There was some good news Wednesday, at least temporarily, for residents of South Bend’s Countryside Village trailer park.
11-year park resident Debbie Smith has three window air-conditioners in her trailer. The 62-year-old says she barely gets by on her disability income from cancer and can’t afford central air. The park’s Denver-based owners, Yes! Communities, had told residents they had to remove all window units by Tuesday but tenants told WVPE that the deadline came without enforcement.
Smith says she’ll keep using her window units.
“Oh yeah I have to," Smith says. "I couldn’t live in this thing without no air, and I had a friend help me buy them so I can’t afford to go buy new ones. It’s ridiculous. It’s like they want all these people that have their own trailers out of here.”
The park has central air in trailers that it owns and rents to tenants. Some residents who own their own older trailers have window units.
In an email the company sent to residents Wednesday, Yes! Communities said they’ll wait until this fall to start enforcing the ban. They’re offering to sell portable air-conditioners on payment plans as an alternative. Smith says she already has one of those too. She says they’ll cool a room but not the whole trailer.
