Rent hikes, violence, evictions, mold: much Escambia low-income housing comes at a cost

Oakstead Mobile Home Park in West Pensacola is one of the only places 80-year-old Paul Buckney can afford to live. The retired chef and U.S. Marine Corps veteran is on a fixed income and owns his trailer.

Up until a couple of years ago he paid $350 a month in rent. Then the mobile home park was sold to a hedge fund and within two years Buckney’s rent went up to $695 a month.

He simply couldn’t afford it, so Buckney and some others kept paying the previous amount.

“Then with the water and sewage, that would have been over $700,” explained Buckney, “which would have taken over three quarters of my income, which doesn't go up and fluctuate.”

Buckney was one of several residents who received eviction notices and is now being represented by attorneys with Legal Services of North Florida.

“These folks, they own their mobile homes, but they've had them on these lots for 10 years,” said attorney Dan McLaughlin. “To move them is prohibitively expensive, $10,000, $15,000, $20,000, and a lot of them just can't do it. The mobile homes have been there that long you try to move and they're going to fall apart. Chapter 723 of the Florida Statutes was created by the legislature because they recognized this exact situation where it's an unequal bargaining area.”

McLaughlin said the hedge fund owner is affiliated with Homes of America LLC, a company that is buying mobile home parks across the country. In case after case, the company is hiking rents and some residents can’t afford to pay or move.

In several cities across Florida, McLaughlin’s legal aid counterparts are in litigation with Homes of America, fighting to ensure the company follows Florida law when it comes to raising rent and if possible, helping residents stay in their homes.

“They’re supposed to give 90 days’ notice that you're going to increase the rent,” McLaughlin said. “And during those 90 days, the homeowners are allowed to form a committee of the majority of owners and say, ‘Hey, we don't agree with this, we want to talk to you, the park owners,’ and the homeowners are supposed to have a meeting whereby the park owners bring all their numbers to show why they're raising the rent.”

McLaughlin said the state legal process should also include data-based decisions by the property owner, an opportunity for mediation and, if that doesn’t work, litigation. None of which Homes of America did, he said.

“They just sent a notice they’re raising everybody's rent and then, when many of them kept paying the old rent, they just started evicting people. We had three evictions pending,” McLaughlin said.

Housing is a basic need for tenants, but for many property owners housing is simply an investment. And when a property owner's main focus is earning a profit, many renters − particularly those with limited or fixed incomes – say they are the ones who end up paying the price.

Buckney said not only are skyrocketing rents a problem, but the condition of the property has gone downhill since he moved there in 2004, with more trash and crime at Oakstead Mobile Home Park, and fewer amenities like security and lighting.

“More rent and no types of amenities at all,” said Buckney. “It’s so dangerous out there. Last year, a 14-year-old boy killed a man right outside, just a few feet outside my place. Then about a month ago some other guy got killed out there and then before that, three women got shot out there. I tried desperately to move. As a matter of fact, I went to the bank with my certificate (GI loan), but they wouldn’t loan me no money.”

Complaints mount from tenants in affordable housing rentals

Out of area landlords can pose a challenge for tenants and local government when they want to address issues with rental properties.

The Haggard Law Firm recently represented families who lost loved ones to violence at two Pensacola apartment complexes, Forest Creek and Oakwood Terrace Apartments. The firm won two separate $5 million lawsuits for negligence against Texas-based Marquis Group, which owns both complexes.

Attorney Adam Finkel says better security and hands-on property managers could have prevented multiple murders. He said he also gets calls, sometimes daily, from residents who have trouble getting repairs made or safety issues addressed. He said the goal for out-of-state property owners is often to make money and in the case of HUD subsidized apartment complexes, landlords receive two income streams, from tenants and the U.S. government.

“What they have realized, and it's clear from all the investigation we've done in these cases, is there is such an unfortunate, desperate need for housing in our community, especially in Pensacola, that if a person doesn't like the terrible treatment they're getting, they're free to move out because there's a line down the block of people that will take that apartment.”

Kenneth Chaiken, an attorney for Marquis Group, said their properties are managed by a local management company that is responsive and because they are subsidized by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development they are also accountable to government housing and safety standards and must pass inspections.

Chaiken said Marquis Group has installed lighting and security cameras, as well as hired off-duty sheriff’s deputies to patrol the property. He said they also host food and school supply drives, and provide other community services.

“It takes some level of personal responsibility on the part of residents who invite people over, who cause problems once they're there, to either reach out for assistance from management or the police,” Chaiken said. “It's not possible for the owner and the management team to prevent situations, you can't be everywhere. These are large properties, and you can only do the best you can do, which is between the combinations of things that we do, having cameras on site, professional law enforcement, lighting and other management encouraging residents to step up and help.”

Tenants turn to legal aid for help

Escambia County Code Enforcement administrators say officers spent much of their time this past year responding to complaints at several apartment complexes owned by people or companies who live out of the area or out of the state, like Johnson Lakes apartments, Twin Oaks Villas and The Pines at Warrington.

“I'm spending a lot of time trying to even proactively go by the sites, make sure that they do actually have maintenance people working to keep the grounds up, to get the trash out and basic maintenance,” said Tim Day, Escambia County senior natural resources manager. “It's hard to believe that ownership cares when they're not here and isn't putting their eyes on their investment property at least once a month.”

Legal advocates say property managers often come and go at these complexes, leaving tenants to track down the out-of-area owners for help, which is challenging, too.

Attorneys at Legal Services of North Florida represents tenants at both Johnson Lakes and The Pines, for different issues. They see similar problems at both complexes including property owners and managers not being responsive to tenants, as well as putting off repairs, which has led to more serious problems like mold and mildew.

Attorney Paul Flounlacker with LSNF says they are litigating to help five tenants stay in their homes after they were given two weeks' notice that their leases were being terminated. The Sarasota based owner, Pines at Warrington Limited Partnership, said the residents units were “uninhabitable” from damage by a tornado that hit the area in June.

The tenants say their apartments are habitable and were not damaged by the storm, but they do have maintenances issues due to neglect.

“The defendant (Pines at Warrington) has requested relief from payment of a significant amount of fines for code enforcement violations, which proves the conditions at issue stem from defendant’s general neglect of the property rather than a force majeure event,” the tenants’ attorneys wrote.

Attorneys for The Pines filed multiple motions to dismiss the complaint, but a hearing is set for February.

According to court records, The Pines owner has also evicted or attempted to evict several dozen tenants from the complex this year, mostly for not paying rent.

The owner of The Pines at Warrington is listed as Pines at Warrington Limited Partnership with a mailing address in Sarasota, Florida. The property manager is Cushman and Wakefield. A message to the management company was not returned.

The owner of Johnson Lakes, Johnson Lakes Escambia Limited Partnership, based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, has been working with the county to clean up the lower-income, senior living complex. The county said the owner is making some progress, but residents say they’re still waiting for many of the major repairs to be fixed.

“These are investments,” Flounlacker said. “These are properties that people make money off of and so the idea is to run it as cheaply as possible to maximize profits and that's what you see in any landlord tenant situation. It's not good or bad, it is what it is, but the bottom line is that when you have a big complex, you get a cascading effect. We call it deferred maintenance and that just means they're not doing what they're supposed to do.”

Fighting for an affordable to place live

Thanks to legal efforts, owners of Oakstead Mobile Home Park dismissed Buckney and another resident’s eviction and agreed to follow the statutory process when it comes to raising rent. The process is just beginning and it remains to be seen what the final rent will be.

The tenants also recently met with the CEO of Homes Across America LLC to discuss ways to improve conditions at the mobile home park like cleaning up trash and crime at Oakstead. The company bought the property for nearly $1.8 million at the end of 2021, and residents want to see the grounds improved and dilapidated structures addressed.

Efforts to reach Homes Across America for comment were unsuccessful. Messages left for a company with an address in Englewood, New Jersey, associated with the mobile home park’s listed owner of Oakstead MHP LLC were not returned.

Tenants like Paul Buckney hope the visit from the CEO is a good sign.

“That's good news if they're going to negotiate in good faith,” said Buckney. “I'm to the point now, but I'm seriously thinking about moving back up to Ohio with my son, you know?”

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Rent goes up, safety goes down for Escambia County low-income tenants