For nearly a year, residents at Lake Runnymeade Mobile Home Park in St. Cloud have turned on their faucets only to get discolored water with the aroma of rotten eggs. But often, nothing at all comes out.
The problem has gotten so bad that some residents take buckets of slimy green liquid from the park’s unchlorinated pool to flush toilets. The flow of water is sporadic, they say, but they can go as many as 13 hours a day without it.
“It was H-E-double hockey sticks,” said Angela Silas, a Lake Runnymeade resident of nearly 13 years, using a euphemism for “hell.” “I had to go out and get water bottles just so we could wash our hands … the kids couldn’t take showers until 10:30 at night.”
Runnymeade residents say park management tells them the water pump isn’t working consistently due to electrical issues that frequently trip the breaker. They have contacted local and state officials looking for a fix, but they say it’s been to no avail, although the state is now monitoring water quality in the park and insists it is safe to drink. Many residents say they want to leave as they face increasing rents and calls to management go unanswered — but they’re stuck as they can’t find anything affordable.
It’s only the latest issue at Lake Runnymeade, a corporate-owned park with roughly 70 lots whose beleaguered residents helped inspire local state Rep. Paula Stark, R-Kissimmee, to pass legislation giving mobile home dwellers more clout in disputes with management. But Stark’s efforts have fallen short in ownership situations like this one — frustrating her and other advocates.
“These big companies are buying mobile home parks across the country and all they see is a return on the dollar but they’re not taking care of the residents,” Stark said.
Lake Runnymeade, first built in 1975, sold several years ago to a Delaware-based limited liability corporation that lists its place of business at an office of Homes of America, an owner of dozens of mobile home parks nationwide. Since at least 2021, Homes of America has been an affiliate of Alden Global Capital, which owns and operates a number of U.S. news organizations, including the Orlando Sentinel.
Voicemail messages left at the park’s office were not returned. A call to the park’s office manager who lives there was disconnected after the reporter identified herself.
Millions of Americans nationwide live in mobile homes, but no state has more than Florida with its 835,000 park residents, roughly 4,500 of whom are in Osceola County, according to data from the Florida Manufactured Housing Association. FMHA is a member-based nonprofit trade organization that advocates for mobile homes, builders and community owners.
Stark’s bill, HB 613, took effect July 1 and encourages mediation of disputes between mobile homeowners, who often own the home but rent the land, and park owners. Mediation is cheaper than more formal legal action. If a lawsuit is planned, the law requires mediation first and allows residents and park owners to choose their own mediator.
But Stark has realized the new law won’t help Lake Runnymeade residents.
“Some of the things we addressed in our bill address those who are part of the (manufactured housing) association,” she said, which Homes of America is not. “So they fall under the radar because they don’t think anybody’s holding them accountable.”
Regulating mobile home parks is difficult across the state.
“We have a lot of great older manufactured housing communities in the state that serve older folks who need affordable housing,” FMHA Executive Director Jim Ayotte said. “But situations like these really put a black eye on the industry that’s meant to offer a solution.”
Stark said she often hears that park owners around the state reject mediation requests from their residents. She’s working on new legislation to help more mobile home owners and give the state more enforcement powers.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has been involved with the situation at the Lake Runnymeade park.
In October 2023, the agency issued Homes of America a roughly $3,000 citation for failing to issue residents a boil water notice after an incident earlier that year shut the water off, according to records obtained by the Sentinel. Since then the agency has conducted regular monitoring of the water facility at Lake Runnymeade, and in the latest water-monitoring test conducted Aug. 23, found the park’s water poses no health threat. The agency did not respond to requests for comment.
Despite the state’s assurance that the water is safe, residents say the problems with taste, smell and system reliability continue.
Kathy Jo, a Lake Runnymeade resident since 2019, brings multiple empty gallon jugs to work and fills them up with tap water to use when she gets home.
“I bring them home so we can have water to cook with and drink and for the animals,” Jo said. Otherwise, she said, “you never know what it’s going to taste like when you do have to brush your teeth or wash your face or something like that because it either smells like rotten eggs or it smells like straight bleach.”
