Dale Vass

My name is Dale Vass, and I've lived in Windmill Estates in Holland, Michigan for over 21 years. I’ve stayed because it’s a beautiful place with friendly people. Most of us are seniors on fixed income, so we help each other.

Dale stands in front of his home. He is wearing black clothing and his shirt says "adidas".

Since the new owners, Havenpark Communities, came in, they seem to care more about money than anything else. They raise the lot rents and add all these extra fees. They say they’re making improvements, but the roads have holes and they’re cutting down lots of trees. Then, when they actually do work, they don’t communicate. You could be in the middle of a shower and the water is turned off to the whole community with no warning.

They also control all the utilities except the gas. We have no way of knowing how and what they’re charging us compared to what the utility company would charge us. They’ve made so many mistakes, we never know what they’re going to take out.

And then there are the rules – always more things we must or can’t do, but no responsibilities for them. They’re so punitive, we are walking on eggshells in our own homes.

We are a community of mostly retired people living on a fixed budget. We don’t have the choice to up and move. The way management is, we don't know what they're going to do next.

We need better protections against this kind of treatment. That's why I joined MHAction - to see what we can do together.