for a strata rezoning would come through council.

The policy also includes specific provisions for rezoning applications. In cases where stratification of an existing manufactured home park is not possible and residential rental tenure is not proposed, then there are additional requirements to those already required under city bylaw including a proposal for affordable housing onsite.

(The draft policy can be found on the city’s website, Revelstoke.ca, by navigating to the city council page and then to the section on committee of the whole where you can find the policy and a report from city staff in the June 15 agenda package.)

What’s next?

Following Simon’s presentation, committee of the whole members engaged in a lengthy discussion. Revelstoke city councillor Aaron Orlando put forward a motion for staff to refer the proposed policy to the social development committee, Revelstoke Community Housing Society, the economic development commission, the Revelstoke Women’s Shelter society, Community Connections, and third party lenders; that staff create an online feedback portal through Talk Revelstoke; schedule a public open house including delivering notifications to each mobile home residential address and mobile home park owner; and that the open house happen after initial feedback is sought from the other groups consulted. Supported by councillors Cherry and Luciow, the motion was defeated.

Councillor Stapenhurst then brought forward a motion that the draft policy be referred to council as written. The motion passed with the mayor and councillors Palmer, Stapenhurst and Devlin voting in favour.