ORMOND BEACH, Fla. – What was once a more affordable way of living is now in jeopardy.
Some mobile homeowners in Central Florida told News 6 that the amount they pay to rent their lots is increasing so much that it’s pricing them out of their homes and preventing them from selling them, too.
Since the pandemic, it seems the price of everything has increased, including what it costs to live in a mobile home in Florida.
The state legislature recently passed a measure that is supposed to give mobile homeowners more rights, but is it enough?
Debbie Powell says she has been trying to sell her home in The Falls at Ormond Beach Mobile Home Park for over two years, but there have been no takers.
She says the $1,100 per month in lot rent is the problem, along with the increases that are still coming.
“The person who goes to buy my house will be paying a minimum of $1,300,” Powell said. “So as soon as you talk about that with the potential buyer, they don’t want to talk to you anymore.”
Dawn Augsbury says her lot rent has increased $500 in three years and is now nearly $1,500 a month.
“I would be homeless if it wasn’t for my best friend,” Augsbury said. “My friend of 30 years, she pays my rent, she pays for my food, if I can’t.”
About 400,000 Floridians live in mobile homes across the state and there are about 3,500 mobile home parks.
In some, you own the house and the land but in others, you lease the land.
Lawmakers say the increases are happening statewide.
State Rep. Paula Stark has heard the stories from her constituents and helped draft House Bill 613 - mobile home lot tenancies.
“The lot rent increases jumping so high all of a sudden — they just cannot keep up with the rents,” Stark said.
She admits that the law, signed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis last week, does not do enough.
It allows mobile home park owners and homeowners in a dispute related to lot rental increases, to select a mediator and initiate mediation proceedings.
Under the law, a civil action cannot be initiated unless the dispute has been submitted to mediation.
Stark says it does not cap lot rent increases, but it’s a start.
“These people have had no voice, had no way to fight back a little bit if they thought the rate increases were extraordinary. So, this gives them that opportunity to mediate that,” Stark said.
At Colony Park Mobile Home Village in Osceola County, Valerie Hills says it’s happening to her, too. She hopes the legislation will help.
“It’s definitely making it harder to live because it’s taking almost everything we have to pay that lot rent.” Hills said.
The law takes effect July 1.