Saskatoon mobile home community residents concerned after office closure

Residents of a Saskatoon mobile home community are unsure of the future after their community office abruptly closed. Hallee Mandryk reports.

Residents of the Sunset Estates mobile home community are frustrated after their point of contact with their landowner, Compass Communities, suddenly closed.

CTV News previously reported on the community, as residents expressed concerns regarding prominent increases in their monthly fees.

The closure of the community office took place shortly after that story was published.

“The people who were in the office were fantastic. They were longstanding members of the community, friends, and we really valued their input. They worked really closely with the community, and they worked really closely with the community associations. They were a part of this just as much as I am. It’s really unfortunate to see that we have no access to that anymore,” Angus Mackay, who lives in the community, told CTV News.

Mackay shared that the sudden closure of the office has been jarring for the community, as resources like physical fee payments and the community pantry have also been halted as a result.

“It’s vastly different from walking down to the store and saying hello and seeing a happy face that was there to clarify any questions that you have. It’s so completely different from what it used to be ... We have no emergency number here. The only number that we have is the number from the current community manager who is off site,” Mackay said.

In a statement to CTV News, Compass Communities did not answer the question of why the office was initially closed – but did share that the closure will not be permanent.

“We are fully committed to serving the Sunset Estates community and ensuring residents have the support they need. We are currently hiring a person for the community office role. In the meantime, our maintenance worker is on site throughout the week to address resident needs, our regional manager was on site the week of March 17 and spoke with residents, and residents have direct access through the community email and phone number, which are monitored daily,” Compass Communities said in its statement.

A recent community meeting was held, where residents helped one another in the process of individually filing applications with the Office of Residential Tenancies, flagging what they believe to be improper rental increases.

“Members in this community, are in a position of suffrage and in a position where … they don’t feel like they can defend themselves when it comes to rental increases and, increases in how much they’re paying every single month, just to live here,” Mackay said.

The resident added that this office closure has created further frustration among residents towards Compass Communities, citing a recent water outage as an instance where residents were missing the convenience of the physical space connecting residents to their landowners.

“We did get a prompt email saying that the water was shut off, but we didn’t have any answer on why ... This isn’t an uncommon thing ... We’ve had numerous times where the water ... without notice goes off, and then the water ... with no notice comes back on,” Mackay said.

Adding that the rising monthly expenses are intended to include water services.

“It’s really unfortunate and extremely aggravating. when we were being told ... we’re having an inclusion of a rental increase for water when we don’t have access to the water ... it’s kind of a really frustrating situation,” Mackay said.

Compass Communities shared the details of this service disruption saying:

“A pump failure on March 24 caused a brief water outage of 1-2 hours. Our certified operator was on site immediately to restore service, and we communicated the outage to the Saskatchewan Health Authority,”

Mackay has been helping his community in efforts to raise the issue with the OTR, and continue voicing these concerns to the general public.

“I think everybody is pretty stressed. They just want it to be over. They want the rent to go back to a position of affordability...it’s extremely hard to see our seniors being pushed out of their homes. Right now ... there’s I believe the count is as 11 homes that are going up for sale,” he explained.

Adding that most of those who live in Sunset, want to stay there.

“Sunset is a really strong community,” he added. “… It’s just sad to see people being in a position where they feel like they’re being taken advantage of and not being heard. So, I hope that we can work together with Compass ... that they can hear our plea and work towards a good common goal that works for all parties.”