.
Search
Email this articleE-mail this story  Discuss this articleWrite letter to editor  Discuss this articleOrder a classified ad
Hope on 43rd Street

Two families sells trailers, one family forced to leave

Nathan VanderKlippe
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Mar 08/02) - Sharon Canning stands in front of some of the trailers that need to be moved by April. Canning managed to sell hers; it was moved earlier this week.

For some residents of 43rd Street, the last month has been a time of hope.

Ordered off their rented properties by April 15 to make way for a condo development, the residents of five trailers were at first despondent.

The situation has improved for some.

Jim Cheyne, a senior who can barely walk, is in the process of selling his trailer. By the end of this month, he will move into a newly-vacated residence at Aven Court.

"We'll be all right here," he said.

Sharon Canning had threatened to burn her trailer if she couldn't sell it. A few days ago, the new owners of the mobile home moved it onto their property.

"It's a big relief. I can sleep now," she said.

Clouds without a silver lining

The story isn't as happy for everyone. Later this month, Brian DeCoste will take his wife and her daughter and move to Edmonton. He was renting one of the trailers, but couldn't find another place to stay in Yellowknife.

He decided to look on the Internet, and within five minutes had procured a four-bedroom house for $800 a month. And there is no shortage of jobs in the Alberta capital.

"It's brutal, man," he said. "I love it up here, but what do you do? Rent up here is astronomical."

Steve Chung owns the trailer DeCoste was living in. He uses the trailer as a staff house for his business, Arctic Appliances.

Chung put the trailer up for sale three weeks ago. Last year, he assessed the trailer's worth at $50,000. Now he's selling it for $19,000.

But, Chung said, "There haven't been any bites."

"And I have no other place to put the trailer."

Chung and the other two remaining trailer owners have just a few weeks left until the heavy equipment begins clearing the way for the condo. At this point, he has resigned himself to not selling it.

"I've accepted it. We've got to move on from here."