Desperate P.E.I. couple being evicted from 3rd motel in space of a year

Carol and John Larkin are facing the prospect of being evicted from their third home in less than a year.

"It happened over there at Summerside Motel; we had to go to Causeway [Bay Hotel]. Then back in the fall last year, Causeway did it," Carol Larkin said. "Now we're here and it is happening again."

John Larkin said the housing situation is weighing on his mental health.

"We have no place to go," he said. "Where are you supposed to go? On the street?"

The Larkins are being told they need to leave their unit at Baker's Lighthouse Motel by the end of June.

They have been looking for non-motel apartments in the Summerside area, but nothing fits their budget.

"We know there are other people in our situation living in the woods," John Larkin said.

The Larkins and other tenants of five units at Baker's Lighthouse Motel were all given eviction notices on April 15 saying they have to be out by June 30 to let the landlord convert their units to tourist accommodations.

"I want possession of the room for myself for commercial use under the Tourism Act," the landlord wrote on the Larkins' eviction notice.

CBC News spoke briefly with the landlord but he declined to comment on the evictions.

The Larkins have been living at Baker's Lighthouse Motel for seven months. Another tenant facing eviction whom CBC spoke with has occupied a unit for over three years.

Carol and John Larkin have filed paperwork seeking a hearing with the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission, though no hearing date has been set yet, and they encourage others to follow suit.

"Fight it. Go to IRAC. Go to whoever you can go to," Carol Larkin said.

After receiving three eviction notices in a year, it all comes down to one thing for her, she said.