Angela Silas

Angela stands in front of a home with Halloween decorations.

My name is Angela Silas. I live in Lake Runnymeade Mobile Home Park in St. Cloud, FL. I moved here in September 2011 because, being on disability and raising a 2 year old, it was anaffordable option for me and my family.

Homes of America bought our park about 5 years ago. Since then, we no longer have any amenities whatsoever. No pool, no dog park, nothing. And worst of all, no communication at all.

Our water quality has gone down and we’re often put on boil notices. Anytime they get good people working here, they leave in 2-3 weeks because they don’t want to deal with Homes of America. 80% of my monthly income gets taken for lot rent. I have to do side hustles and am lucky enough to get help from family to make ends meet. I do what I can to pay it forward and help out my neighbors.

We need park owners to take accountability. The previous owners here cared about the wellbeing of the residents and made an effort to keep it nice. Homes of America makes promises they don’t keep and continue raising the rent. If they are going to keep taking more of our money, they should reinvest it in the community and make it better for everyone instead of being money hungry.

We’re fighting for change. We’ve been on the news, attended press conferences, contacted the Health Department to collect water samples, and gotten our local legislator to pass some protections for our communities. But we need more. We need price caps so they can’t keep gouging us, basic amenities so neighbors have a place to come together, better communication, and we need owners to keep their promises. We just want them to care.