Affordable Housing in Calgary - March 10th 2007

TRAILERS FOR SALE OR RENT...

Calgary property prices continue to rise on the back of the boom in Alberta’s business. A tiny one bedroom condo now fetches over $200,000. The average home price in Calgary is expected to top $500,000 before the end of this year (it is currently in excess of $450,000). Rental properties are few and far between and rents reflect the property prices. It is still possible to rent a room in a shared house for between $500 and $600 per month but really that is only suitable for a youngish single person. Small but decent single family homes are renting for between $1,500 and $2,000 per month. What is a family moving to Calgary supposed to do?

Well, there is still affordable housing available in Calgary, in a sector that most Canadians wouldn’t even consider; mobile homes. Whatever you do, don’t mention the word trailer to someone who lives on a mobile home park. The image of mobile home parks is exemplified by the hot Canadian TV show “Trailer Park Boys” and phrases such as “trailer trash” that trip off most Canadian’s tongues when confronted with mobile home residents. There is no doubt that some mobile home parks deserve their unsavory reputations, but if you look around, there are some in and around Calgary that are clean, neat and generally occupied by young families with children.

Mobile homes are available to buy from new or fully refurbished (around $120,000) down to “needing cleaning and renovation” for as little as $40,000. Typically they have two or three bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen and sitting room. Many have add-ons giving extra rooms alongside the main structure as well as decks, garden sheds and other useful spaces. The lower end of this market therefore looks like a bargain. If you can buy for $40,000, spend perhaps $15,000 on renovations and then sell for over $100,000, that has to be a good little business for the young handyman with little or no starting capital.

It’s not quite that simple of course. Firstly, mortgage lenders are as prejudiced as the rest of the population and you will have to fight hard to find a lender that does not insist on a punitive interest rate. It can be done though. Secondly, you have to rent a space on which to park your mobile home. Lot rental varies in the Calgary area between about $400 and $750 per month. The further you are from the city centre, the lower the rents. With care therefore, it is possible to find good, three bedroom accommodation for your family that will cost as little as $800/month. All you have to overcome are your own negative feelings about mobile homes and decide how to tell your family and friends where you are living. If you can do that, you may find it both enjoyable and lucrative.

How do I know all this? I just bought a mobile home in need of renovation! I have a tenant who is both desperate for somewhere to live with his dog and part time child and who is willing (and able) to help with renovations. Our tenant will pay rent equivalent to the interest on the purchase price and the lot rental and I will fund the renovations. Within a few months we should have an appreciable asset that we can sell and if it all works out, buy another for the same treatment. I’ll keep you up to date on progress.

Comment by David Sawers on March 14th 2007

Breaking news today is that the Blackfoot trailer park in the south east of Calgary is closing. More than two hundred residents have been given six months notice to quit and their lot rents have been hiked by more than $100/month.

Surprisingly the city is behind the move, citing site erosion and aging infrastructure. Hopefully, the city will find a new site for the current residents because there are no spaces available in any mobile home site within 100km of Calgary.

Comment by Vickie on March 19th 2007

My very good friends in Rhode Island have never been lucky enough to afford a property of their own - so they went the same route and bought a mobile home over 20 years ago.

They've created a wonderful family home within a lovely wooded area and, and although their house must have seemed small with two boys growing up, they built fantastic decking all 'round, kept a large garden and play area very nicely, and also built a huge shed (well: barn, but this is America!) for storage.

Their home is an attractive and comfortable place they can be proud of. I hope you manage the same - good luck!

Comment by David Sawers on March 24th 2007

The Inland cement company have been given the go ahead by the Calgary Planning Commission to set up a mobile home park at their southeast gravel pit. The temporary housing is to be used to help lure the 100 or so workers the company needs. Final decision on the park will be made at the city council meeting on May 7th.

Comment by stacey on March 12th 2008

That is a grate idea but what dose a person do when they do not have the money or credit to get a loan for a moble home?The problems that I think really need to be adressed is the average person who needs help,what about the single mother who can not get ahead.Myself I am a single mother with cancer and I can not afford to pay my rent and bills and still buy food for my son and I.This is happening everyday in this city and there is no help or sulution to fix these problems.All we really think about is the homless or the middle class person who wonts to buy a home and can not but we hardly ever hear of the average person that barely makes it by,and that is aveage most people do live pay to pay because the cost of living is so high.When are people going to start to adress the waiting lists for goverment offered programs or how high the rent is in so called affordable places,to me if these things are taken care of then there would be more money for parents to send there childeren to college/university and then there would not be such a shortage of Doctors and things.Childeren are the future and yet society make it impossible to give them one!If things continue this way prety soon there will be alot more familys that become homeless,a parent should never have to choose between food and rent and the problem is untill someone who can make a difference has to go threw this it will never change and it will never be made a public problem like a$210.000 public bathroom to stop vandalisum!

Comment by Rose on May 20th 2008

I was forced to move into subsidized housing a few years ago due both to financial and medical reasons. I have been an honest, responsible and community involved tenant, becoming both a Block Parent and Neigborhood Watch Captain.

As a single parent with two children; one who is physically challenged and one with learning challenges, I have kept my unit well maintained both inside and out and adhered to rental policies.

Despite this, I have had 5 rent increases over the past few years, even though my wages have not increased approportionately. When I do manage to work some overtime (to pay the increased rent) my rent is increased, but not decreased when I do not make the overtime.

Also, other tenants in the same complex have been allowed to have illegal paying tenants, assets well over the limited $35,000 such as motorhomes, several new vehicles etc...without being reprimanded or asked to leave as they definately would not qualify for subsidized housing if they had to report all their incomes...yet this is being allowed. In the meantime a long waiting list exists for families who actually need subsidized housing.

As well, several units in this complex have been rented out to residents without family or children, yet these units are supposed to be for families only.

Illegal business' are not allowed as well according to the rental policy, yet one unit is being allowed to run a paying daycare out of their home. They have purchased a new van out of their profits, and now take in more children.

It seems to me that affordable housing is just being used as a "cash cow" for the city to make a profit, because if they can get their maximum rents out of units, they will allow all the violation of rental policies.

The facade of trying to defeat homelessness is a good election ploy, but in reality it is not happening at all. In fact, you might want to know that the city seems to enjoy spending big bucks on forcing tenants into homelessness, with not a second thought.