There’s good news and bad news for the residents of Country Aire Manor Park in Puyallup. Scratch that. For the nearly 93-year-old woman who has already moved into an apartment where the bathroom and bedroom are far apart and where she shattered her ankle trying to get to the toilet, there’s no good news. For the family of four who are dealing with debilitating illnesses such as cancer and don’t know how they’ll survive, there’s really no good news. For the dozens of residents who are too poor, too old, or who simply can’t find another space for their home, there’s no good news either. Not yet anyway. 

 

More than 150 Country Aire residents received notice earlier this year that local developer Verus Puyallup LLC would like them to leave so someone can build a Kohl’s department store and a Home Depot on the land currently occupied by their homes. This isn’t an uncommon phenomenon. During the past two years, affordable housing such as apartments and mobile home parks have been targeted by developers because those kinds of properties come cheap, and because the elderly, disabled and poor don’t usually fight as hard when you try and build a department store or condominiums where they live. Since 2006, more than 50 mobile home parks have been closed, affecting nearly 2,000 households. A substantial percentage of those people have limited income. So when the residents of Country Aire who weren’t too disabled or poor to relocate went looking for a place to put their homes, they discovered that most spaces had already been taken. 

“What’s available doesn’t fit the budget of people who live on limited incomes,” says resident Judy Spiers. “We’ve gone all over Pierce County looking. There are zero (alternatives) for people who

require affordable housing. They’re just non-existent.” 

Now the good news, sort of. A group of Country Aire residents are working with some land owners in Orting who have a 14-acre site they are willing to convert to a mobile home park. Owners Ron Krumvieda and John LaFarge have bent over backwards trying to help facilitate the $1.6 million deal, but the current state of the finance market, combined with the low incomes of most residents, has made it hard, says resident and veteran Henry Bouton. The landowners are working with Country Aire residents to find financing and grants to help push the deal through. 

Also, at a recent city council meeting, councilmembers Barbara Gelman, Calvin Goings and Tim Farrell signed below several other politicians and supporters of a call for a moratorium on conversion of mobile home parks. Council chair Terry Lee didn’t sign, but did spend a good deal of time talking with Country Aire residents, and offered to sponsor an ordinance to enact a moratorium in Pierce County, says Spiers. 

Bouton is holding out hope, but says his hope is shaky. He and other residents at Country Aire have already been abandoned numerous times by other officials who have promised to help. 

“We’ve asked for help month after month, and been promised help, and we get all of these lines, and when it comes down to it, nobody helps,” he says. “We’re getting pretty close to getting thrown out on the street, and that shouldn’t happen. There’s no reason for it.” 

“What we’ve feared all along is coming to pass,” adds Spiers. “We don’t have anything to prevent people from being dumped out on the street. I asked (county council members) — Why are you afraid to help senior citizens on fixed and limited incomes? Where are you going to put people when you dump them out on the street? Do the people in this county have the decency to be concerned?”