A lack of affordable housing in St. Paul had Robert and Lisa Desjarlais scrambling for six months to find another home to rent when they decided their family could no longer continue living in a trailer they considered unsafe.
Last year, the Desjarlais found themselves in a difficult situation and had to find a place to stay with little notice. They decided to rent a trailer from Marshall Krawchuk at a trailer park south of the Town of St. Paul along Highway 881 called Sun Country Village; however, they now regret the hasty decision.
“The living conditions out there are awful," said Lisa, explaining they are coming forward to warn potential future renters now that they have found a place to rent in the Town of St. Paul. “We don't want anyone else to go through what we went through."
They described a number of issues such as frozen water drains, which were not repaired for weeks, and uneven heating, where one room is excessively hot and the next room is freezing cold.
“The front of the furnace gets excessively hot, to the point where you can't even touch it," Lisa explained, adding she and her husband believe there has been a fire in the trailer, noting that wooden studs are burnt.
“When I renovated the floor in there and ripped up the floor that needed to be replaced … I could see burnt linoleum and burnt wood on the floor … and everything was just covered up," added Robert.
They admitted that some windows had been replaced but that they were not installed properly, leaving gaps around the outside with no insulation. The gaps around the exterior doors are too big to be covered with weather stripping so the place is extremely drafty.
“The furnace is running constantly and it is still cold in here," said Robert.
One of the bedrooms in the three-bedroom trailer is unusable because there are holes in the floor, which were just covered with linoleum and not repaired, and in other places, the floor is soft.
“If a really heavy person steps on that, they will go right through," said Lisa.
They have complained numerous times to the landlord and “all they say is, 'It takes time' but we have been in there for a year now," said Lisa.
The couple explained they stayed there because the rent was only $500 per month and they had difficulty finding another place to rent in the area for a similar price.
After several months of frustration, they finally called the health board. Inspectors were sent out from Alberta Health, and the County of St. Paul hired an independent building inspection company to look at the trailers on the site. The trailers were deemed unfit for human inhabitation.
In a phone interview, Krawchuk said that he has done $20,000 dollars worth of repairs to the three trailers he owns at Sun Country, installing new plumbing, new electrical and new roofs at the sites. “There is a small amount of outside work to be completed in the spring," said Krawchuk. “I have put enough money into that place already."
He denied that there has ever been a fire in the trailer occupied by the Desjarlais and said that there is no burnt wood.
Robert said he was shocked to read in the Dec. 21 edition of the St. Paul Journal that Krawchuk appeared before the County of St. Paul council and claimed to have spent so much money on repairs. The couple said a carpenter did come out to do some work at the trailers over the summer but they had serious questions about the amount of money involved.
The County of St. Paul has changed tactics in dealing with the problems posed by Sun Country Village, an issue which has come before council a few times. The county is now seeking a court order against the owner of the trailer court.
“It is an order regarding unsightly and dangerous property. It includes the buildings that do not meet safety codes," explained CAO for the County of St. Paul Sheila Kitz. She also said that Krawchuk cannot move the trailers to a new location because of a recent change to the land use bylaw.
Kitz said that it will likely take at least until spring before the county can get the court order to go into the property and demolish the trailers. She said that county representatives are empathetic about the concerns of the occupants that may find themselves with no place to go but added that it is not the municipality's responsibility to find housing for people.
The Desjarlais are concerned that their friend Richard Benson, who owns his own trailer and lives in Sun Country Village, will get caught in the situation. They explained that Benson has done numerous repairs to his home and is always around to lend a helping hand to his neighbors whenever he can.
“If you have a problem out here, you call Richard," said Lisa.
They are also concerned about where other neighbors renting from Krawchuk will go if their homes are destroyed, but at the same time, they don't want people to live in unhealthy and dangerous conditions.
