The two neighbors live side by side in aging trailers in the back lot of Hansen’s Trailer Park in Missoula, where the residents of roughly 21 trailers were notified in April that the property they lease had been sold to a developer, Fishmore Associates.

In a letter from Missoula Property Management, all residents were told they would have to clear out by October. The front half of the lot, where another 20 trailers were located, is in the process of being sold and cleared as well. The site’s prime location near Third and Russell streets means it has a high commercial value, and a new apartment building will be built in the back half.

But that’s little consolation to Redfern, 59. Her home may appear ramshackle by modern standards, but it’s still home to her, where four generations of her family have lived off and on.

“They call it progress but what can I say, it’s torn up a lot of people’s lives,” she said, standing on her front porch with tears streaming down her face. “They want to put in big fancy things but there isn’t enough jobs or living spaces to begin with, but yet, here they are doing other stuff here. There’s too many really low-income folks around who just maybe squeak by. Which is what I was doing before they told me I had to go. I’m kind of a minimum-wage earner. Now I’m just living on hopes and prayers until I can find someplace to go. It’s scary.”

Harry Matt, next door, voiced the same fears as Redfern: His trailer is too old and dilapidated to move, and even if it could move or he could afford to have it moved, no trailer park in town is going to accept a trailer built before 1980. He lives on Social Security and can’t afford an apartment. He was planning on living on Third Street for the rest of his life until that letter came in the mail.

“You think you’ve got a home and everything’s going along smooth and all of the sudden they throw a monkey wrench into it,” he said. “I’m gonna lose everything.”

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Matt, who is 79, said he tries not to think about what is going to happen in October, when he will no longer have a place to live. For most people, moving is a stressful but fairly routine process. For Matt, it’s an impossible hurdle.

“It’s the thought of losing everything I’ve worked for, everything I’ve saved – they can just wipe it out,” he said. “I just feel so disgusted, so let down, you know? Sometimes I get really upset, and then I get scared. What am I going to do? Especially at my age? I mean, this is all I have. I try not to think about it, but I have to.”

Redfern’s and Matt’s lives are completely encompassed in their trailers. Around them, other residents have stripped out anything valuable, such as copper wiring, and left the frames to decay in the heat. Piles of unused furniture and garbage mark where others were uprooted.

“That’s what happened to the vast majority of places,” Redfern said. “And mine will end up disemboweled. And also, these really old ones, the nice trailer parks don’t want them. You have to be above a certain year, you know, and this is like a 1974 so it’s too old. You can’t take it anywhere. So we’re all just stuck between a rock and a hard place.”

Neither Redfern nor Matt have moved a single item.

“I’ll be here until they come along with a wrecking crew and take me along with the rest of us,” she said. “If they take me out in a wheelbarrow, I hope they have room for my cats.”

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Redfern has a genetic disorder that causes her head to shake when she talks. She said that condition, combined with her age and the fact that she has missing teeth due to mouth surgery, has prevented her from gaining employment. The last two places she worked went out of business. Right now, she said she has no income whatsoever and relies on local agencies for help with her bills.

“People take one look at me and don’t want to hire me,” she said. “I’ve never been a zero-income person. It’s not that I couldn’t work. I’m not some bum that moves from job to job. I’ve tried Goodwill and other places to see if somebody will take a chance on me.”

Redfern got a letter from Missoula Property Management on July 14, dated July 7, that she was delinquent $428 and that she had until July 14 to pay the full amount or else legal proceedings might be initiated against her to “recover possession of the premises, all delinquent amounts owing.” She wasn’t sure why she got the letter seven days late.

“That’s the kind of day I’m having,” she said.

Both Redfern and Matt said that since April, their rent for leasing trailer space has been raised several times, from $165 to over $300 per month.

“There’s no reason to raise the rent, they’re kicking us out anyway,” she said. “Let us save any pennies that we can, so we can get out, you know, rather than make it harder on us, you know what I’m saying? But they’re there to make money, they’re not there to care about people.”

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The previous owner of the property, Bill Clark, used to live on the premises and was charging below-market prices, according to Adam Hertz, a Missoula City councilman as well as a sales associate with Lambros Real Estate ERA. Hertz represented Clark in the sale of the back half of the trailer park to Fishmore Associates, who plan to build a 90-unit apartment building there. He said AutoZone, an auto parts store, is expected to close on the front half along Third Street this week.

According to Hertz, the trailer park was what was called “legal nonconforming,” essentially meaning that although the sewer and other infrastructure were “a disaster,” it was grandfathered in. Newer trailer parks have many more regulations.

“It would be impossible to build a trailer park in the city now, and nearly impossible in the county,” Hertz explained.

Hertz also said that Clark, who was aging, cared deeply about the residents and often allowed his tenants to go months or years without paying rent.

However, the raised rent, legal as it is, has been a shock to Redfern and Matt.

“I’m just kind of existing, and this is just making it worse for me,” Redfern said, holding back tears. “I’m trying to find someplace to go that I can afford, but I don’t actually have an allotment of money.”

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Redfern hit a low point last year when her son and his family moved out, leaving her alone. She said the stress of her situation has led her to seek help at the Western Montana Mental Health Center.

“I tried to commit suicide,” she said in a low, shaky voice, drying her eyes with a tissue. “I have problems with severe depression. And so I’ve been a patient there since then. I’m still suicidal. It couldn’t get any lower. It was a little bit of everything, not being able to have a job. … You see, at one point my son and his family was actually living with me. They lived with me for seven years. And kind of like, the lowest point was when my unemployment ran out. That’s when they moved out. Have you ever felt deserted?”

Her case manager has taken her to look at a couple of places to live that she might be able to afford with the help of local agencies.

“One has no kitchen,” she said. “I’ve gotta be able to eat. That might be OK for a college kid that just goes to Taco Bell and grabs food and takes it home. Another one had no bathroom. You have to go down the hall and use the bathroom. Well at my age I can’t do that, you know? The things that are open out there are so pricey. There’s nothing in my price range that I can go to, so it’s really hard finding anything.”

Redfern said the moment she got her eviction letter in the mail was one of the worst in her life.

“I was scared, nervous, because I thought I could just serve out my time here until you either no longer exist or your child puts you in one of those old person places,” she said. “I don’t feel like it’s real fair, you know, but that’s because it’s happening to me. It’s just hard to handle.”

Redfern said she understands that eviction is something that happens all the time, but she was woefully unprepared for it to happen to her. She said she feels like she is stranded in a storm.

“If you’ve got a job and you’re financially secure, when they tell you something like that, it may not be happy news but at least you can figure out what to do,” she explained. “But to get it all on top of you at the same time, it’s really hard. Another one bites the dust.”