BOISE, Idaho — The remaining evictees at Dee Mar Mobile Home Park in Garden City, including 68-year-old Gary Gallipeau, only have a few more weeks of calling the park "home."
Real estate developer Vida Properties is turning the park into a 90-unit multi-family housing apartment complex. Gallipeau said all remaining residents have until Dec. 31 to move out of the park — almost one year after getting the first eviction notice.
"I'm aggravated, frustrated, tired," he said. "I'm constantly on the phone trying to find a place to live."
Since KTVB first covered the re-development last spring, Gallipeau said he and the Intermountain Fair Housing Council sent letters to the developer and Garden City officials asking for help.
However, he said they have yet to receive any responses.
Gallipeau moved into the park almost 14 years ago. His mobile home and most other homes at Dee Mar are too old to move under federal law.
"Some of these homes in this trailer park, people paid over $30,000," Gallipeau said, "and I've had to walk away from that investment with no compensation. Nothing, even though [the developers] had promised us some concessions."
Lori Dicaire, Intermountain Housing Fair Housing Council investigator, said she is disappointed the city and developers are not willing to have a conversation about the park's closure.
"We've just basically been trying to get them to come to the table," she said. "Let's talk about what's going on, the harm that's happening to the community members, and how we can mitigate that. And no one has been willing to come to the table and talk to us."
Dicaire said Dee Mar is not the only mobile home park disappearing in Garden City. Data collected by the Intermountain Fair Housing Council shows about 20 parks have closed since 2011.
She said that many of the parks are getting re-developed because the city continues rezoning certain parts of town.
Garden City Mayor John Evans said the city is not targeting mobile home parks and is trying hard to create affordable housing opportunities — part of the reason why they did not respond to the Intermountain Fair Housing Council's letters about Dee Mar.
"The Fair Housing Council makes accusations that don't warrant a response in my estimation," he said, "essentially accusing the city of using the zoning code to run people out of town. That's the way I took it."
Evans said he feels for the Gallipeau and the remaining evictees. He called the situation "heartbreaking."
However, Evans said the developers are well within their rights.
"The city doesn't have a repository of funds to move people that find themselves in this situation. I wish we did," he said. "We've ensured that proper notice was given and that there was adequate time. There's not really much else we can do about it."
Dicaire disagrees. She said the city should do more to help people displaced from their mobile homes.
"We need to do things differently in the new year," she said. "Let's take care of our folks, you know. Don't allow this to happen in our community."
KTVB reached out to Vida Properties but did not hear back. To prevent other people from ending up in his shoes, Gallipeau said he plans on working with lawmakers to get more protections on the state level.
Right now, Dicaire said there are virtually no protections for mobile home owners.
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