Pinellas County, Fla. — Pinellas County recently mailed hundreds of substantial damage letters to mobile home park residents stating that their property exceeds FEMA’s 50-percent threshold, which requires the home to be elevated or replaced in compliance with FEMA’s standards.

What You Need To Know

  •  Residents in Pinellas County received letters notifying them of substantial damage

  •  The homes in question are in mobile home parks that were damaged in hurricanes

  •  The letters require the homes to be replaced or elevated

The majority of Gateway Mobile Home Park residents, 235 of the total 333 residents, received the letters in mid-March causing frustration, confusion and disbelief, according to longtime resident Connie Aguero.

“This was really a surprise to everybody this late in the game after we’re finally feeling like we’re in a recovery mode,” said Aguero.

“They’ve frightened everybody. The letter told everybody they have until June 1st to get out of here to resolve this issue. Well, that’s two months away. So, they took five and a half months to hit us with this, and they’re giving us two months to deal with this life altering, scary business,” she added.

During the Pinellas County Commission Meeting held on March 25, the Building & Development Review Services (BDRS) director said that 78% of the 1,407 mobile homes they evaluated were deemed substantially damaged, and county staff members were being pro-active by hosting in-person meetings with mobile home communities to answer questions and help guide residents through the next steps.

“We’ve met with five communities to date and we have another one tomorrow,” said BDRS Director Kevin McAndrew.

“These have been really emotionally charged meetings. In almost every case, when we delve down into exactly what the inspection shows, there has been some degree of damage. Maybe not water inundation inside the unit, but there’s been damage to the undercarriage of the unit where there’s been ductwork and insulation,” he continued.

In order to assist residents claiming they had no damage or minor damage, Pinellas County started deploying inspectors to perform re-inspections. Residents must first request a re-assessment of the substantial damage initial determination.

“We’re also advocating that if they have an elevation certificate, we can rerun the model and potentially reverse those findings, and we’re also looking at engaging licensed surveyors that can go out and take additional elevations in these communities where we’re making every effort we can to work with these residents,” said McAndrew.

Aguero said her private insurance already covered $14,000 for a new AC unit and other minor repairs.

“The real issue is that people got letters that do not have substantial damage. They had none or very little damage,” Aguero said.