She Thought She’d Found Her Serene Forever Home. She Was Evicted After Fees Kept Increasing

Dara Brown was priced out of the home she owns in Riverview after her lot rent jumped from around $400 to about $1,000 a month. She was evicted in April.

Homeowners in Florida are being quietly priced out of their communities. People often own their manufactured homes but rent the lot underneath them.

Census data shows lot rent in the state has nearly doubled over the last decade.

That means manufactured housing parks, which are considered the largest source of unsubsidized affordable housing, are now growing unaffordable.

Under Florida law, management can pass along fees, like utility charges and property tax increases, as long as they are considered “reasonable” and are mentioned in a park’s original governing document, which is called a prospectus.

For example, Dara Brown bought her home in a 55-and-older community in Riverview in 2012. She described how there were "a lot of hidden charges that came out that we had no way of knowing."

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In her words: Dara Brown

Parts of this interview were edited for clarity. 

My name is Dara Brown, and I live at Country Villa Estates in Riverview.

I used to work in the area, and I would pass by coming home. I just stopped one day to try and get a home. I found that they weren’t renting – that you had to buy.

So that’s a story in itself, but I bought my home in December of 2012. I liked the way it looked at that time. Looked tropical, quiet, serene and it was 55 and older.

The lot fee was affordable, but now it’s not affordable. There are a lot of hidden charges that came out that we had no way of knowing.

The lot fee went from $468 to just a few dollars short of $1,000 a month, and it’s subject to go up again.

That’s what I’m paying now, and I can’t afford it. I simply can’t afford it.

My house is paid for, but not the lot fee. I took my 401Ks and everything. I paid this house off in two years, and so I have no more savings. That was the 401K.

I didn’t think that lot fee would go up so high. So I said, well, let me pay it off and just pay a lot fee. I knew it would go up some, but not to $1,000 a month.

I could just kind of work here and there, because I could afford the $468. Even when it went to six something, it got a little tighter, but I could still afford that.

But now it takes my whole Social Security just to pay my lot fee.

My Social Security is only $1,119. My lot fee is just under $1,000. So that leaves me $119. So I have to work just to stay here and to pay my utility – my light bill.

The AC never worked in here since I moved. I did have some AC, now I have none. Since the storm, Milton, I have no AC anymore. The storm took out the rest of the AC. It blew the motor. The water from the hurricane filled up underneath my home and blew out the ducts. The ducts under the house filled with water. I got pictures of it.

So now I’m between a rock and a hard spot. I'm just going to sell it as is.

I did get some estimates for $2,000 to fix the AC, to repair the motor and to possibly fix the ducts. But I can’t give someone $2,000 again, and what if that doesn't work?

So, I’m willing to sell my house way, way below market value. It's already below market value, but I'm going to go even lower. Just sell it as is.

If what the company is telling me is true, that it takes $2,000 to fix it, well, they'll have a decent home. Put $2,000 in it to fix it, and that's it, because I can't hassle with them anymore.

So I have contacted FEMA. My claim was denied. From what I was told – I don’t understand everything, but they were saying it’s not unlivable. I guess AC is not unlivable. But when it comes to April or May, it's going to be totally hot, and I won't be able to stay in this house with no AC.

There's nothing else I can do but to sell it and find somewhere — where I don't know, but I'm not going to continue to stay here.

This interview was conducted prior to Dara Brown being evicted from her home in April. This project was supported by The Pulitzer Center's Local Reporting Grant.