Evicted Jubilee mobile home park tenants found a way to move their home
KELOWNA – It cost them their entire life savings, but evicted Westbank tenants Ross Arnot and Ed Schneider found a way to keep their home. They just have to figure out where to put it.
Last January, Arnot, 65, and Schneider, 67, were evicted from their pad rental at 144 in Jubilee Mobile Home Park and given until April 1 to either abandon their manufactured home on the lot or move it. The couple believe they were evicted because they refused to give up a garage they thought was included in their rental agreement but say regardless of the reason, they were in no position to continue the fight.
"It's taken all our life savings," Arnot says. “It’s cost us far more than what we had (saved) but we do have a side business that pulls in some money. We’re certainly not rich, that’s for sure. Tonight we’re deciding if we want macaroni and cheese or hot dogs for dinner.”
The Jubilee park is on Westbank First Nation land and Arnot and Schneider lost two attempts at arbitration, hoping to stay where they were. Now their home has been sectioned, moved and stored, something Arnot says he never wanted to see happen. The manufactured home, where they have lived since 2007, was on a large lot with a private dock and extensive landscaping.
“It was devastating for both of us,” he says. “It was heart-wrenching to see it being cut up and watching the two main halves being moved off the property.”
The couple are living temporarily in a motorhome while they search for somewhere more permanent. They think they have found a lot they can afford to buy in Summerland and are just waiting for the proper permits before they can start pouring the foundation and hooking up water and power.
Arnot says although the 14-month-long ordeal has been difficult, the pair, who have been together more than 30 years, are closer than ever.
“The relationship is still strong,” he says. “Ed is an incredibly strong person and certainly my bedrock. I am much more emotional than he is so he’s had to deal with a lot of meltdowns but we’ve come through it together and will continue to go through it together.”
To contact the reporter for this story, email Adam Proskiw at aproskiw@infotelnews.ca or call 250-718-0428. To contact the editor, email mjones@infotelnews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
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6 responses
sad but they will be happier now
GARBAGE
okay withme.. their coice
Moral of the story Never EVER do any kind of bussiness on Indian land. It’s stolen land that does not belong to them anyway. and whole thing was just probably to get a free house since the only thing native want is free stuff. Parasites.
This is so unfair what has happened to Ed and Ross. I have known them for a number of years and when I heard what was happening to them I was just shocked. Here are the nicest two gentlemen you would ever want to meet. One of them is a Santa Claus and they have been thrown out of their home. I am a Santa as well. The people that did this to them are now permanently and forever on the naughty list and can never come off it. It will be interesting to see what happens to the lot that they had to vacate. I hope Ed and Ross find a new place very soon to put down new roots and once again and call it home. A home isn’t just what you live in. It’s were you call home as well. I hope it is a wonderful place they find and soon.
This home destruction is brought to you by Princess Enterprises: Ann Marie Tomat, Maggie Tomat, Adeline Tomat, Jean Tomat, Darcy Osberg, Westbank First Nation, Robert Louie Chief, and the WFN Tenants Advisory Council.