End Is In Sight For Mobile Home Community As Initial Phase Of Hospital Expansion Plans Requires Ten Lot-Leasing Families To Get Ready To Vacate; Residents Of Another 60 Sites To Remain In Limbo Pending Further Notice; Relocating Aging Trailer Homes An Issue For Many

In Clarkston, Washington, The Lewiston Tribune reports:

• Malissa Beavert, her husband, and 2-year-old daughter are excited about exchanging their single-wide mobile home at Noble Park for something better.
  
  They're going to use $8,000 from a Tri-State Memorial Hospital subsidiary to put a down payment on a home, rent something nicer, or move to Minnesota, where a friend has a lead on work at a place that makes windows and doors, Beavert said.
  
  They're eligible for the money because the hospital needs them and nine other families to vacate in a year, possibly to construct a parking lot for a recently renovated medical office in the 1200 block of Highland Avenue in Clarkston. Residents of another 60 sites have more time, but the hospital isn't specifying how much.
  
  Anyone with a single-wide gets $5,000 if they leave their dwelling and another $3,000 in moving expenses. The offer is $2,500 more if they move their home. The money isn't a requirement, and hospital officials say it's a way of recognizing the potential hardships for those at Noble Park.
  
  "It was a shock at first," said Beavert, who's expecting a baby in January and is married to a supervisor of a fast-food restaurant. "We've had time (now) to adjust to the idea."
  
  Regardless of how fast it happens, the notices Noble Park residents received last week from a hospital subsidiary are forcing them to confront the fact they're living in a vanishing community.
  
  It's a place where aging but affordable mobile homes sit on lots with small yards, and neighbors help each other with everything from trimming rose bushes to offering advice.
  
  [One resident] may be one of those hit the hardest. She's lived at the park since she was 17 years old. [... She] is disabled after a career as an aide for children with disabilities and substitute teacher.
  
  She owns her 1978 mobile home outright, but doesn't know if she can find a park that will accept it. She also worries it could get damaged in the move.
  
  She wonders about finding a place where she can have her dog. Her niece had to pay $400 for a pet deposit recently. "I don't want to move," [she] said. "I have my yard. I have my home. I have my neighbors."

For the story, see Clarkston trailer park residents are mulling their options (Residents targeted in Tri-State Hospital expansion have different perspectives on buyout offers).

See also, The future for Noble's Mobile Home Park residents is uncertain:

• [M]obile home owners at Noble's Trailer Park have received a notice that said the lot where their homes are parked will be sold, and many of the homes cannot be moved.