Decision in Midfield class action lawsuit coming Friday
Posted Dec 7, 2017 8:34 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The handful of residents still living at Midfield Mobile Home Park will soon learn their fate.
A decision will be handed down in a class action lawsuit against the City of Calgary, Friday.
A judge heard arguments from residents on November 22, 2017, and set a date for his decision on December 8, 2017.
One former resident who helped launch the lawsuit spoke to City about how hopeful she is the judge will rule in their favour.
She said the park actually brings in just over $1.1 million a year in lot rent.
“So when you look at $1.1 million dollars a year — a little more than — and you take away the operating costs, this park is bringing money in for the city. It is not costing the city anything but yet they’ve decided that we’re not worthwhile to maintain the infrastructure or to even keep it open because we’re unsightly apparently. Those aren’t their words but that’s the implication.”
She said there is nothing out there that’s affordable.
“Last I checked there were a couple over in Penbrooke Estates on the east end of the city, but the problem with that is that the rent is over a thousand dollars a month, the lot rent and that takes people out of affordable economic housing and puts them into something that’s not attainable.”
She notes the city says it wants to reduce homelessness and increase affordable housing.
“But yet without the bat of an eye, they made 183 families homeless.”
The judge will decide whether residents still living there will be able to stay — and for how long — and if those who have lost or will potentially lose their homes get any financial compensation.
The decision is expected to be handed down around 2 p.m.
