News
Local Mobile Home Park Residents Demand Change
Home is home. No matter where it is. But residents in two Erie County mobile home parks continue to feel new owners want to force them out.
The same out of town owners, oversee Summit Heights and Lexington Heights Mobile Home Parks in Erie County.
Marianne Heck says, "All of a sudden we got a notice from them that they were raising our lot rent $40."
She has kept her paperwork, and also says, "Then after they took over, they notified us that as of March 1, they were raising the rent another $75."
For the past three years she's lived in Erie County's Belle Valley. The newly named Lexington Heights Mobile Home Park, is just homes. No other listed amenities on site.
Heck says, "The big amenity is that they paid for the water and now that's not true."
Marianne and other neighbors, who did not want to go on camera, say they now have to pay for water, sewer and street lights.
They are all added costs in addition to the monthly lot fee, which now sits at: "$435. When I first came here I was paying $300," Heck says.
Erie News Now reached out to the park manager at Lexington Heights, but did not receive a response before the story aired.
While residents own their mobile homes, they do not own the lot.
With legislation in both the Pennsylvania House and Senate, a cap would be placed on the amount lot fees can be raised.
Erie News Now was there for two of three trips local residents took to Harrisburg. They are trying to meet with every PA lawmaker on both sides, to share their concerns.
Patti Starvaggi has led the Erie County crusade to Harrisburg.
"If we don't have the cap on, they can raise it as high as they want. We can't do that, we have seniors, veterans, widow, widowers they're all on fixed incomes and unfortunately their money is not increasing as we go along."
Most recently we captured the Summit Heights resident visiting the office of State Senator Dan Laughlin, (R) of Erie County.
He tells Erie News Now he has compassion for the residents, but went on to say:
"I think something that is tied to inflation makes some sense but we'd have to work this through the process to see what the final product would really look like."
As we previously reported, Patti and her neighbor Wendy Henry went door to door in their Summit Park trying to create awareness of the legislation.
Representative Bob Merski (D) of Erie County says, "It's very hard to move a mobile home and they know those folks trapped and so they're gonna pay it and we have to do something about it.
It is a fight that is not yet over.