Melanie Payne-Powell

My name is Melanie Payne-Powell and I live in Tallahassee, Florida, at Lake Bradford Estates Mobile Home Park. My husband and I moved into the park in 1989 because, as a multi-racial couple, we loved how diverse it was. It also had great amenities, like a pool, a gym, a sauna, a rec room, and a laundromat. We were renters at first, but when my husband passed away suddenly, I bought a home in the park with his death insurance.

Back in 2021, Homes of America bought Lake Bradford Estates. Since then, Homes of America has increased lot rent for homeowners twice in one year, which is illegal in the state of Florida. My rent was originally $325, then they increased it to $525, and then they increased it again to $750. They have also added illegal pass-through charges to our lot rent. At one point, they had an unlicensed worker place water meters on our water lines. Now they are charging us a fee for garbage pickup, but the fee differs from tenant to tenant.

Since Homes of America bought the park, no one feels safe. Park management is constantly leaving notices on people’s doors with their private information exposed. These notices are often threatening people with eviction or claiming they owe money. Tenants are afraid to come home because they don’t know if there will be another notice on their door. Everyone is always stressed out and worried. Homes of America won’t even fix issues renters in the park have had, like sewage backing up into their toilets, tubs, and sinks, holes in their floors, and more.

I have lived in my home for 33 years. Not only am I disabled myself, but I take care of my disabled daughter and my 9-year-old disabled granddaughter. The new corporate owners of my park want to push us out of our home, but I am going to fight. We need our local city and county officials to protect our rights. We need them to protect where we live and protect us from the abuse this corporation is putting us through. We need Governor DeSantis to protect our communities. Our communities need all of our representatives to have our backs.