Residents at the Rivermead Pointe North/South Manufactured Home Community have been at odds with the park’s owner, RHP Properties, for some time, with complaints ranging from rising rents to issues with water quality.
But after a recent fire tore through four mobile homes at the East Hartford property, residents are turning to state and federal officials for help. And U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said a federal bill he is co-sponsoring could make a difference.
The blaze erupted several weeks ago after a demolition crew used an excavator to demolish vacant homes and struck a propane tank. Fire Chief Kevin Munson said his team let the propane burn out to contain the damage and prevent it from spreading.
Although no one was hurt, residents were outraged at the cause of the fire and several issues leading up to the event. “It was absolutely the last straw for everybody,” said Heather Dimoff, a resident and co-founder of the Rivermead Council.
Residents were joined during a press conference at the park Monday by Blumenthal, Attorney General William Tong and state Reps. Jason Rojas and Henry Genga, both Democrats who represent East Hartford.
Blumenthal said the bill he is co-sponsoring, the Manufacturers Home Tenant’s Bill of Rights, would directly help residents at manufactured home communities like Rivermead by establishing a set of minimum standards for tenants in communities that receive federal financing.
“The rising rents, the deferred maintenance, the problems with water and sewers that afflict manufactured home parks all around the state of Connecticut and the country, they’re the reason that tenants deserve a bill of rights,” Blumenthal said.
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He described the situation as a crisis for the state, where rent is not affordable and mobile homes are an alternative.
“I have introduced this legislation and I’ve framed it because I’ve listened to manufactured homeowners across the state of Connecticut. It isn’t just here,” Blumenthal said. “All across the state of Connecticut we face a crisis in manufactured home parks because of rising rents, neglected maintenance, problems with water and electricity.”
Also at the press conference was Joel Brown, the president and chief operating officer of RHP Properties, the Michigan-based real estate investment firm that owns Rivermead Pointe, one of 372 mobile home communities the company reports it has across 30 states. There he and his team distributed copies of a letter he sent to Blumenthal describing the work they’ve done and their efforts to maintain the community.
Raising concerns
Residents of Rivermead Pointe North/South are mostly retired, with many of them 65 years old or older, on a fixed income and unable to handle the rent increases, Dimoff said.
Dimoff and Rebecca Connors, also a co-founder of the Rivermeade Council, last week gathered residents and other speakers to discuss issues surrounding the park and its management.
At the meeting, various residents reported complaints over lack of communication with RHP. Dimoff said that there is a park management office that is supposed to be staffed by two managers at all times, but it’s often inaccessible or nobody is there.
“They close before their posted hours. The doors are locked, or we try to call up to corporate and we never get return calls back,” she said.
Brown’s letter states that the company uses a proprietary communication system called “Resident Connect.”
“The on-site team communicates regularly through SMS texts and written letters to residents regarding maintenance work, social events, and general announcements,” the letter states. “We are reachable 24 hours a day, 7 days a week through our answering service with a live person to answer calls, take messages and a clear procedure to contact staff immediately for any urgent questions.”
Joining the residents that day was East Hartford Mayor Connor Martin.
“In my short term so far, I have dealt with at least two tenant unions being formed in East Hartford,” Martin said. “If you own property in this town, take care of the residents in this town.”
A major issue for the park is water quality, residents said.
Many noted they never received notice of water shutoffs or constantly had to boil their water. Dimoff said that she had to spend $348 to buy water this year alone, and she hasn’t seen any forms of reimbursement from RHP.
Residents were also concerned about the water issues related to the fire. Munson, the East Hartford fire chief, said his team used water they brought with them to put out the fire. When asked whether the fire hydrants in the park work, Munson said he doesn’t know as they are privately owned by RHP.
“We don’t have any control over the hydrants. We’ve used them in the past and they produce less water than an NPC (National Pump Company) hydrant, that’s a fact,” he said.
Currently the fire is still under an ongoing investigation, Munson said. Fire Marshal John Pelow said the fire hydrants were privately installed when the park was built in 1995. The hydrant system is the responsibility of the management company.
“The system is owned privately, maintained privately and inspected privately,” Pelow said.
During the meeting last week, Dave Delohery, president of the CT Manufactured Homeowner’s Alliance, urged Rivermead Pointe North residents to “become experts in their leases,” and know exactly how RHP isn’t holding up their end of the deal.
Delohery is a mobile home owner from the Sun Community Cedar Springs Mobile Home Park in Southington.
“Five years ago, an out-of-state Michigan corporation bought our park. We found out about it the next day. It was that day I decided to make sure it didn’t happen to anybody else,” he said.
He told residents, “What you’ve been doing are all the right things.”
Delohery said the function of the alliance is to “address issues in mobile home parks that are unaddressed.” He also said that his group has plans to introduce a rent cap plan before the legislature, which if approved and made law would prevent landowners from raising rent prices.
Delohery also brought Ethan Horowitz, an attorney from the Northeast Justice Center in Massachusetts, to give advice to the community. Horowitz said he’s sued RHP a total of five times for issues in properties throughout Massachusetts.
But Tong vowed his commitment to the residents of the park at the press conference.
“We expect ownership to do the right thing and right away,” Tong said. “If they don’t do that, I, Senator Blumenthal and others will do everything we can to stand with you and hold them accountable. That’s why we’re here today and we’re going to be here every day until we make this right.”