Judy Laughridge

Judy stands in front of her porch holding a small dog and smiling.

Hi, My name is Judy Laughridge. I moved to Missile View Mobile Home Park in 2009 to be closer to my best friend, Stevie. She recommended the park to me after having lived here for many years. I have a daughter who lives in Tennessee and a son who lives in Ridgemanner, Florida, but gas has been so high that I haven’t seen him as often as I would like lately. I like living on my own and being independent. I have always owned my mobile home and am terrified since Leasco has taken over and has started price-gouging residents. They have raised rents continuously with the promise to fix the roads, and all they have done is have construction crews start them and leave messes all over the park with a lot of unfinished work. They have made us senior citizens responsible for cutting their trees on the land they own. The water charges are outrageous, so I have coffee containers outside my home to collect water for my plants. They don’t keep up with maintenance; we need someone to sweep the streets. In the three years they have been here, rent has raised almost $150, and they made us responsible for trash, ad valorem (real estate tax), and cam tax. I write one check a month because they charge you $17 to pay your rent online, which makes no sense. After all, you’re making things easier for THEM. I go to the office, drop it off and leave. I rarely, if ever, speak to management! I genuinely hope to get the 723 law amended eventually; we need protections, we need a rent cap. Elected officials need to know that we will be homeless without protection. I want to be on my own, and there need to be laws to keep it that way.